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
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 Road Ma ...
, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue.
It is also a name given to the immediate surrounding areas 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 Road Ma ...
,
Latimer Road,
Kensal Green and
Westbourne Park straddling the W10 and W11
postal districts although parts of the wider area cover parts of NW10.
Ladbroke Grove tube station
Ladbroke Grove is a London Underground station on the Circle line (London Underground), Circle and Hammersmith & City line, Hammersmith & City lines, between Latimer Road tube station, Latimer Road and Westbourne Park tube station, Westbourne P ...
is located on the road, at the point where it is crossed by the
Westway.
Ladbroke Grove is the nearest tube station to
Portobello Road Market. The adjacent bridge and nearby section of the Westway were regenerated in 2007 in a partnership including
Urban Eye
Urban Eye (formerly Westway Project) is a London-based charity that has been regenerating run-down parts of inner city London through the use of design, architectural lighting and public art since 1998. Projects aim to reduce fear of crime and a ...
,
Transport for London and
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
. It is the main road on the route of the annual
Notting Hill Carnival. The northern end between the Harrow Road and
Kensal House
Kensal House is a housing estate of two curved blocks of 68 housing association Apartment, flats at the northern end of Ladbroke Grove, London, completed in 1937 and designed by the architect Maxwell Fry. It was the first Modern architecture, mo ...
is located in Kensal Green, the middle section between Barlby Road and the A40 flyover is in North Kensington with the southern end between Lancaster road and Holland Park Avenue situated in Notting Hill.
History
The area and the street are named after
James Weller Ladbroke, who developed the
Ladbroke Estate
The Ladbroke Estate was a substantial estate of land owned by the Ladbroke family in Notting Hill, London, England, in the early 19th century that was gradually developed and turned into housing during the middle years of the century, as London ...
in the 1840s. It was originally a predominantly rural area on the western edges of London. Construction at the southern end by Holland Park Avenue began in the 1830s, but the road was not fully developed to Harrow Road until the 1870s.
Hablot Knight Browne
Hablot Knight Browne (10 July 1815 – 8 July 1882) was an English artist and illustrator. Well-known by his pen name, Phiz, he illustrated books by Charles Dickens, Charles Lever, and Harrison Ainsworth.
Early life
Of Huguenot ancestry, Hablot ...
, the cartoonist who illustrated
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' novels as "Phiz", lived at No. 99 in 1872–80.
Churches
The church of St John the Evangelist was constructed in 1845 on the site of the Hippodrome on the Ladbroke Estate, which had closed four years earlier.
The
Anglican church of St Michael and All Angels in the road was designed by
James Edmeston
James Edmeston (10 September 1791 – 7 January 1867) was an English architect and surveyor; he was also known as a prolific writer of church hymns.
He was born in Wapping, Middlesex, England. His maternal grandfather was the Reverend Samuel B ...
and built in the
Romanesque style
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...
in 1871. The funds were provided by J. E.Gray, the father of the first vicar, the Reverend Edward Ker Gray: the foundation stone was laid on 1 November 1870 by a cousin of the Grays,
John Mowbray. The church became fashionable with members of the Royal Family. The
Duke of Edinburgh played the violin in the church orchestra. The vicarage was built in 1876, with the foundation stone being laid by the
Duchess of Teck. The Lady Chapel was opened by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in 1882. However, in 1886, the Reverend Gray moved to the
Curzon Street Chapel and St Michael's became less fashionable.
The
Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
Church of St Sava is on Lancaster Road, just off Ladbroke Grove. The church building was originally built in 1903 as the Anglican church of St Columba; in 1952 it was re-consecrated as Saint Sava's, to serve a growing community of post-war refugees. It was the venue for the baptism of
Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, son of
Peter II, in 1945, and his second marriage in 1985. Princess Maria Tatiana, daughter of
Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia
Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia ( sr-cyr, Андреј Карађорђевић; 28 June 1929 – 7 May 1990) was the youngest child of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Maria of Yugoslavia.
Personal life
In 1934, when he was only five, Prince An ...
, was baptised there in 1957. In 2013, it was the venue for the memorial service of
Princess Margarita of Baden.
The former church of Christ Church, Telford Road was opened in 1881, and closed in 1940 when the parish merged with St Michaels. The church building was demolished.
Music and culture
Ladbroke Grove was a centre of the British counterculture in the 1960s. The area was
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...
ed for development following
1958 Notting Hill race riots, and consequently found favour with individuals who distrusted authority, moving into unmodernised Victorian properties along the road. The
space rock band
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...
were formed here in 1969, and eventually bonded and worked with fantasy author
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...
who was then a resident.
Moorcock's work often contain references to Ladbroke Grove, the location being the headquarters of his fictional characters
Jerry Cornelius and Colonel Pyat.
The Deviants (formerly the Social Deviants) and
Pink Fairies
Pink Fairies are an English rock band initially active in the London (Ladbroke Grove) underground and psychedelic scene of the early 1970s. They promoted free music, drug use, and anarchy, and often performed impromptu gigs and other stunts, ...
were musical groups out of the Ladbroke Grove
UK underground movement, from which a number of bands would emerge, influenced by anarchistic singer/writer
Mick Farren
Michael Anthony Farren (3 September 1943 – 27 July 2013) was an English rock musician, singer, journalist, and author associated with counterculture and the UK underground.
Early life
Farren was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and aft ...
. Punk group
The Clash also formed locally in 1976; frontman
Joe Strummer squatted
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
around Ladbroke Grove before joining the group.
[ The '' Roughler'' magazine emerged in the 1980s and 1990s to chronicle the antics of the more Bohemian residents, including the legendary Portobello Pantos.
Ladbroke Grove features as the scene of ]Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
As a teenager in t ...
's 1968 song " Slim Slow Slider" from '' Astral Weeks'', and is mentioned in the 1970s pop hit "One Man Band" by Leo Sayer
Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009.
Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...
. The Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
song "I Spy", from the album '' Different Class'', features the line "your Ladbroke Grove looks turn me on". The Blur songs " Fool's Day" and " Lonesome Street" also feature Ladbroke Grove in their lyrics. As does the song "Joel" by The Boo Radleys
The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements in the 1990s. They originally formed in Wallasey, England in 1988, with Rob Harrison on drums, singing, singer/electric guitar, g ...
, with the line, "I've found myself in Ladbroke Grove" from the album '' Wake Up!''. The Slits song "Ping Pong Affair" from the album ''Cut
Cut may refer to:
Common uses
* The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force
** A type of wound
** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past
** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment
** Cut (ea ...
'', also features Ladbroke Grove in its lyrics. " LDN" by Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...
mentions Ladbroke Grove in an overdubbed
Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...
chorus of London placenames. Killing Joke have released an EP (In Excelsis) that features two mixes of a song called "Ghost Of Ladbroke Grove". The UK rapper AJ Tracey
Ché Wolton Grant (born 4 March 1994), known professionally as AJ Tracey, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is from Ladbroke Grove, West London. Tracey rose to popularity in 2016 and was listed by ''The Guardian'' i ...
's hit " Ladbroke Grove" is named after the road which he is from; it peaked at number 3 on the UK singles chart. Mahdi made his first music video in Ladbroke Grove. The posthumous music video of the Lil Peep release " 4 Gold Chains" is set at 121 Ladbroke Grove.
In 1977, a brief encounter between musicians Phil Collins and Steve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis ...
on Ladbroke Grove finalised the latter's departure from the progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
band Genesis.
From the 2010s to today Ladbroke Grove has been home to some of the most prominent grime and drill artists, such as AJ Tracey and Digga D.
Transport
Rail
Ladbroke Grove tube station
Ladbroke Grove is a London Underground station on the Circle line (London Underground), Circle and Hammersmith & City line, Hammersmith & City lines, between Latimer Road tube station, Latimer Road and Westbourne Park tube station, Westbourne P ...
is located halfway along the road, and is served by the Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
and Hammersmith & City lines. The Westway, part of a main road from Central London to Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
crosses in the same location, though there is no junction. The road also has bridges over the Great Western Main Line from London Paddington station
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great W ...
, and the 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 ...
.
Crossrail
At a site just to the east of the Old Oak Common site, Kensington and Chelsea Council has been pushing for a station at Kensal off Ladbroke Grove and Canal Way, as a turn-back facility will have to be built in the area anyway. Siting it at Kensal Green, rather than next to Paddington itself, would provide a new station to regenerate the area. Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
stated that a station would be added if it did not increase Crossrail's overall cost; in response, Kensington and Chelsea Council agreed to underwrite the projected £33 million cost of a Crossrail station. TfL is conducting a feasibility study on the station and the project is backed by National Grid, retailers Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
and Cath Kidston
Catherine Isabel Audrey Kidston (born 6 November 1958) is an English fashion designer, businesswoman and author whose company, Cath Kidston Limited sells home furnishings and related goods online, through franchises and by mail order. She is ...
, and Jenny Jones (Green Party member of the London Assembly). The plans were resurrected by Johnson in 2016.
Incidents
On 5 October 1999, two trains on the Great Western Main Line near Ladbroke Grove crashed into each other at a combined speed of over , leading to the diesel fuel of one of the trains igniting and setting fire to both. Thirty one people died and over 400 were injured, including severe burns. The cause of the crash was determined to be lack of suitable visibility of signals. The crash, combined with further major incidents at Hatfield and Potters Bar
Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...
, shook confidence in the British rail network.
Bus
Ladbroke Grove is served by London Buses routes 7, 23, 52, 70, 228
Year 228 ( CCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Modestus and Maecius (or, less frequently, year 981 ''Ab urbe co ...
, 295, 316
__NOTOC__
Year 316 (Roman numerals, CCCXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, y ...
, 452 and N7.
Notable residents
*Rita Ora
Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut stud ...
, British singer/songwriter grew up in Ladbroke Grove.
*AJ Tracey
Ché Wolton Grant (born 4 March 1994), known professionally as AJ Tracey, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is from Ladbroke Grove, West London. Tracey rose to popularity in 2016 and was listed by ''The Guardian'' i ...
, rapper, best known for his song "Ladbroke Grove", grew up in Ladbroke Grove.
* Chrissie Hynde, American musician, lead vocalist with The Pretenders
Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete ...
.
*Anthony Sampson
Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson (3 August 1926 – 18 December 2004) was a British writer and journalist. His most notable and successful book was '' Anatomy of Britain'', which was published in 1962 and was followed by five more "Anatomies", upd ...
, journalist and writer, 27 Ladbroke Grove
* Hugh Thomas, historian, 29 Ladbroke Grove.
*Hayley Atwell
Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...
, a British and American actress, most widely known for portraying Agent Peggy Carter
Margaret Elizabeth Carter is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is usually depicted as a supporting character in books featuring Captain America. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirb ...
.
*Digga D
Rhys Angelo Emile Herbert (born 29 June 2000), known professionally as Digga D, is a British rapper and director. He had multiple singles that have been placed in the UK Singles Chart; his mixtape albums '' Double Tap Diaries'' and '' Made In ...
, rapper, member of CGM.
* Javine Hylton, singer, hailed from Ladbroke Grove.
*Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...
, British singer/songwriter lives in Ladbroke Grove.
*Cleo Sol
Cleopatra Zvezdana Nikolic (born 24 March 1991), better known by her stage name Cleo Sol, is a British singer-songwriter. Working closely with the producer Inflo, she has released two solo studio albums, ''Rose in the Dark'' (2020) and ''Mother'' ...
, British singer/songwriter, member of Sault
See also
* 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 Road Ma ...
* North Kensington
North Kensington is an area of west London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The names North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove describe the same area.
North Kensington is wh ...
* Kensal Green
Notes and references
Citations
Sources
*
Bibliography
British History Online
* Barbara Denny, ''Notting Hill and Holland Park Past'', Historical Publications, 1993.
* Derry Moore, ''Notting Hill'', Frances Lincoln Ltd, 2007,
External links
{{Authority control
Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Districts of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Areas of London
Notting Hill