Westbourne Park Road: The Blue Door
Why is it significant?
Stroll along this ordinary residential street of painted terraces and quiet front gardens. These are private homes, so enjoy them from the pavement. But for millions of film fans, one front door on this road is as famous as any palace gate in London.
Key Facts
| Place | Westbourne Park Road: The Blue Door |
|---|---|
| Address | Westbourne Park Road, London W11 1EH, United Kingdom |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.51690, -0.20600 |
| Part of Walk | Racecourse, Carnival and the Blue Door: Hidden Notting Hill & Portobello Road, London |
| Generated | Generated |
Stroll along this ordinary residential street of painted terraces and quiet front gardens. These are private homes, so enjoy them from the pavement. But for millions of film fans, one front door on this road is as famous as any palace gate in London.
In the 1999 film Notting Hill, Hugh Grant's character William lives behind a bright blue door, and it is through that door that he stumbles out, half dressed, into a crowd of photographers. The door was real. It belonged to a house the screenwriter Richard Curtis had once lived in, and he wrote what he knew: his neighbourhood, his market, his corner shop, his friends' cluttered kitchens.
Fame is not always kind to a front door. After the film came out, fans queued to be photographed in front of it, and the original was later sold. Its replacement has changed colour more than once since then... and the residents of this street have developed an impressive patience with strangers holding phones.
The film's most celebrated sequence was shot just round the corner on Portobello Road. William walks the length of the market in what looks like one continuous shot, while the seasons change around him: summer stalls, autumn rain, winter snow, spring blossom, as if a whole year passes in a single stroll. It took careful planning, fake snow and a little help from the special effects team, a small piece of movie magic made from a very real street.
The film has its critics. Many people pointed out that its Notting Hill was strangely missing the Caribbean community that had shaped this neighbourhood for half a century, people whose music and courage you will meet at the next stop. It is a fair point, and a good reason to keep walking. Walk back east along Westbourne Park Road, across Portobello Road, and turn north into All Saints Road, a short street with a very big story.