![[MAP of Notting Hill. Starting at the bottom right corner moving towards the top left corner are: Music and Video Exchange on Notting Hill Gate, a continuation of Oxford Street; a couple of record stores on Pembridge Road which branches off from Notting Hill Gate on the north side of the street; Portobello Road which branch off from Pembridge Road; Westway Motorway crossing Portobello Road at the upper left corner.]](../../IMG/international/01/nottinghill.GIF)
Notting Hill is young and hip, really hip, up and coming type of hip. Despite that its reputation has been around for a while, it still has that fashionable edge, rather like the East Village or Chelsea in NYC. One can still find amongst the small fashionable boutiques owned by the young and not yet infamous designers, some rather run-down record shops with heaps of unsorted vinyls, sometimes without even a sleeve. Portobello Road is of course famous for its long stretches of street markets, which are liveliest on Saturday when antiques join food, fashion, and junk. Rough Trade use to be here on Kenningston Park Road, which parallels Portobello Road. It has since went out of business, so I heard, although there's still a record shop called Rough Trade on Talbot Road, which crosses Portobello Road 3 blocks before the Westway Motorway. I have no idea if this shop is related to the record label...perhaps some of you London scholars care to illuminate on this point?
38, 56, & 64 Notting Hill Gate, London W11
tel: (44-171) 221-1444
Although M&V Exchange has several branches, including one on Camden High Street in Camden Town, this branch in Notting Hill is easier to navigate and proved to be more fruitful. There's an upstair section for what they consider rare collector items. Downstairs are stacks of somewhat organized used vinyls. Prices are generally cheap, but the better finds here are mainly pre-Cupid stuff. Four-A-Sides was 1 pound and Peel Session -- two copies no less! -- was 3 pounds. They also had a few copies of the "Sweetest Girl" poster and Songs To Remember poster for 1 pound each.
A couple of record shops here. Cheap but disheveled. Not amazing selection of Scritti wares, but I did come across an embossed Songs To Remember for 2 pounds -- where as I paid dearly for my copy on Camden High Street -- and the I Don't Know Why I Love You CD single san the pop-up box for 3 pounds.
As mentioned in 28.8.78 where towards the end Green reports on the Notting Hill Carnival which takes place during the August Bank Holiday on the last week-end of the month. The carnival tradition started in the 60's and has grown into a big Caribbean-style festivity with floats and music on the street. In the past there were occassional social disturbances and run-ins with the authority. One such incident was reported in the song.