Golborne Road is a street in the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London, Inner London boroughs, London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the second smallest Districts of ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Kensal Town Kensal Town is a district located partly in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and partly in the City of Westminster. The area lies four miles north-west of Charing Cross and is part of the W postcode area. Kensal Town was an exclave o ...

. The road runs east from

Portobello Road Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is ...

to Kensal Road. Golborne Road is situated just north of and parallel to the Westway; it also joins

. The nearest

Underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ( ...

stations are Westbourne Park and

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given t ...

. It is a major street within the Golborne electoral

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

of the local authority, Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council, which also includes the nearby

Trellick Tower Trellick Tower is a Grade II* listed tower block on the Cheltenham Estate in North Kensington, London. Opened in 1972, it had been commissioned by the Greater London Council and designed in the Brutalist style by architect Ernő Goldfinger. ...

(pictured) and

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter s ...

History

This area of

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Roa ...

's northern corner has changed dramatically over its history. The area was part of the

Great Forest of Middlesex The Forest of Middlesex was an ancient woodland covering much of the county of Middlesex, England, that was north of the City of London and now forms the northern part of Greater London. A path was cut through the forest for the creation of Wa ...

; in 1543 the land was seized by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...

and by the 18th century Golborne was farmland. Golborne Road was named after Dean Golbourne, at one time vicar of St. John's Church in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

. Until the middle of the 19th century, it was no more than a country footpath crossing the fields of Portobello Farm, but in 1870 the road was widened, shops were built and the road was extended over the railway. The Golborne Road area is sometimes known as "Little

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

" due to the number of Moroccan restaurants and shops selling

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

ian products located along the road. The road also has renown in the Portuguese community for the two Portuguese pâtisseries at one end, Cafe d'Oporto and Lisboa Patisserie. The junction of Golborne Road and Southam Street was the site of the murder of Antiguan immigrant

Kelso Cochrane Kelso may refer to: Places Australia * Kelso, New South Wales * Kelso, Tasmania * Kelso, Queensland Canada * Kelso Conservation Area, Ontario, containing Lake Kelso ** Kelso, a village in Regional Municipality of Halton, Ontario New Zealand * Kel ...

in 1959, an attack widely viewed as racially motivated. His killers were never caught. In 2009, a blue plaque was erected at the site of the murder. Golborne Road hosts a street market every day except Sunday, specialising in produce with hot food and bric-a-brac at the weekend. The

began a process of consultation on the future of the market and associated amenities in 2005.

Popular culture

Several scenes in

Menelik Shabazz Menelik Shabazz (30 May 1954 – 28 June 2021) was a Barbados-born British film director, producer, educator, and writer, acknowledged as a pioneer in the development of independent Black British cinema, having been at the forefront of contempor ...

's film ''

Burning an Illusion ''Burning an Illusion'' is a 1981 British film written and directed by Menelik Shabazz, about a young British-born black woman's love life, mostly shot in London's Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove communities.Ade Solanke"Burning an Illusion (19 ...

'' (1981) were filmed on the road, including one in the Grassroots bookshop, which has since closed. It is also prominent in

Hanif Kureishi Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British literature, British writers ...

's film ''

London Kills Me ''London Kills Me'' is a 1991 film written and directed by Hanif Kureshi and starred Justin Chadwick and Steven Mackintosh. Cast and roles * Justin Chadwick as Clint Eastwood * Steven Mackintosh as Muffdiver * as Sylvie * Roshan Seth as Dr. Bu ...

'' (1991). The restaurant frequented by the characters in the 1999 film ''

'' is located on the junction of Golborne Road and Bevington Road.

References

External links

Golborne Life
the community website for the Golborne Road area {{coord, 51.52162, N, 0.20881, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Notting Hill

History

Popular culture

See also

References

External links