Comfort Inn Notting Hill

Notting Hill History

Notting Hill, a trendy locale of west London, is home to many artists and musicians, with large number of bars, clubs and coffee shops. The leafy avenues give it village-like feel.

In early times, the area was entirely rural within the northern district of Kensington. The hill from which Notting Hill takes its name is probably the hill upon which Ladbroke Grove is built. The name came to prominence when a gate was constructed at the foot of the hill to collect money from people using the road. The point at which the gate stood was known as Notting Hill Gate. The gate was removed in the 19th century.

There is, therefore, a difference between modern Notting Hill, the area surrounding the hill and Notting Hill Gate. Both are within the locality of Notting Hill.

When the westward expansion of London reached Bayswater in the early 19th century, the main landowner Ladbroke family turned the area into a fashionable suburb of the capital by laying streets and houses. Many of the streets bear the Ladbroke name, including Ladbroke Grove and Ladbroke Square.

The houses were placed around the edge of the garden square with the street on the other side of the house. This meant that the houses had direct access at the back to a secluded communal garden, to which people on the street did not have access. These communal gardens continue to provide the area with much of its attraction for the rich householders.

The Notting Hill houses appealed to the upper middle class, who could live there in Belgravia style at lower prices. The reputation of the district evolved over the course of the 20th century. Large Notting Hill houses were increasingly split into multiple occupations. In the postwar period the name Notting Hill evoked a down-at-heel area of cheap lodgings.

But by the 1980s, houses regained favour of families who could afford them, and Notting Hill is now one of London's most desirable areas. Notting Hill is characterised by stucco-fronted pillar-porched houses, private and communal gardens, public parks at Holland Park and Kensington Gardens, and trendy shops.