Saturday Afternoon on Portobello Road, London

A curious mix of Victorian houses, painted in pastel shades, and stores selling everything from shoes, trendy clothes and antiques, to street performers playing music on the sidewalk, Portobello market on a Saturday is a good place to stroll for 3-4 hours for Indian visitors who are looking for bargain shopping in an interesting setting.

Street performers on Portobello road

It was drizzling on a rather cool Saturday morning as we hailed a taxi from outside Heathrow airport at London in May. We were on our way to Novotel at Wembley, a hotel that was just about a month old and therefore offering good rates.

After a quick change, my daughter suggested a visit to the Portobello market that’s open only on Saturdays. I don’t like the idea of visiting a market the first thing on a holiday, but we relented, my wife and I, as we had promised our children that this was a family holiday in which each member had the power to shuffle the planned itinerary.

By the time we arrived at Portobello road from the Notting Hill tube station side, it was afternoon. We settled in Manzara café and ordered fish and chips, pizza pepperoni, sandwiches and beverages to wash them down. The spontaneity of deciding to eat at the first place we came across before dissolving in the street that was a few steps away, our first gathering hunger in a foreign land, and the fact that sun had emerged to cheer our decision, all combined to a wonderful experience. We paid about 30 pounds, a figure that made me relax. If this was the first indication to go by, the 12 day self-made adventure seemed within our stipulated holiday budget. 

Portobello market, the largest antiques market in the UK, is a treasure for those hunting for their slice from the past: pocket watches, chronometers, sextants, coins, jewelry, china etc. But as we promenaded there, we realized, there’s a lot more to explore and experience.

George Orwell's house on Portobello road

The food came to good use as we walked the distance, about a kilometer across Notting Hill, meandering between committed buyers and curious wanderers. The children didn't complain, though there was nothing of immediate interest for them. Until my daughter pointed at the house of George Orwell. The Indian born, who had worked for the Imperial police in Burma (now Myanmar) before turning to writing, had actually lived in this small house in 1927 for a year.  The blue plaque did confirm that the British novelist and political essayist lived here. Transported back to the school days, our Orwellian influences woke up, as we joined many others clicking pictures before moving on.

 Antique sewing machines with a clothes shop underneath, Portobello road

Originally a farm that got its name when Admiral Edward Vernon defeated the Spanish occupants in the war of Jenkins’ ear at the city of Portobelo in modern day Panama, today this market is a confluence of the old and the new.   We continued on the Portobello road, which unlike London roads, curves, rising and falling all along on shallow gradients, mid to late Victorian terrace houses marking its edges. 

From the inside of the ice cream shop at Portobello

There are shops selling difficult-to-tell used clothes and shoes for five pounds apiece, a good bookstore that offers great discounts, and an ice cream shop that we made good use of towards the end. A Saturday afternoon well-spent.