Portobello Road Market and Golborne Road Market

I've lived in Notting Hill for the last five years AND I work in the film industry so please believe me when I tell you that the Travel Bookshop on Blenheim Crescent is NOT the bookshop that was featured in the film "Notting Hill". The actual shop they used doesn't exist: it was built as a "front" across a stretch of road, that is the entrance to a school, between Kingsland Butchers and another shop. So please don't go to the Travel Bookshop and say, as I have actually heard people do: "I can't believe Julia Roberts was in this shop". Well, she wasn't. The shop in the film was based on the Travel Bookshop but that is no excuse for hanging around on Blenheim Crescent. Move on people and enjoy all the fabulous authentic attractions of this great area.

If you've read any of my other posts you already know that I am a huge history buff. This extends to antiques, so I was really excited to get to the market. Unfortunately, I was a little dissapointed. I've posted some photos and a short narrative on my travel blog at:

http://adams-travel-blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-london.html

It just seemd like more junk than antiques. I spent a long time looking, but no realy gems. That, and the prices were pretty high. I wouldn't visit the market unless you have plenty of time in London. It wasn't horrible, but there are many more things that would be a better use of your time.

This market is on a level all of its own where London markets are concerned for more than one reason.

Firstly, its sheer scope. While some markets stretch a block or two down a street, this one goes on forever. There's a French Market at the north end of the proceedings and I swear that by the time I got there from the beginning (the side closest to the Notting Hill Gate tube stop), it honestly felt like I had walked half way to France (though in the wrong direction).

And yet that's the second thing that separates this market out from the rest. Despite the fact that it goes on for what must be at least a mile, there isn't that much repetition. There are certainly multiple t-shirt vendors but for every one of these, there are five booths of people who look like they just cleaned out their attics. And yet these are not garage sales, they are highly knowledgeable collectors.

The final thing that separates Portobello Road Market out is that it's well organized. Unlike a lot of London's other markets which have no rhyme or reason, Portobello Road is organized by type of merchandise - much like a slightly anarchic department store. Antiques are next to antiques, sundries are next to sundries, and (sneakily half way) food is next to food.

This allows for price comparison shopping as well as making the market into a set of more easily accessible (at least if you know which side streets spill into the sections) mini-markets.

All of this and the regular stores and cafes along the route are open (though don't expect deals in these).

I can see how actual Londoners aren't as fond of this market as tourists since it is so different than other markets in the city and it's not just somewhere to pop into in the morning to buy some cheese or whatnot. But I find it a highly recommendable Sunday morning stop on any tourist travel plan. Especially with its great accessibility off the Central Line which makes it not out of the way despite being west of most of visitor's London.