Man and van in Notting Hill
Two calendars run this neighbourhood: Portobello's market days, which close the road, and one August weekend, which closes everything.
Covering Portobello Road, Ladbroke Grove, Westbourne Grove, Holland Park, Golborne Road and North Kensington.
Man and van in Notting Hill: Portobello Road closes from ten till four
Portobello Road closes to vehicles while the market trades, from 10am to 4pm. From Friday to Sunday that is the whole stretch between Chepstow Villas and Golborne Road; from Monday to Thursday only the middle section, between Elgin Crescent and Cambridge Gardens. The stalls run Monday to Saturday, with Thursday a half day and Saturday the big one, when the antiques end fills from early morning. A flat above a Portobello shop is loaded before ten from the road itself, or from the nearest cross street, which stays open: Elgin Crescent, Blenheim Crescent or Lancaster Road, with the carry running through the crowd.
Golborne Road, at the top, has its own market, fullest on Fridays and Saturdays with a handful of stalls on the other weekdays. An early start, with the van gone before the barriers go up at ten, is the quietest way to move anywhere near either road.
Carnival: Sunday and Monday closed, the days either side restricted
Notting Hill Carnival takes over W10 and W11 on the Sunday and Monday of the August bank holiday. The roads inside the route close to traffic, parking suspensions go up across the area in the days before, and the clear-up runs into the Tuesday. No van will reach a door inside the route on those days, and the streets around it are little better.
If your lease ends that week, move the week before. If a date in late August is unavoidable, choose a day well clear of the weekend and expect the suspensions to be in place already.
Ladbroke crescents, communal gardens and the towers of W10
The Ladbroke estate, the crescents and squares between Ladbroke Grove and Kensington Park Road, is the stucco Notting Hill of the pictures: tall houses backing on to enclosed communal gardens. There is no road on the garden side, so everything leaves by the front, down the steps from a raised ground floor, with the basement flat reached from below.
North of the Westway, W10 changes. Trellick Tower and the estates around Golborne Road have lifts that serve many flats and service roads the van must use; Portobello Square, the rebuilt Wornington Green, has new blocks with marked bays. Pembridge Villas and Westbourne Grove, to the east, are mansion flats and converted villas with porters to notify.
In by the Westway, out by Holland Park Avenue, and one borough-wide zone
The Westway, the A40 on its viaduct, crosses the top of the neighbourhood and is the fast way in from the west or out to it; Ladbroke Grove runs under it from north to south. Notting Hill Gate and Holland Park Avenue, the A402, are the southern edge and slow for most of the day. Kensington Park Road and Pembridge Road are narrow and parked both sides.
The whole borough is one controlled parking zone, typically in force Monday to Saturday through the working day, though Saturday hours vary street by street, so read the signs. The bays near Portobello are the fullest in it. A bay suspension from the council needs several working days, and more on a market street. On the crescents the nearest legal stop can be round the curve from your door.
- Whether the address is on Portobello or a cross street, and which day the move is
- That the house backs on to a communal garden, so the front steps are the only way
- Which tower or estate in W10, and the service road the concierge uses
- Whether a bay suspension is in place, and from when
Removals in Notting Hill: pick the day before the van
Here the date and the hour do more than the van size. A man with a van at eight in the morning reaches a Portobello door that is unreachable at noon; house removals from a Ladbroke crescent in late August are a week's planning that the same job in September is not. Fix the day around the market and the Carnival, then book the hours for the steps, the carry and the lift.
- Portobello Road is closed to vehicles from 10am to 4pm on market days: the full stretch Friday to Sunday, the middle section Monday to Thursday.
- Carnival: no moves on the Sunday and Monday of the August bank holiday, and suspensions either side.
- Ladbroke crescents: there is no road on the communal garden side; the front steps are the only way.
- W10 towers and estates: a shared lift and a service road, so tell the concierge the time.
- The borough-wide parking zone runs Monday to Saturday in most streets; book a bay suspension several working days ahead.
Congestion Charge and ULEZ in Notting Hill
Notting Hill is outside the Congestion Charge zone. A move within W10 or W11, or to Bayswater, Kensal, Shepherd's Bush or Holland Park, never pays it; the zone's western edge is Edgware Road and Park Lane, a mile or more east.
ULEZ and any charge are in the driver’s price. How pricing works
What a move from Notting Hill costs
Other areas close to Notting Hill
SW3, SW5, SW7, W8, W10, W11
W1, W2, SW1, NW8
W6, W12, W14, SW6
NW2, NW6, NW9, NW10, HA0, HA9
Moving in Notting Hill: your questions
Before 10am or after 4pm, when the barriers are down. Between those hours the road is closed to vehicles, the full length from Friday to Sunday and the middle section on other days, so the van stops on the nearest cross street and everything is carried through the stalls.
Move the week before. Carnival closes the roads inside the route on the Sunday and Monday, and parking suspensions go up in the days either side, so no van will reach a door in W10 or W11 that weekend.
No. There is no road on the garden side, so everything leaves by the front steps. Tell the driver the house backs on to a communal garden so the hours allow for it.
Not for a move within the neighbourhood or to the areas around it. The zone starts at Edgware Road and Park Lane, to the east.