Time: 2 hours Start: Goldhawk Road station Finish: Notting Hill
Gate Distance: 4.2 Miles
SHEPHERD’S BUSH
Start from Goldhawk Road tube and proceed directly into the bustling bartertown of Shepherd’s
Bush Market, where Phil Daniels flees a gang of rival Mod hooligans in the’60’s-set ‘Quadrophenia’ (1979).
Stroll along neighbouring Lime Grove, once the site of Gainsborough Studios, where Hitchcock shot ‘The 39 Steps’. All that now remains is a redbrick mini-estate named Gainsborough Court, but it’s worth a look. Arriving on Uxbridge Road, take a left and a right into Stanlake Road, where on the corner of Stanlake Villas you’ll find the building where Michael Caine’s arrogant secret agent Harry Palmer keeps his London bolthole in ‘The Ipcress
File’ (1965).
HOLLAND PARK
Head back to Uxbridge Road, turn
left along the edge of Shepherd’s
Bush Green and follow the painted sheep
through the dank and urine-stained
underbelly of the Westway. Emerge into
the lush cleanliness of Holland Park and
bear right into Queensdale Road, passing
the Sikh temple (the oldest in Europe)
recognisable from ‘Bend it Like
Beckham’ (2002).
Take a left into the narrow and charming Princes Place and
follow the road round to No 49, site of
David Hemmings’s timber-beamed
photography studio from ‘Blow Up’ (1966), now an architects’ practice.
WESTBOURNE GREEN
Take a right into
Tavistock Road,
and before long
you’ll recognise
The Tavistock,
once briefly known
as the Mother Black
Cap in tribute to its
appearance in the ’60s-steeped hippie
elegy and drinkinggame
favourite ‘Withnail & I’ (1986).
Resist the temptation
to write ‘I Fuck Arses’
on the gents’ wall.
Proceed along
Tavistock Road to
Westbourne Park
tube, then take a right
along Western Road
and Shrewsbury Road
until you hit St Stephens
Gardens, home of Michael
Caine’s eponymous gadabout in ‘Alfie’ (1966).
Say ‘What’s it all about?’
in a south-London
accent. Turn right along Talbot Road until
you hit Powis Square, where the facing
corner house is immediately recognisable as
Turner’s flat in Nicolas Roeg and Donald
Cammell’s nightmarish comedown classic ‘Performance’ (1968). If you’re feeling
brave, drop copious amounts of acid and
attempt to switch personalities with your
walking companions.
NOTTING HILL
Take a left along Colville Terrace to
Ledbury Road and follow it up to
Pembridge Road and into the core of Notting
Hill Gate.
Movie locations come thick and
fast here, from The Beatles’ headlong flight
from the opening of ‘A Hard Days’ Night’
(1964) to memorable scenes from classics
including ‘The Knack… and How to Get
It’ (1965) and ‘Alfie’.
The avid film buff can
also check out the ‘Stage and Screen’
secondhand DVD emporium, or visit the
Coronet or Gate cinemas. Everyone else can
just collapse into one of the area’s many
hostelries have some booze.
PORTOBELLO ROAD MARKET
Take a left and a right to find Portland
Road, and follow it into the heart of
west London. Cross Ladbroke Grove and
proceed to Portobello Road Market, scene
of a classic cockernee song-and-dance
sequence from Disney’s cutesy family
musical ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’
(1970).
Mourn the absence of tap-dancinghookers and knock-kneed
English bobbies. Walkers
who have a penchant for
the modern rom-com may also
recognise Portobello Road from
Hugh Grant’s season-shifting
mooch in ‘Notting Hill’ (1999).
The market began in the late 1860s or early 1870s on Saturdays. By the 1920s the market was being held every day of the week, although it was some time before a daily market was officially accepted. By the 1960s the market was world famous, and was one of the icons of swinging London.
