Ladbroke Grove

Ladbroke Grove is one of only three stations that have added words on the roundel: for Portobello Road. The other stations are Warwick Avenue for Little Venice and Charing Cross for Trafalgar Square.

Ladbroke Grove opened as a station in 1864 and was named Notting Hill and had a variety of names before settling on  Ladbroke Grove in 1938. It was part of the Hammersmith and City Railway which later became the Metropolitan Railway.

The station has just two platforms serving the Circle line and the Hammersmith and City Line.

The steel bridge to the left of the station which carries the railway lines was renewed in 1938. The bridge was constructed in Middlesborough. When the bridge was installed the railway and the road were closed for just a day as it was manoevered and welded into position. It is a low bridge and just about has clearance for the double decker buses. It is brightly painted on the top as well as the supports.

I decided to turn right from the station onto Ladbroke Grove, one of London's longest roads. I turned off Ladbroke Grove and right onto Lancaster Road.


On the left are a pair of buildings known as the Royalty studios. In the 1960s this was the Royalty cinema. It then became a bingo hall as was the fate of many cinemas. By 1980 it had been rebuilt as these studios with a variety of companies taking up residence.

The next building along is a relatively new museum which opened in the Spring of 2016. It began life in Gloucester in 1984. It was the brainchild of Robert Opie who started collecting packaging before it disappeared forever. He wanted to follow the history of consumerism from Victorian times to see how it has evolved. He started his collection 50 years ago and by 1975 he had enough material to hold an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Arranged in decades the brands and packaging go back to the 1800s.

For me it was like a walk down Memory Lane (well the last few decades were!).

 I remember the Roberts radio as I was given one when I went to College.

Looking at the packaging it is interesting to note the number of brands that have not changed greatly over the years

In the early 1900s many brand names ended with 'O'. I wonder why?

Enough reminiscing. I left the Museum and continued on down Lancaster Road.

Being at Ladbroke Grove it was impossible not to see Grenfell Tower. The Tower is wrapped in white plastic with the green heart symbol of Grenfell staring down on the community below. There has been no decision about the future of the tower but responsibility for it has been taken from the local authority and handed over to the government, meaning that it will more than likely become a memorial to the 72 who lost their lives.. As I walked closer to the tower there were numerous tributes on buildings, memorials of wooden crosses, too many decorated with teddy bears which made it a heartbreaking experience. Out of respect I didn't photograph these personal memorials. Images of that night are still raw in the minds of residents here.  I detected unwelcome looks and realised I was still holding my camera. Immediately I put it away, I certainly didn't want any reason for being in the area to be misconstrued. I returned via Lancaster Road and crossed back over Ladbroke Grove to continue along the other side of Lancaster Road.

On the corner of Ladbroke Grove and Lancaster Road is the imposing building of North Kensington Library built in the 1890s. Public libraries began to appear in British cities in the middle of the 19th century, following the Public Libraries Act 1850. The Free Library Movement was one of many groups campaigning to make access to books available to the general public and 'improve their education'. Due to the cost the proposal was not  popular with parliament and many compromises had to be made before the Act was passed. Only boroughs with more than 10,000 people could open a library; local referendums would be required needing a majority of two thirds of the ratepayers; local rates could only be increased by no more than one half penny in the pound to pay for the service but the money couldn't be used to buy books. The first public library opened in Manchester in 1852. The growth of the libraries depended on the donations from philanthropists such as Henry Tate and Andrew Carnegie. By 1900 there were almost 300 public libraries across Britain. A new Public Libraries Act in 1919 made it easier to establish new libraries with funding from county councils and libraries quickly spread throughout the country. However all is not good with the provision of library services. The pressure on local council finances has meant many cutbacks to services and it seems local libraries have born the brunt of this reduced funding. In 2013 there were 4,615 libraries in the UK but by the end of 2018 the number was reduced to 3,618 libraries in the UK. A number of smaller libraries are now run by volunteers within the community. Community run libraries are becoming more of the 'norm'. In 2010 there were only 10 or so libraries run completely by volunteers. By 2017 the figure had risen to 500.

The next building I noticed was the church with a large building next to it. On closer inspection I found out that this is the Church of St Sava, one of the few Serbian Orthodox churches in Great Britain. Next door to the church is the Serbian Community Centre. The church was set up after the second world war for the Chetniks (Royalists) who fled Yugoslavia after General Tito's Communists took power. More Serbs arrived in the sixties when Tito relaxed border controls and again in the 90s during the Balkan Wars. It is estimated there are about 70,000 Serbs living in London

Turned off Lancaster Road onto Portobello Road, Notting Hill's most famous Street. It was a Sunday and the market was in full swing. All genres of music seemed to be fighting for my attention. There has been a market in this area from the mid nineteenth century, originally for the sale of horses by the gypsy community.

There were bric a brac stalls, vintage clothing, jewellery and antiques. 

And naturally enough there was street food from every corner of the globe.

This mosaic commemorates the volunteers from Kensington who fought for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. It also remembers the Spanish refugees who came to Britain and made their home in this area.

Also on Portobello Road is the Electric Cinema theatre which opened in February 1911 for the showing of a 20 min silent film of Henry VIII. It is one of the oldest working cinemas in the country. During World War 1 the cinema was stoned by locals as it was thought German manager of the theatre was using lights on its roof to help direct Zeppelins on bombing raids.

I turned right off Portobello Road onto Lansdowne Crescent and into the heart of the Ladbroke Estate. As mentioned in my previous post the estate was one of the most important contributions to Victorian suburban planning. The houses range from semi detached villas to groups of four and are all arranged to follow the large curved crescents with resident only garden squares in between. The estate is built on a hill with Ladbroke Grove the central thoroughfare.

At the top of the hill is St John's church. The Hippodrome mentioned on the plaque was a 140 acre racecourse, said to be 'more extensive than Ascot or Epsom'. It opened 1840 and spectators could view the races from the top of this hill. The racecourse did not last long as the ground consisted of heavy clay and was unsuitable for horse racing.

Outside the church is this  drinking fountain. It was funded by a local doctor who lived at 40 Ladbroke Grove and is inscribed: 'The gift of John Waggett M.D. 1882. It is made from polished granite and the water dispenser is in the form of an urn. It replaced one that had been inside the railings of the church in 1877. Drinking fountains were typically built from granite or other stone and carved by professional stonemasons. The more elaborate of them were sponsored by individuals whilst others were paid for by the Metropolitan Drinking fountain and cattle trough Association. By the 1930s the metal cups were seen as unsanitary and were removed and replaced with jets. Although many of the granite fountains have survived none are in use. Water supplies have been cut off and metal taps and cups removed. However, in the last couple of years there has been a revival of drinking fountains with new ones appearing in train stations and other public places, making it easier for people to replenish their water bottles rather than discarding them and buying yet more plastic bottles of water.

Across the road from the church  is an Edward VII pillar box. About 6% of UK pillar boxes have the Edward VII cipher. He reigned from 1901-10. These boxes were the first to introduce the crown above the monarch's cipher which has continued to the present day.

I returned down Ladbroke Grove wandering through the estate.

This is Rosmead Gardens used in the filming of Notting Hill as the garden where Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts climbed over the railings.

St Quintin Avenue kitchen garden. This was a disused tennis court which has been transformed into a community kitchen garden where nearly 100 local residents grow a variety of fresh produce. The site has been designed  to maximise growing space by the use of raised beds. It has won a variety of awards and is open to the public once a year during Open Squares Weekend.

This is Ladbroke Hall, a Grade II listed building from 1903. It was built as the headquarters for the Sunbeam Talbot Motor Company and as such was the first purpose built car factory in Britain.

A 4.5 litre Talbot built in this factory, driven by Percy Lambert, achieved a land speed record of 103.84 mph in February 1913. It was the first time anyone had driven more than 100 miles in an hour.  A few months later Peugeot beat the record and Percy decided to make another attempt on the world record. Sadly two weeks before he married, when he had agreed to give up racing, he was killed when his tyre burst whilst travelling at speed

The majority of the site was demolished and redeveloped for housing in 1994 leaving Ladbroke Hall which was the administration block. The hall has been restored  and is now an events venue.

   

On the same road as Ladbroke Hall is the impressive 1911 Pall Mall Deposit warehouse. I was surprised to discover that this is not a listed building. It was originally used as a safe deposit for furniture.

It is a landmark in the area and is currently used as studio and office units.

I turned off Barlby Road down St Mark's road to return to the station.

 I walked past the old St Charles Hospital which was originally the old infirmary of St Marylebone Workhouse. It was opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1881. The building is now an NHS centre for Health and Wellbeing providing a number of different services.

Further down the road is the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity. It was founded in September 1878. The French Carmel in Paris, founded directly from Spain in 1604 sent seven of their sisters to establish a new centre of prayer in London. Carmelite life has continued here ever since despite two world wars The nuns take vows of chastity and poverty and lead a cloistered life, only leaving the monastery for medical or other necessary reasons. They devote their lives to prayer.

I am now back on Ladbroke Grove not too far from the station. This striking mural caught my eye.

 Back under the railway bridge and I was back where I started at Ladbroke station.