An ordinary man who runs a struggling bookshop. A Hollywood star. And a glass of orange juice. That's Notting Hill, the 1999 romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis and directed by Roger Michell, with Hugh Grant as William Thacker, Julia Roberts as Anna Scott and Rhys Ifans as William's lodger, Spike. Curtis set it here because this was his neighborhood, and instead of building a set, the production filmed on these real, busy streets. This walk takes you to them: the corner where William's friends gathered, the famous blue door, the shop on Portobello Road, the dinner-party house and the private garden, the church where part of the final race was filmed, and the cinema where William sat alone with Anna on the screen. The neighborhood sets the order, so the story jumps about a little, and you'll hear clearly when it does. This is an unofficial walk, not made with or endorsed by the filmmakers or the studio. It's one of our self-guided walking tours, about 2.7 kilometers from Golborne Road to the Coronet on Notting Hill Gate.

Before you set off

The walking takes about 38 minutes for 2.7 kilometers, so with stops and some browsing allow around an hour and a half. The streets are flat and easy. To reach the start, take the Tube to Westbourne Park or Ladbroke Grove; either is roughly 500 to 700 meters away. You finish right outside Notting Hill Gate station.

This is a residential neighborhood, and two of the stops are people's homes. Please don't pose on doorsteps, keep the pavement clear and keep your voices down. The garden on this route is private and for key-holding residents only, so you'll only see it from the street. Portobello Road can get very crowded, so mornings are calmer. If you'd like to see inside the Coronet, it's a working theatre now, so check what's on before you go.

Tony's restaurant corner

You're at the corner of Golborne Road and Bevington Road, at the northern end of Notting Hill. It's a lively street, a world away from movie glamour, and that's exactly the point.

In the film, this corner is where you'll find Tony's, a little restaurant run by one of William's friends. It's the friends' hangout, and the friends are the warm heart of the film: a gang of slightly hopeless, very loving Londoners who are about to have a film star dropped into their lives. Location guides agree the restaurant was filmed here at this junction. They don't agree on the door, though. One says number 105 and another says 106. Both say the building later became a shop called Portfolio. Nobody has confirmed what occupies it today.

Hold on to this corner, because it comes back at the climax. Tony's restaurant doesn't last. On its last night, the friends gather here for a final dinner, and it's at that table that William realizes he has made the mistake of his life. We'll find out what that mistake is as we walk, and at St Peter's Church, near the end, you'll see what he does about it.

For now, though, we go back to the beginning, to William's ordinary life before Anna Scott walked into it. And it begins at his front door. Walk to Portobello Road, a few steps away, and follow it south under the Westway flyover. At Westbourne Park Road, turn right. The blue door is a short way along, at number 280. About eight minutes.

The blue door

Notting Hill houses London

You're on Westbourne Park Road, in front of number 280, one of the most famous front doors in film. Stay on the pavement and keep the doorway clear. Someone lives here.

In the film, this is William's house, which he shares with his chaotic Welsh lodger, Spike. And here's the lovely truth behind it. This was Richard Curtis's own front door at the time. Curtis has told the story himself. The film's production designer went out scouting for William's house and came back with a Polaroid of a door he liked, purely by chance. It was Curtis's. Only the outside was used. The flat inside was a studio set.

The door you see today isn't the one from the film. The original was auctioned for charity. Because of the crowds, the replacement was painted black for a time, then blue again. Recent guides show it blue, but check when you're there. And be kind to the neighbors: one visitor reported anti-tourist graffiti near the door in 2023.

Now walk to the corner where Westbourne Park Road meets Portobello Road, a few steps back the way you came. This corner, at number 303, is where William collides with Anna and spills orange juice all over her. We're jumping forward a little here, because it happens just after she's visited his shop, which you'll see soon. His house is nearby, so he offers her a chance to change, and the movie star comes through that blue door. The shop on the corner is a different business today.

Much later in the film, that door comes back. Anna hides in William's house to escape a tabloid scandal, until the paparazzi find her and besiege the door.

Now for the bookshop that inspired the whole story. Walk south down Portobello Road and turn right into Blenheim Crescent. The Notting Hill Bookshop is a short way along, at number 13. About three minutes.

The Notting Hill Bookshop

You're on Blenheim Crescent, outside the Notting Hill Bookshop at number 13. This stop is behind the scenes, and it's one that fans often mix up.

In the film, William runs a struggling little travel bookshop. The idea came from a real one, right here. This was Sarah Anderson's Travel Bookshop, and it inspired William's shop in the film. But the building itself never appeared on screen. The film's shopfront was somewhere else, on Portobello Road, and that's our next stop. So if anyone tells you this is where Julia Roberts walked in, now you know better.

The Travel Bookshop closed in 2011, and the Notting Hill Bookshop took over the premises. So a bookshop still lives at the address that gave Curtis his idea, and you can walk in and browse, which is more than William's customers seemed to do.

There's another bookish neighbor along the crescent. At number 4 is Books for Cooks, founded in 1983. This little crescent has been a street of booksellers for decades.

Picture William's life before Anna. He runs a shop that struggles to make money, and he shares a house with Spike. Nothing much happens to him. Then, one ordinary day, the door of his shop opens, and in walks Anna Scott.

Let's go and see that door. Walk back to Portobello Road and turn right, heading south. Number 142 is just past the corner of Elgin Crescent. About three minutes.