The 20 best things to do in Notting Hill

London’s largest antiques market occupies a prime, colourful stretch of Notting Hill, an area that manages to feel diverse and surprising despite heavy gentrification. Portobello Road Market is really five markets in one, with different sections dedicated to secondhand goods; clothing and fashion; household essentials; fruit, veg and other food; and the main event: antiques. It’s the place to sift through thousands of one-off treasures and haggle for bargains on pieces you’ll get compliments on for the rest of time.

Under the Westway and along the walkway to Ladbroke Grove, second-hand clothes sit next to the wares of up-and-coming fashion designers, while fruit, veg and other food stalls add to the mix. 

Notting Hill Carnival is one of London’s annual highlights – it wouldn’t be summer in the city without it. Every late August bank holiday, the streets of west London are flooded with an explosion of colourful, feather-decked dancers, steel pan drums, booming basslines and plenty of Red Stripe-fueled good times. 

Carnival is one of the longest-running street parties in the world. Started by London’s Caribbean communities in 1966, it’s a celebration of freedom and Caribbean culture, with an iconic parade showcasing the best of mas, soca, calypso, steel bands and sound system. Today, more than two million people flock to Notting Hill to dance in the streets of W11 and every year it really is a special event.

Founded in 1984 by consumer historian Robert Opie, and based in its current home since 2015, this Notting Hill museum houses highlights from a collection of some 12,000 items tracing the history of branding in Britain over the past 200 years. Its permanent display is called the ‘Time Tunnel’, and comprises of a maze of dark cabinets stuffed with wrappers, magazines, posters, toys, boxes and other colourful curios arranged in date order. A highlight – literally light thanks to a sunny, south-facing gallery room – is a sort of shrine to a few particularly recognisable brands. One cabinet holds every iteration of can and bottle produced by Guinness, another is packed with cereal boxes from Kellogg’s. Does it get any better?

This freshly spruced-up Notting Hill boozer has been given the gastropub treatment. And, unless you’re properly anti things being well and truly ‘gastrobombed’, it’s an absolute delight. Its stripped-back but still welcoming interior houses diners tucking into a modern British menu laden with eclectic delights, including mince on toast, potted shrimp and tomahawk steak. There’s also an expansive bar menu filled with the likes of spider crab toast (just order it), sausage rolls, and chicken liver and crisps. Chef Owen Kenworthy was previously head chef of Brawn and Blueprint Cafe, but here he leads with a significantly more easy-breezy vibe - so much so, the local tradesmen still love it.

The aptly titled Notting Hill Bookshop might give you flashbacks to a certain Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts film – it is, after all, the space that inspired the setting for the romcom Notting Hill – but it’s far from the only bookshop in the area. In fact, you could easily spend a whole day browsing the shelves at nearby Daunt Books, Books for Cooks and Portobello Rare Books, too. Whether you’re hunting for a vintage literary gem, a travel book to accompany on your next adventure, a new recipe to try or simply just want to browse somewhere beautiful, Notting Hill’s bookshops seriously have it all.

Detroit-style pizza is on the up in London – but which of the capital’s pizzerias will perfect it first? Ria’s in Notting Hill stylishly flicks its hat in the ring. Detroiter pizzas have a rep for being weighty on both the scales and the stomach – instead Ria’s are delicate and scrupulous, each bite meticulously measured to sink just the right amount, to crunch at exactly the right depth. The toppings are equally weighted, dollops of mozz, sweet caramelised onions and tangy lemon basil sauce all sitting atop airy crispness. We recommend the roasted king prawn pizza with slow cooked marinara sauce, a parmesan crust, salsa macha marinated king prawns, and gorgonzola cream drizzle. Motor City flawlessly refined in the heart of west London.

When Lady Gaga is making secret midnight trips to check out a vintage shop you know it’s worth a visit. Rellik has long been the destination for A-listers from Kate Moss to Kylie Minogue, seeking out beautiful and original pieces with a history. The shop is run by three former Portobello market stallholders – Fiona Stuart, Claire Stansfield and Steven Philip – and their different tastes mean there’s a good mix of pieces by the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Chloé, Ossie Clark, and Yohji Yamamoto. While most items on sale here are from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, you’ll also find more contemporary pieces, as the focus is as much on a garment’s quality as its provenance. Despite the high-end boutique design, neither the shop nor its price tags are intimidating.  

It’s not easy these days to go for a big night out in west London, which is what makes the scruffily chic basement bar at NHAC such a draw. And don’t forget that NHAC is also a bit of a legend and has been running since 1997 – not all of London’s best nights out have always been in Hackney, you know. Regular hip hop nights, indie band showcases and events run by local heroes are all part of the venue’s busy schedule. It’s also had a pretty impressive clientele in its time: Lily Allen, Rita Ora and The Libertines all owe their first shows to this venue.

Once home to the Electric Diner (part of the Soho House Group-owned Electric Cinema) this oddly inviting, tunnel-like space is now the second London outpost of the very delicious Speedboat Bar.

One of London’s best Thai restaurants, nothing has been lost in translation when it comes to Speedboat Bar 2.0. The Bangkok-inspired flavours still hit hard, with the seriously spicy chicken salad with green mango kerabu a must-order, alongside a compelling crispy pork with creamy black pepper curry, as well as a whole sea bream in addictive makrut lime sauce. Much like at the Rupert Street original, no order is complete with a plate of chicken skins with zaep seasoning.

The Electric in Notting Hill is one of London’s oldest cinemas and definitely the most romantic. Owned by the Soho House group, it’s been beautifully restored, with luxurious leather armchairs, footstools, lush cashmere blankets and waiter service delivering cocktails to your chair. What makes the Electric date-perfect is that seats on the front-row have been ripped out and replaced with six luxurious, velvet-lined double beds – ideal for smooching. And best of all, it’s on Portobello Road, so you leave feeling like you’re in a Richard Curtis movie.

Despite its cursive neon-pink sign, you could easily miss Viajante87, hidden in plain sight amid the noise and fluorescence of Notting Hill Gate. Inside, though, it feels miles away from the chaos, with moody layers, rich teal furnishings and gold touches creating a particularly luxe atmosphere. The formal service matches the surroundings, while the cocktail menu is inspired by the flavours of Central and South America. Its three sections mimic the stages of a journey: ‘comfortable’ for aperitif-style drinks, ‘curious’ for stronger serves and ‘courageous’ for digestifs. Feeling brave? Ignore the order entirely and chart your own course through the menu.

Holy Carrot’s permanent Portobello home is the polished, plant-forward restaurant from former Acme Fire Cult founder Daniel Watkins, who brings his ‘fire and ferment’ ethos to the menu. The cooking is refined and adventurous without veering into show-off territory, with dishes spanning smoked beetroot, stracciatella with persimmon and bitter leaves, and a revelatory crispy celeriac with pickle butter. The setting is equally stylish – a sleek, grey-hued Santorini designed by Al-Jawad Pike, with bespoke ceramics and a soft, minimalist feel. Not every dish hits the same heights, but there’s plenty to admire, particularly the fascinating ferments. Cocktails come courtesy of Hackney’s ultra-cool A Bar With Shapes For a Name, while biodynamic wines complete the trendy drinks offering. Yes please.

Originally opened in 2010 as the Print Room off Hereford Road, this venue rapidly made a name for itself as London’s classiest fringe theatre, in no small part thanks to its major league co-founder, the director Lucy Bailey.

She departed in 2012 and, if the theatre has never quite recaptured the heights of her Uncle Vanya, it’s remained an important venue with a reputation for punching above its weight and seasoning its theatre output with dance and visual art.

In 2014 artistic director Anda Winters moved the venue to the gorgeous Victorian Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill Gate. Under her reign, it’s shown a growing interest in dance, international and multi-disciplinary work, and now hosts regular poetry nights and an annual jazz festival. 

Elvis would have loved this place. The Notting Hill tiki-themed basement cocktail bar looks like it was modelled on the infamously gaudy Jungle Room at Graceland and kitsch is very much the order of the day. Its menu, inspired by Asia, the Polynesian Islands and the Caribbean, is heavy on rum and daiquiris – plus cocktail shots if you’re feeling devilish. Soak it all up with grub options that include a delightfully spicy chickpea curry flatbread and succulent buffalo chicken tenders. The vibe is plush and indulgent: it’s not really a swift drink kind of place. Even the generally booze-apathetic King might be tempted by the Jungle Fizz cocktail (rum, grapefruit, passion fruit, Prosecco and more).

A discreet Notting Hill mainstay since it opened in 2012, The Shed is part of a mini empire of London eateries owned by the Gladwin brothers – siblings who own a farm and vineyard in Sussex and are determined to bring their rural values to the capital. That all sounds a bit like tweed and fox hunting are involved, but The Shed would actually be horizontal if it got any more relaxed. It’s a wilfully slightly shambolic, bric-a-brac stuffed building, while service is firmly on ‘reassuringly affable’ vibes. The menu isn’t formally divided into starters and mains, but rather an escalating series of dish sizes. Highlights included a heritage tomato and strawberry salad with lovage and borage, coley crudo with dashi and watermelon radish, and meaty hake on a lively cassoulet of English pulses. 

Architecture buffs, this one’s for you. Tucked away in Kensington, the Cosmic House feels more like stepping inside a surreal work of art than someone’s former home. Designed by architect Charles Jencks and his writer wife Maggie, the Grade I-listed building is packed with cosmic references, mythological friezes, colourful interiors and wonderfully eccentric details – from house-shaped bookshelves to a luminous sundial arcade and a jacuzzi dubbed the ‘Dome of Water’. Once a private home, it’s now a museum, open between April and December, offering a rare glimpse inside one of London’s most extraordinary buildings. Take a wander through the Cosmic Oval, climb the calendar-inspired spiral staircase and explore the Time Garden – just don't forget to look up.

That’s not ‘Sino’ as in ‘Chinese’, but ‘Sino’ as in ‘see-no’ – the Ukrainian word for hay. It’s the first of many beguiling details from founder Polina Sychova and chef Eugene Korolev about this Notting Hill restaurant, which deftly subverts clichés about nostalgic diasporic Eastern European cuisine. The focus is hay: Ukraine is a massive agrarian country and the smell and taste of dried grass touches much of the menu. But don’t overthink it. Hay appears as a mutedly sweet, slightly grassy distillate rather than an overpowering flavour, serving as an elegant metaphor for home. Highlights include beef tartare with mushroom mousse and crispy Jerusalem artichoke. 

Well, you can’t miss it, can you? The pub’s exterior – a bonanza of exploding foliage in pinks, purples, yellows and reds – hints at the eccentricity inside. It’s a living tribute to Winston Churchill, with a bust of the former Prime Minister on the bar and a large photo of him in one of the rooms, as his grandparents were reportedly regulars. Bric-a-brac and Union Jack bunting add to the tourist catnip, yet this Irish-owned pub, dating back to 1750, is also beloved by locals whose roots in the area stretch as far back as Churchill’s. That might be down to its top-tier Thai restaurant, which the owner reckons was London’s first. You might say it was their finest hour.