Should you search a place to stay for a week-end, a business trip or a vacation, let us introduce you to two of the most charming and genuine neighborhoods of central London, Notting Hill and Bayswater. They are close to each other and both are perfect for a short or a longer stay. There you will enjoy the real London life away from more standardized (and often crowded) touristic areas. Still, most of the points of interest of our vibrant city are quickly and easily accessible.
Coloured facades of Notting Hill Houses
Georgian Architecture in Bayswater
Notting Hill : bohemian chic, nesty, trendy.
For years Notting Hill has been known for its candy coloured houses, its bohemian mood and its offbeat music venues and antiques shops. Of course the borough is also famous for its Carnival inspired by the culture of local people. The carnival is hold every August Bank Holiday since 1965 and it is the largest street festival in Europe.
In the 1960s and 1970s many artists, musicians and hippies settled in the area, attracted by this Caribbean influence and the blues music scene, as well as the nearby arts college. Today the neighbourhood is still home of eccentric people, artists, quaint shops, cafes. The mix of local and international residents gives to the area a cosmopolitan atmosphere. The south of Notting Hill has now gentrified while the north is remaining more popular and inhabited by people from Caribean origins.
The main touristic attraction in Notting Hill : Portobello Market
Portobello Road, the main Notting Hill shopping street is a must for tourists, stylists and vintage shoppers. Because of its weekly open air market with competing stallholders peddling their wares on Saturdays, Portobello Road is packed on week-ends but you can also enjoy lovely quiet cafes along side roads
Portobello Market.
UKAI's bar and restaurant t Portobello
Paul Smith, Notting Hill
Good food, good mood, that’s Notting Hill .
Notting Hill is also packed with a large variety of restaurants and bars like The Ledbury (Two Michelin stars, Modern French Menu), Granger, Ottolenghi, Jamie Oliver’s Recipease, The Rum Kitchen, Electric Dinner. If you cook, you will probably appreciate Provenance Village Butcher voted New Butcher’s Shop of the Year in 2014.
Ottolenghi, Notting Hill
Granger Notting Hill
Notting Hill, the leisure village
In Notting Hill you will also benefit from an assortment of exercise facilities and leisure centres as The Bodyist (lien vers notre blog) a gym private members club where expert trainers offer personalised exercise and nutrition programmes as a good range of sport and leisure wear and healthy products.
If you are an art fan, you will like probably the Notting Hill Arts Club and its music and arts events, from photographic exhibitions to electronic music nights. The Electric Cinema and The Gate Cinema show the latest blockbusters and a selection of arthouse films while The Gate Theatre’s performances are one of the most innovative in London.
Transport
Tube: Notting Hill Gate station is located on Central, Circle and District Lines. It’s seven minutes on the Central Line to Oxford Circus, while the Circle Line will take you across London to Tower Hill in 25 minutes.
Bus: Local bus routes serve Wandsworth (28), South Kensington (70), Golders Green (328), and Kensal Rise (452). Notting Hill Gate also has several 24 hour bus services, including the 27 (to Chiswick), 52 (to Victoria), 94 (to Piccadilly Circus), 148 (to White City), and 390 (to Archway).
Road: Notting Hill is a short drive from the A4, which leads to the M4 and the West of England in half an hour.
Cycle: The 20 minute cycle from Notting Hill to Oxford Circus is a pretty one, running along the edge of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.
Getting away: Locals can reach Heathrow in just half an hour as it’s only two Tube stops to Paddington and from there the Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes to reach the airport.
Bayswater : upcoming, vibrant, cosmopolite, green
Bayswater is still a rare neighbourhood in Central London occupied by local residents living round the year. It is also the most cosmopolite area in London, which may explain the incredible variety of restaurants on Westbourne Grove.
Westbourne Grove Bayswater
Westbourne Grove Bayswater
The amazing georgian architecture of Bayswater
Bayswater is well-known for its beautiful architecture, one of the most impressive in London with its white stucco terraces and its romantic Georgian squares.
Alignment of Georgian Houses in Bayswater
One of the magnificent squares in Bayswater
Bayswater Georgian Architecture
Bayswater Facades
Bayswater, impressively green
Its close proximity to Hyde Park and the gorgeous Kensington Gardens is also part of the attractivity of the area. The famous park and the squares make of Bayswater one of the greenest area in London.
Kensington Gardens
Hyde Park on Sunday Afternoon
The vicinity of the Paddington business area
Five minutes from Bayswater, the neighborhood of Paddington is getting more and more importance as a main business location. The railway station as the tube and bus station attract many companies and new office buildings are emerging every six months. So it is convenient for employees working there to live in Bayswater and enjoy its facilities and green spaces
The huge real estate investments in Bayswater
Due to the attractivity of its location and of its features, Bayswater benefits from heavy investments at the moment. The first shopping center built in London, the beautiful art deco style Whiteley’s, is under renovation and will include a luxurious hotel and apartments with boutiques, with the concept of a « shopping and eating out village ».
Whiteley's
Waitrose, the best grocery supermarkets chain in UK, extended its former store into a spectacular streetscape and a social hub with amenities like a free coffeshop for members. Tesco was also refurbished on Queensway into a larger and more modern shop whilst a 300 years old pub was recently sold for a record price with the intention to convert it into luxury flats.
Waitrose
More than this, many of the budget hotels that settled in the stucco terraces are beeing replaced by residential flats or new and more luxurious hotels. New high end apartment buildings appear on Westbourne Grove as the superb Queens Building located in a former art deco movie theater, or the Westbourne.
The Bayswater Village
Bakery on Westbourne Grove
You will find on Westbourne Grove and around plenty of food stores, restaurants and shops for every need. Rare exotic vegetables at Ben’s, high-end organic products at Planet Organic (the first and one of the best organic shop in London) , L’Artisan du Chocolat, the Modern British Hereford’s, the fabulous Libanese restaurant Al Waha, the very good Modern French Cepage, the exquisite Indian Durbar and plenty of others will help you not to eat the same food two times in your week.
You can also treat yourself at the excellent Budhist Centre on Porchester Road which offers yoga and meditation courses, at the Victorian Porchester Spa or of course, in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens which are located litterally at 5’ walk.
You can also treat yourself at the excellent Budhist Centre on Porchester Road which offers yoga and meditation courses, at the Victorian Porchester Spa or of course, in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens which are located litterally at 5’ walk.
Transportation
Wit hits 4 Tube stations and many buses lines, Bayswater is very well connected.
Bayswater station offers Circle and District Line, other nearby stations include Edgware Road, Lancaster Gate, and Royal Oak for Bakerloo and Hammersmith and City.
Bus: There are bus connections to all over London, including the 7 (to Russell Square), the 23 (to Liverpool Street), the 27 (to Chalk Farm), the 70 (to Acton) and the 148 (to Camberwell Green).
The arrival of Crossrail at Paddington station in 2018 will mean the journey to Liverpool Street station to just 10 minutes.
Rail: The Heathrow Express at Paddington Station takes you to the airport in 15 minutes.
Paddington station also offers services to the western suburbs and beyond to destinations including Devon, Cornwall, Bristol and Wales.
You do not need to choose between Notting Hill and Bayswater…
This beeing said, in London the boundaries between the neighborhoods are not always definite, they fluctuate evolve with time and with people. Just look at differents maps to have an idea of this.
More than this, our Boutique Gardens apartment is conveniently located at the boundaries between Bayswater and Notting Hill.
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