BootsnAll Travel Network



Hip Notting Hill

We didn’t realize that our neighborhood was “hip” until we were sitting in our hotel/bar in Notting Hill a couple days ago and I noticed a newspaper clipping pinned up on the wall above me with a picture of Clinton standing at the same bar with local beer in hand. He and 9 presidential guards had stopped here at the Portobello Gold Pub for a beer and bite to eat on the recommendation of the British Ambassador’s daughter who comes here with her friends. Then I guess because of some hitch they left without paying and of course it made the front page of one of the neighborhood tabloids.

Our $70 room room above the Portobello Gold Pub is barely big enough to turn around in. Toilet down the hall. Tiny sink in the shower which is barely big enough to turn around in. The food is great in the pub downstairs. And all the free internet you want!

The movie, Nottinghill, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant was filmed here…Grant’s travel bookstore, now a tourist destination, is just down the street. Diana used to come here to eat-Nicole Kidman comes here to shop.

The story is that the area used to be racially intolerant in 50’s and 60’s so the black community took charge of creating a multicultural festival here which has became the biggest and most outrageous festival in Europe…drawing thousands from all over the world every August.



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