Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares in the
Location
At Ossington Street/Kensington Palace Gardens, the Bayswater Road becomes Notting Hill Gate, continuing westward until it becomes Holland Park Avenue, just before it reaches Ladbroke Grove.
Notting Hill Gate is distinct from Notting Hill, although the two are often confused, with "Notting Hill" being used as an abbreviation of "Notting Hill Gate" and "Notting Hill Gate" suggesting to outsiders that it is the full description of Notting Hill. In fact, however, the street named Notting Hill Gate is well to the south of the hill (with its summit at the junction of Ladbroke Grove and Kensington Park Gardens) which gives its name to the area known (long before the establishment of the Notting Hill toll gate) as Notting Hill.
Character
Notting Hill Gate is home to a variety of stores, restaurants, cafés and estate agents as well as more specialist stores which include rare records and antiques, as well as two historic cinemas, the
1950s redevelopment
Much of the street was redeveloped in the 1950s with two large
Not all of Notting Hill Gate's original features were lost when it was redeveloped however, one good example of this being the
Transport links
London Underground
Notting Hill Gate is the site of Notting Hill Gate tube station which is on the Central, District and Circle lines.
London Buses
It is also on the route of the 27, 28, 31, 52, 70, 94, 148, 328, 390, 452, N28, N31, N52 and N207 buses. There are several bus stops along both sides of Notting Hill Gate.
Oxford Tube coach service
It is also on the route of the 24-hour
Taxis
Although there are no taxi ranks on Notting Hill Gate itself it is easy to hail a black cab anywhere on the street.
Environs
To the south of Notting Hill Gate lies Kensington Church Street, with its restaurants and antique shops, Hillgate Village (a name given to the area immediately south of Notting Hill Gate with its multi-coloured houses) and
The Notting Hill Gate Improvement Group
In the media
- The Gate Bar, which is located in the basement of the Gate Cinema, was used as a location in the television comedy Absolutely Fabulous (season 4, "Paralox").
- The loft at 18 Powis Terrace was used as the cast residence for the American reality TV show, The Real World: London, which aired in 1995.[5] The ground floor of the building is leased to ScreenFace, a professional make-up supply company.[5]
- Van Morrison mentions Notting Hill Gate in his songs "Friday’s Child" and "He Ain't Give You None".
- In episode 1 of Come Back Mrs. Noah, a futuristic lift gives passengers directions in a Caribbean accent -- Ian Lavender explains the device was "made in Notting Hill Gate."
- In the Are You Being Served episode, "Fire Practice", Mr Humphries (John Inman) mentions he lives "just near Notting Hill Gate."
- Jonathan Raban's radio play "At the Gate" is set in Notting Hill Gate.
- Filmmaker Louis Theroux raps about driving his Fiat through Notting Hill Gate in his viral rap "Jiggle Jiggle."
References
- ^ Coronet website
- ^ The Gate history
- ^ Notting Hill Gate Improvement Group website
- ^ "Evening Standard" Notting Hill Gate for sale". Archived from the original on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ a b The Powis Terrace flat at Real World Houses