Notting Hill - Geography

Geography

The hill from which Notting Hill takes its name is still clearly visible, with its summit in the middle of Ladbroke Grove, at the junction with Kensington Park Gardens.

Notting Hill has no official boundaries, so definitions of which areas fall under Notting Hill vary. The postcode "W11", centred on the Post Office in Westbourne Grove, near the junction with Denbigh Road, is the one most closely associated with Notting Hill, although the postcode immediately to the north, "W10", covers that part of North Kensington which would fall within a broader definition. The local historian Florence Gladstone, in her much reprinted work "Notting Hill in Bygone Days" defines Notting Hill as the whole of that part of Kensington which is north of the road known as Notting Hill Gate.

Notting Hill therefore forms the major part of North Kensington, and is considered an alternative name; though estate agents differentiate North Kensington as a distinct area including Notting Dale and the area east of Ladbroke Grove leading up to Harrow Road. That part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea roughly encompassed by the electoral wards of Saint Charles, Golborne, Notting Barns, Colville, Norland, and Pembridge, which is bounded on the north by Harrow Road and on the south by Notting Hill Gate and Holland Park Avenue, includes all areas known as Notting Hill, including Notting Barns, the centre of the Notting Hill race riot. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, is known as part of the "Notting Hill Set", though he states he lives in North Kensington.

There are four tube stations in the area: Westbourne Park, Ladbroke Grove, Latimer Road and Notting Hill Gate. Ladbroke Grove tube station was called Notting Hill when it opened in 1864. The name was changed in 1919 to avoid confusion with the new Notting Hill Gate station.

Notting Hill is part of the parliamentary constituency of Kensington, represented by Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind.