- For the movie of the same name, see Notting_Hill_(movie)
- For Notting Hill in Melbourne, Australia, see Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of London located to the west of the centre and close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park. It lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Notting Hill has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants (particularly around Westbourne Grove). However it has an equally thriving "alternative" culture, exemplified by the numerous second-hand music stores around Notting Hill Gate.
In common with many parts of London, the reputation of the district has evolved over the years. In the postwar period the name Notting Hill evoked a down at heel area of cheap lodgings, epitomised by the notorious racketeering landlord Peter Rachman. It was documented in the famous 1950s Southam Street photographs of Roger Mayne, and features as a backdrop to novels by G.K. Chesterton (The Napoleon of Notting Hill), Colin Macinnes (Absolute Beginners) and Michael Moorcock (the Jerry Cornelius quartet). The area is also the setting of the Rita Tushingham movie The Knack (and how to get it) (1965).
Notting Hill is particularly known as the location for the annual Notting Hill Carnival, which takes place in August. This is a huge street festival and celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture, centred on parades of elaborately costumed dancers and colourfully decorated floats. The Carnival was originally established in the 1960s as a positive response to tensions between the recently arrived immigrant community and the majority community, culminating in the Notting Hill race riots.
Notting Hill is also home to the Portobello Road antique market, which has become a major London tourist attraction. The market takes place each Saturday and attracts both antique buyers and sellers and tourists. In recent years the growth of the market and increasingly touristic feel have led some to claim that quality has declined.
The area came to international attention with the release of the highly successful Hollywood movie of the same name. Notting Hill stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant and uses characteristic features of the area as a backdrop to the action, including the Portobello Road antiques market and enclosed square gardens. The shop in which the Hugh Grant character works is, in real life, a well-known Notting Hill bookshop.
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