Golborne Road is a street in the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (often known by its initialism as RBKC) is an Inner London, Inner London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the secon ...

in London's

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 Grand Union Canal, which passes through it, forms the boundary of the two boroughs. Kensal Town is a sub-distri ...

. The road runs east from

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 home to Portobello ...

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

. The nearest Underground stations are Westbourne Park and

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove ( ) is a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also the name of the sur ...

. 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 pris ...

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

Trellick Tower Trellick Tower is a Grade II* listed building, listed tower block on the Cheltenham Estate in Kensal Town, London. Opened in 1972, it was commissioned by the Greater London Council and designed in the Brutalist architecture, Brutalist style by ...

(pictured) and

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...

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 wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

'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 area 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. The area was under Royal Forest#Forest law, Forest Law, and much of it a ...

; 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 known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

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 in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

. 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. Golborne Road was one of the places the Windrush generation settled down in, other ethnic groups followed suit and migrated to the Golborne. It is a street still carrying the richness of black history and an important, staple street to be credited as a part of the black British community. The Golborne Road area is sometimes known as "Little Morocco" due to the number of Moroccan restaurants and shops selling

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

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 in 1959, an attack widely viewed as racially motivated. This caused an outrage amongst particularly the black community as racial tensions continued to increase. 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 drama (film and television), drama 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.Ad ...

'' (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 Pakistani playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, and novelist. He is known for his film '' My Beautiful Laundrette'' and novel '' The Buddha of Suburbia''. Early life and education Hanif Kureish ...

's film '' London Kills Me'' (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