Notting Hill

Notting Hill started out as the Potteries and Piggeries, with a pool of pig slurry the locals called the Ocean, and it has spent the century and a half since being very careful about which bits of its history make it onto a tea towel. The man who laid out the streets wanted to call it Kensington Park, so the habit of borrowing a posher neighbour's name is older than the stucco. Now the pastel terraces carry the brand and Portobello Road carries the tourists. The buyers who paid for character find out every August bank holiday exactly how loud character gets.