As you know by now, I spend far too much time on Portobello Road, scavenging the vintage stands and roaming through the arcades, so I decided to do something useful with all this knowledge – and would now like to present to you your own Portobello Market Shopping Guide. Hopefully this will make it easier for you to find your way around the market and locate that specific vintage piece that you have your heart set on, may it be a handbag or shoes or jewellery or clothing! (You will find a google map at the end of the post to help you navigate your way around!)
A Sweet Introduction – Pembridge Road to Chepstow Villas
For those of us who fell in love with Notting Hill when watching the Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant-movie, the beginning part of Portobello Road gives us just the beautiful welcoming that we were hoping for: quaint and colourful little houses with doors to match and stunning trees in bloom:
The front doors in Notting Hill are so pretty with their glorious colours!
There are a few stalls plotted around this part of the road as well, mostly souvenirs stalls, but I tend to find that the row of houses is what you end up admiring.
These comical signs are always a favourite when you can’t decide what to buy someone for their birthday!
Antiques – Chepstow Villas to Elgin Crescent
On Saturdays this stretch of Portobello Market is lined with vintage and antique stalls and you can get your hands on everything from 1950s toy cars, vintage boxing gloves, silver, jewellery to antique clocks, hats… Some traders are also here on Fridays but Saturday is the main market day.
I would suggest that you get there at about 10am, because I have made the mistake of showing up super early to see all the goodies, only to realise that half the traders haven’t even arrived yet – let alone set up their stalls! After 4pm many of them have started closing down (some even earlier) but some troopers are still going until after 5pm.
Be patient and you can find some beautiful pieces. It is hard to know what is old and what is new – which is why I am here to tell you all about it!
All the styles of crockery – perfect for anyone dreaming of an Alice in Wonderland -tea party!
This section of the market is like roaming through grandma’s wardrobe and we love it all!
Do make sure to pop into one of the arcades behind the stalls, to check out the more high end jewellery traders’ collections. These guys operate on a more typical trader schedule, which means that they will be there from 8am until maybe 3pm – it depends a bit from trader to trader. The rows of jewels that meet your eye are however breathtaking so it is definitely worth a visit!
When your powers start to run out just reload with amazing crêpes from one of the stalls. It will be loaded with nutella and bananas, or lemon and sugar, whatever takes your fancy… mmm!
Food from all corners of the world – Elgin Crescent to Talbot Road
Freshly baked bread… the smell is just divine and you will end up buying everything!
Fresh fruit and vegetables for a fraction of the supermarket price – and it always tastes so much better when you have handpicked it whilst listening to someone shouting ‘five apples for 50p ladies and gentlemen!’
Oh man, I love this part of the market, where the stalls are buckling under the weight of fresh butternut squash, juicy tomatoes, papayas, lychees… every fruit and vegetable you can think of! Some stalls sell freshly baked bread and others make paella and serve with a smell so divine you won’t know what to do with yourself! (Did I forget to mention I am also a total foodie?!)
You can of course also get your hands on some gorgeous flowers on this section of Portobello Road
… and fashion is of course a recurring theme all along Portobello Market!
An eclectic mixture of everything – Talbot Road to under the Westway Bridge
This section of the road has a wonderful mix of everything, from modern to vintage, to a Tesco supermarket, cheap mobile phone covers and random gadgets… but don’t make the common tourist mistake here of turning around here, thinking you have seen at all the vintage stuff. Instead, do continue reading and walking, as towards the end we will get to some very stunning second hand and vintage shops and stalls.
The fabulous Notting Hill bag which you can buy all over the market!
Some of the shops just keep surprising, as they might not look special from the outside, but once you step inside a whole new world of things you didn’t know you needed, are for sale. These pictures are from Sitara on 245 Portobello Road London W11 1LT.
I absolutely love mannequins and one day I will have one or two in my walk-in-closet – well, that is the dream!
Second Hand Fashion – Portobello Road to Ladbroke Grove, after the bridge
When you have walked further than you think you ought to you will get to the Westway Bridge. Go under the bridge and you will find to your left a Second Hand Fashion-heaven opening up, and carrying on all the way to Ladbroke Grove:
Stunning handbags
You can spend hours just browsing through the beautiful pieces that the knowledgable traders have searched high and low for
Patterns, colours and materials that have stood the test of time
If you ask the trader about the garments they are often able to tell you the most fascinating facts and stories
Second Hand and Vintage Clothes and Furniture – Cambridge Gardens to Oxford Gardens
This part of Portobello Road is always less crowded than the rest, as the road is oh so very long, and everyone don’t have the energy to go all the way to the end. Most people don’t even know that there are still treasures to be discovered once you get past the Westway bridge!
Heaven for a true vintage lover, with heaps of bags, shoes and belts!
My friend Lee and I ventured all the way there though (mostly as we were heading to the glorious Thai Rice for some well deserved lunch) and she ended up buying the most gorgeous leather bag, which made the wander totally worth it:
A gorgeous vintage find from one of the stalls between Cambridge Gardens and Oxford Gardens
I would love to read about your experiences from Portobello Market – what you bought or what you thought about the market. Did you have some exotic food and was it very busy when you were there? Or maybe you haven’t visited yet but are longing to go? Do leave me a comment below dear, I can’t wait to hear from you!
Decades of Elegance 