Moving house in Notting Hill
Notting Hill is north of our base, through Earl's Court and Kensington. Its best-known streets are on the old Ladbroke Estate: curving crescents such as Blenheim and Elgin, white stucco terraces with pillared porches, and communal garden squares behind them, Ladbroke Square among them.
Many of those big houses were split into flats in the twentieth century, and plenty still are. A move often means a raised ground floor up stone steps, a basement flat down steep outside steps, or a top-floor flat several storeys up with no lift. We note every flight on the survey and size the crew to the climb.
Behind the main streets run the mews, small cobbled lanes of former stables and coach houses. Some are narrow or turn at the entrance, so a large van has to stop at the end and the crew carries in. We check how close the van can get before the day.
Portobello Road is a working market from Monday to Saturday, and busiest on Fridays and Saturdays, when the antiques stalls are out. A move on a street off Portobello Road goes more smoothly earlier in the week. Every August bank holiday weekend, the Notting Hill Carnival closes roads across the area on the Sunday and Monday. Avoid that weekend if you can.
Parking is the easy part. Kensington and Chelsea says a home removal does not need a bay suspension: the van can stop in any parking bay or on a single yellow line while loading is continuous. A few streets on the eastern edge, towards Westbourne Park, are in Westminster, which has its own rules, so check your council first.
