This London street has been named one of the world’s most beautiful
There is no original title provided to identify any biased words or phrases.
From world-famous museums to energetic pubs on street corners bustling with the sound of chatter, London is famous for many things.
Now, one street has been named one of the most beautiful in the world. And no, it’s not in Elephant and Castle – but Portobello Road in West London.
Londoners are well-acquainted with the fact that, despite it genuinely being one of the most exciting cities in the world, it’s often romanticised by tourists.
Picture perfect snaps of the classic side to the Big Smoke – red buses, telephone boxes and picturesque flower markets – are often shared online with captions full of yearning.
These posts lead those of us who live here to joke ‘where’s this?’, pointing the fans towards the rain, the grey tower blocks and the overwhelming smell of weed and vapes on just about every corner.
As is often the case with many cities (read: New York and Paris, which can be similarly dishevelled and heavily romanticised, as London is), the reality is different from the expectation. That’s perhaps the case with Portobello Road, which according to Condé Nast Traveller, is one of the most beautiful streets in the world.
It might be relatively colourful, and there are a handful of famous pubs dotted around the place that’ll no doubt charge you £15 for an Aperol Spritz, but is Portobello Road really all that?
Found in the Notting Hill district of Kensington and Chelsea, Portobello Road runs roughly parallel to Ladbroke Grove. Each weekend, the famous Portobello Road Market lines the streets, where visitors can purchase second-hand clothes, pastries, antiques and the like.
It wasn’t always famous. Before the Victorian Era, the street was little more than a country road that connected Portobello Farm with Kensal Green. But, as the area became more developed in the nineteenth century, and as the Hammersmith and City tube line was built, it became increasingly built up.
Nowadays, Portobello Road is frequented by thousands of people. Statistics from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea suggest that between 100,00 and 150,000 people visit the market each Saturday, and over 17 million people travel through Notting Hill Gate station each year.
It’s known for being diverse, too, with the Notting Hill Carnival held annually on the August Bank Holiday Weekend in celebration of West London’s African-Caribbean culture spanning Notting Hill, Ladbroke Grove, Westbourne Park, Bayswater and Royal Oak.
And, of course, who could forget the impact that Roger Michell’s classic 1999 film ‘Notting Hill,’ starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, had on the local area? No doubt, it played a role in the area being romanticised as home to quaint bookshops (where a charming real-life William Thacker might be lurking) as well as colourful houses.
However, the area is increasingly touristy, which has perhaps tainted its ‘beautiful’ status, with various Reddit threads lending themselves to the debate surrounding Notting Hill and overtourism.
‘Walked through those roads with the colourful houses near Portobello Market and was honestly stunned,’ wrote @mumzspaghetti.
‘A good 100 or so people hanging about in front of people’s homes taking Instagram pics and one woman even had the audacity to open someone’s front gate to stand in front of their door for a pic?! Is it just me or have people forgotten how to act like normal f***ing human beings?’
‘It is awful for the residents, it really is. Some people have even put signs in their window requesting random people don’t enter their gardens or hang out on their front steps,’ added one of the comments.
Another person, who used to work in the area, recalled scenarios where he’d seen people doing a ‘full’ photoshoot with ‘suitcases full of clothes’ they’d brought along.
‘I used to purposely walk through the shot just to p**s them off,’ @RoyTheBoy84 penned. ‘What gives them the right?’
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London street named one of the most beautiful in the world comes with an unfortunate problem