The whole place is of course a ghastly, twee, Richard-Curtis-ruined inner suburb. The shops are expensive, the artisan bakeries wholly impractical, and the Portobello Road stallholders are largely cynical and just want to relieve tourists of their cash. The pubs are surprisingly edgy and the Greggs, the Sainsbury’s Local and the Tesco Express are probably the most authentic shops for miles (the latter actually has “established 1971” written on it, which is either genuine or a very wry joke). But you can’t help liking it because it is colourful, and you don’t have to buy anything of consequence. I settled for a vegan sausage roll and an alcohol free Guinness.
To be fair there are a handful of places such as this Italian restaurant that look as though they were here before Hugh Grant got gauche and horny with Julia Roberts, and the Salvation Army people with their cheerful building probably don’t even realise that there is a film at all. Except there is , and people actually queue to have their picture taken in front of the blue door that Rhys Evans posed in wearing nothing but his underpants
And of course the bookshop is just down the road.
For me the really fun bit was the many shades of houses in their primary colours, wearing trendy shutters and doorknobs and gigantic locks by Banham (who else).
There were a couple of standout moments. One was sitting drinking my Guinness when this chap went by:
The other was this mural which really is a wonderful example of Trompe-l’œil:
I had to get right up close to check it out, it is very very clever.
Here are a few other local shots:
Is it an area worth visiting? Well yes, but keep your hands in your pockets or you will find them legally picked by purveyors of overpriced tat. Oh and avoid the man with the coffee stall who is exceedingly grumpy and yelled at me even before I had pointed my camera at him. Some people …
Eyecatching 