Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.
At Ossington Street/Kensington Palace Gardens, the Bayswater Road becomes Notting Hill Gate, continuing westward until it becomes Holland Park Avenue, just before it reaches Ladbroke Grove.
Notting Hill Gate is distinct from Notting Hill, although the two are often confused, with "Notting Hill" being used as an abbreviation of "Notting Hill Gate" and "Notting Hill Gate" suggesting to outsiders that it is the full description of Notting Hill. In fact, however, the street named Notting Hill Gate is well to the south of the hill (with its summit at the junction of Ladbroke Grove and Kensington Park Gardens) which gives its name to the area known (long before the establishment of the Notting Hill toll gate) as Notting Hill.
Notting Hill Gate is home to a variety of stores, restaurants, cafés and estate agents as well as more specialist stores which include rare records and antiques, as well as two historic cinemas, the Coronet (originally opened as a theatre in 1898) and the Gate, as well as also several bars and clubs.
Much of the street was redeveloped in the 1950s with two large tower blocks being erected on the north and south sides of the street. At this time Notting Hill Gate tube station was also redeveloped linking two stations on the Circle and District and Central lines which had previously been accessed on either side of the street with an entirely underground station enabling interchange between the deep level Central Line and the sub-surface Circle and District Lines. The new tube station also acts as a pedestrian subway under the widened Notting Hill Gate, the subway leading to the ticket office, a toilet (now closed) and a newsagent (now closed).
Not all of Notting Hill Gate's original features were lost when it was redeveloped however, one good example of this being the Notting Hill Coronet. [1] Previously a theatre, it was converted into a cinema in 1923, and was saved from demolition by local activists in 1972 and 1989. In 2004, its long-term future was secured by the Kensington Temple who acquired the site with the intention of continuing to provide independent cinema. The Coronet is one of two famous cinemas on Notting Hill Gate, the other being the Gate [2] which opened in 1911 and still retains its Edwardian plasterwork, including a heavily coffered ceiling.
Notting Hill Gate is the site of Notting Hill Gate tube station which is on the Central, District and Circle lines.
It is also on the route of the 27, 28, 31, 52, 70, 94, 148, 328, 390, 452, N28, N31, N52 and N207 buses. There are several bus stops along both sides of Notting Hill Gate.
It is also on the route of the 24-hour Oxford Tube (coach) service.
To the south of Notting Hill Gate lies Kensington Church Street, with its restaurants and antique shops, Hillgate Village (a name given to the area immediately south of Notting Hill Gate with its multi-coloured houses) and Campden Hill Road. North from the tube station lies Pembridge Road, which leads to Westbourne Grove. This area is often packed with tourists heading to the nearby Portobello Road market, or to spot locations from the film Notting Hill .
The Notting Hill Gate Improvement Group [3] aims to improve the environment of Notting Hill Gate and neighbouring streets, working in partnership with the Council of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Land Securities and Delancey plc, which own many of the 1950s buildings. However, the London Evening Standard reported on 17 May 2010 that Land Securities and Delancey have put their Notting Hill Gate estate up for sale, with an asking price of £130 million. The 4.4-acre (1.8 ha) freehold estate includes about two-thirds of Notting Hill Gate and part of Kensington Church Street. Land Securities, which has owned it since the '50s, in partnership with Delancey Estates since 2004, decided to sell after plans to brighten up the area foundered in 2005 in the face of local and council opposition. [4]
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the United Kingdom. It includes affluent areas such as Notting Hill, Kensington, South Kensington, Chelsea, and Knightsbridge.
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and the Portobello Road Market. From around 1870, Notting Hill had an association with artists.
Notting Hill Gate is a London Underground station near Notting Hill, London, located on the street called Notting Hill Gate. On the Central line, it is between Holland Park to the west and Queensway to the east. On the District line and Circle line, it is between High Street Kensington and Bayswater stations. It is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and Zone 2.
Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham 4.9 miles (7.9 km) west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Bayswater is a London Underground station in the Bayswater area of the City of Westminster. The station is on the Circle and District lines, between Notting Hill Gate and Paddington stations and is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is less than 100 metres (330 ft) away from the Central line's Queensway station.
High Street Kensington is a London Underground station on Kensington High Street, in Kensington. The station is on the Circle line between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate, and the District line between Earl's Court and Notting Hill Gate and is in Travelcard Zone 1. Kensington Arcade forms the entrance to the station.
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from South to North, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London's notable street markets, known for its second-hand clothes, pastries and antiques. Every August since 1996, the Portobello Film Festival has been held in locations around Portobello Road and, in 2015, Portobello Radio was founded as the area's community radio station.
Ladbroke Grove is a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue.
Westbourne Park is a London Underground station in the Notting Hill area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines, between Ladbroke Grove and Royal Oak stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2.
Ladbroke Grove is a London Underground station on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, between Latimer Road and Westbourne Park stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2 set in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
North Kensington is an area of west and northwest London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green predominately in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly in the London Borough of Brent and City of Westminster. The names North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove describe the same area.
London Buses route 52 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Willesden bus garage and Victoria bus station, it is operated by Metroline.
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales. The A40 in London starts in the City of London and passes through six London Boroughs: Camden, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Ealing and Hillingdon, to meet the M40 motorway junction 1 at Denham, Buckinghamshire.
The Kensington Hippodrome was a racecourse built in Notting Hill, London, in 1837, by entrepreneur John Whyte. Whyte leased 140 acres (0.57 km2) of land from James Weller Ladbroke, owner of the Ladbroke Estate, and proceeded to enclose "the slopes of Notting Hill and the meadows west of Westbourne Grove" with a 7-foot (2.1 m) high wooden paling. The race course was not a financial success and it closed in 1842, the land being developed soon afterwards, as Ladbroke began building crescents of houses on Whyte's former race course.
The Ladbroke Estate was a substantial estate of land owned by the Ladbroke family in Notting Hill, London, England, in the early 19th century that was gradually developed and turned into housing during the middle years of the century, as London expanded. Characterized by terraces of stuccoed brick houses backing onto large private garden squares, much of the original building remains intact today, and now forms the heart of one of London's most expensive and fashionable neighbourhoods.
James Weller Ladbroke was a nineteenth-century landowner and the principal developer of the Ladbroke Estate, a substantial parcel of land in Notting Hill, London, England. Many streets in Notting Hill still bear the Ladbroke name today, including Ladbroke Grove and Ladbroke Square, and the former Ladbroke Estate is now a conservation area.
Arundel Gardens is a street and a communal garden square in Notting Hill, London, one of seven streets between Ladbroke Grove and Kensington Park Road of which five share in a communal garden between them. It was built in the 1860s, towards the later stages of the development of the Ladbroke Estate, until that decade part of the rural hinterland of London. Notable past residents of the street include psychologist Charles Samuel Myers, who coined the term shell shock, and the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Sir William Ramsay, discoverer of the noble gases.
Ladbroke Square is a garden square in Notting Hill, west London, England.
The Coronet Theatre is a theatre located in Notting Hill, London. The building originated as an Off West End theatre in 1898. It became The Coronet Cinema in 1923. In 2014, it was acquired by The Print Room, a nearby theatre company, which made it its new home. It produces a programme of theatre, art, dance, poetry, film and music. The theatre is run by Artistic Director Anda Winters.
Lancaster Road (West) Estate is a housing estate in North Kensington, west London.