Short read: This is reconnaissance on the razzle – the search-party that syncopates.
Short listen: Meet your guide, let him tell you a little bit about this tour – about Notting Hill and Portobello Road! It’s Tom’s podcast about the walk. It’s a good listen. Tom’s a barrister (a “recovering lawyer”) and ace Blue Badge guide. He’s fun, witty, engaging, friendly, whip-smart, charming – what’s not to like.
Long read: Because Notting Hill on a Saturday morning – market morning! – is curious and colourful, offbeat and yeasty. Here you walk with a ticket of freedom – a pass to scintillating escarpments. Just consider what’s squeezed out onto the palette this hillside: swells and scruffs; market stalls and scandal; Jimi Hendrix and Carnival; Cut-Throat Alley and Victorian Gothic; Madonna and Hugh Grant (let alone Julia Roberts and that bookshop); cottages, potteries and piggeries; colour washed mews and cab shelters and a racecourse and the gout route to Bath and butchers in straw hats and an invisible boundary between the present and the past… Magic!Guided by Tom, Brian or Richard III. N.B. the Notting Hill & Portobello Market Walk ends in Portobello Market, very near Notting Hill Gate Tube Stop.
Hugh Grant read: “…the world I live in. Which is here – Notting Hill – not a bad place to be. There’s the market on weekdays, selling every fruit and vegetable known to man. The tattoo parlour – with a guy outside who got drunk and now can’t remember why he chose ‘I love Ken.’ The radical hair-dressers where everyone comes out looking like the Cookie Monster, whether they like it or not. Then suddenly it’s the weekend, and from break of day, hundreds of stalls appear out of nowhere, filling Portobello Road right up to Notting Hill Gate and thousands of people buy millions of antiques, some genuine and some not so genuine. So this is where I spend my days and years – in this small village in the middle of a city…”
NOTTING HILL & PORTOBELLO MARKET – THE PRACTICALS
The Notting Hill & Portobello Market walk takes place every Saturday at 10.45 am. Meet Tom MBE, Brian or Richard III just outside the exit of Holland Park Tube.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
Don’t just take it from us…
LONDON WALKS PRIVATE WALKS
If you can’t make one of the regularly scheduled, just-turn-up, Notting Hill & Portobello Market it can always be booked as a private tour. If you go private you can have the Notting Hill & Portobello Market walk – or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. Ring Fiona or Mary on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you. A private London Walk – they’re good value for an individual or couple and sensational value for a group – makes an ideal group or educational or birthday party or office (team-building) or club outing.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LONDON WALKS
A private London Walk makes a fab gift – be it a birthday or anniversary or Christmas present or whatever. Merchandise schmerchandise (gift wrapped or not) – but giving someone an experience, now that’s special. Memories make us rich.
Another wonderful and really insightful tour with Claire around Notting Hill & Portobello Road. Her explanations are clear and concise and she has a wonderful knack of keeping the whole group engrossed throughout the entire tour with her wonderful accounts of the famous (and infamous) residents (past and present) and history of the area. To top it all, the tour ends slap bang in the centre of the market. Fantastic, a must do when you are in London!
Rated 5 out of 5
Julie –
Fantastic and informative walk with Richard the 111, we really enjoyed the area of Notting Hill and surrounding area, thank you for brightening up a drizzly day Richard – highly recommend 😀
Rated 5 out of 5
Ursula –
I recently attended a walk with Richard III and it was a joy to listen to his profound knowledge of the area. His stories and great sense of humor made the rainy day a lot more enjoyable. Highly recommended!
Rated 5 out of 5
Naoise –
Tom, a barrister with charm and note perfect delivery promised our tour group that he would tell us the ‘truth’- ‘there are many truths about Notting Hill.’ He then engaged our party with jaw dropping tales of the shabbier days of Notting Hill when it had the worst slum in British isles and later became a haunt of British home grown Nazis. He zips through the boho notoriety of the 60s, drops in some gruesome murders, and rounds it off with inside stories of the celebrities who over the years have called it home. Defying expectations, this was Notting Hill like you’ve never seen it before.
Rated 5 out of 5
Mark –
My friend from the USA and myself have been on many a walk led by Richard III and he’s always superb. A perfect mixture of knowledge, story telling and his dry sense of humour. Any walk that he does is worth doing. This was possibly the only walk that we hadn’t done before but we’re glad that we did it. Highly recommended.
Rated 5 out of 5
Marcus –
Great mix of past History and transition into the neighbourhood it is today, with lots of anecdotes
Rated 5 out of 5
Bernadette –
Excellent tour of Notting Hill, Holland Park and Portobello Market with Richard. Richard had many interesting facts and tales to share which made it VERY enjoyable. Thanks!
Rated 5 out of 5
Dave Goodwin –
I’m a walking tour addict and have taken countless walks in many cities for years. London Walks is the best. This tour, as usual, was led by a very knowledgeable guide, who made the tour very fun, and loaded with the typical things that you would walk past and never see if you weren’t on the tour. Lived up the the companies great reputation
Rated 5 out of 5
Diana –
Greatly appreciated Tom for unforgettable tour!
Rated 5 out of 5
Dianne Mawby –
We did this wonderful walking tour with Brian last Saturday! It was just great – loads of good stories, historical facts and many points of interest – Brian has such a witty and interesting way to share knowledge! Thank you Brian we loved the tour it was outstanding !
Reserve your place on Notting Hill & Portobello Market
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Lisa Rathke –
Another wonderful and really insightful tour with Claire around Notting Hill & Portobello Road. Her explanations are clear and concise and she has a wonderful knack of keeping the whole group engrossed throughout the entire tour with her wonderful accounts of the famous (and infamous) residents (past and present) and history of the area. To top it all, the tour ends slap bang in the centre of the market. Fantastic, a must do when you are in London!
Julie –
Fantastic and informative walk with Richard the 111, we really enjoyed the area of Notting Hill and surrounding area, thank you for brightening up a drizzly day Richard – highly recommend 😀
Ursula –
I recently attended a walk with Richard III and it was a joy to listen to his profound knowledge of the area. His stories and great sense of humor made the rainy day a lot more enjoyable. Highly recommended!
Naoise –
Tom, a barrister with charm and note perfect delivery promised our tour group that he would tell us the ‘truth’- ‘there are many truths about Notting Hill.’ He then engaged our party with jaw dropping tales of the shabbier days of Notting Hill when it had the worst slum in British isles and later became a haunt of British home grown Nazis. He zips through the boho notoriety of the 60s, drops in some gruesome murders, and rounds it off with inside stories of the celebrities who over the years have called it home. Defying expectations, this was Notting Hill like you’ve never seen it before.
Mark –
My friend from the USA and myself have been on many a walk led by Richard III and he’s always superb. A perfect mixture of knowledge, story telling and his dry sense of humour. Any walk that he does is worth doing. This was possibly the only walk that we hadn’t done before but we’re glad that we did it. Highly recommended.
Marcus –
Great mix of past History and transition into the neighbourhood it is today, with lots of anecdotes
Bernadette –
Excellent tour of Notting Hill, Holland Park and Portobello Market with Richard. Richard had many interesting facts and tales to share which made it VERY enjoyable. Thanks!
Dave Goodwin –
I’m a walking tour addict and have taken countless walks in many cities for years. London Walks is the best. This tour, as usual, was led by a very knowledgeable guide, who made the tour very fun, and loaded with the typical things that you would walk past and never see if you weren’t on the tour. Lived up the the companies great reputation
Diana –
Greatly appreciated Tom for unforgettable tour!
Dianne Mawby –
We did this wonderful walking tour with Brian last Saturday! It was just great – loads of good stories, historical facts and many points of interest – Brian has such a witty and interesting way to share knowledge! Thank you Brian we loved the tour it was outstanding !