Portobello Road Market (London)

United Kingdom / England / Richmond / London
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Portobello Road plays host to one of London 's largest and most interesting street makets, which really springs into life on a Saturday. Made world famous by the movie Notting Hill, which was partially filmed here, no visit to London would be complete without spending a few hours trawling the market. Portobello road itself stretches for a couple of miles, starting at Pembridge Road near Notting Hill Gate, and running the length of the neighbourhood, over Westbourne Grove, the Westway and Golborne Road where the street market stops.

The first half of the market is taken up mainly by antique stalls and permanent shops, making up the largest antiques market in all of Europe . The visitor is likely to find all manner of goods and curios here, from turn of the century fashions and accessorries through maps and books, memorabilia, toys and games, and antique furniture to name but a few. Once crossing the fashionable Westbourne Grove, lined with expensive boutiques and cafes (favourite celebrity haunts), the antiques stalls are replaced mainly by the fruit and vegetable stalls, as well as stalls selling meat, fish, snacks and lunches. It is always worth haggling for a good price to try some fresh British produce or some more exotic fruits from the Caribbean and beyond. As you continue northwards up Portobello Road , the fruit and veg stalls give way to a more mixed bag of offerings. Between Westbourne Park Road and the Westway you can find everthing from socks to caps, british souvenirs to African handicrafts, cosmetics to CDs and everything in between. Beyond this, and underneath the Westway flyover you can find the clothing stalls - many young designers start off here, and it is a great place for browsing through lines from potentially the next McCartney or Von Furstenburg. The market continues from here and begins thinning out where you will find the more jumble type items, knick knacks and second hand stuff. Finally the market finishes just short of Golborne Road , a good place to rest and grab a coffee and pastry from one of the Portuguese bakeries or Moroccan cafes there.
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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portobello_Road
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Coordinates:   51°30'56"N   -0°12'11"E

Comments

  • Virtual Portobello Road: http://www.superhighstreet.com
  • The market scene of the film Notting Hill was shot here.
  • One of the wonderful things I've seen there was the GERMAN FOOD catering stand. It was 5 months ago, but I still dream about the lovely taste of chicken burgers, sausages... yummy, yummy, yummy staff...
This article was last modified 16 years ago