Music History

45 Ledbury Road, W11

45 Ledbury Road, W11

Beach Blanket Babylon bar/restaurant
Award winning designer bar whose celeb customers have included Shirley Bassey, Betty Boo, Brett of Suede, Seal, and John McEnroe.

22 Stanley Gardens, W11

22 Stanley Gardens, W11

The Portobello Hotel
Kensington's answer to the New York Chelsea Hotel, primarily renowned for the stay of glam rocker Alice Cooper and his boa constrictor snake, which he kept in the bath of room 13.

95-7 Portobello Road W11

95-7 Portobello Road W11

The Portobello Gold Bar
Formerly the Princess Alexandra pub, haunt of Lemmy of Motorhead, Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, Pistolsand the Ramones. In a rockin' political echo the celebrated American saxophonist Bill Clinton put in an appearance at the bar in 2000.

21/22 Lansdowne Crescent W11

21/22 Lansdowne Crescent W11
Formerly known as the Samarkand hotel and the last residence of Jimi Hendrix. In the early hours of September 18th 1970 he ended up here with Monika Danneman, his German girlfriend. After taking sleeping pills, which reacted badly with pills he'd taken earlier, he began to choke on his own vomit. Hendrix was alive when the ambulance arrived but found to be dead on arrival at St Mary Abbots hospital in South Kensington.

192 Kensington Park Road, W11

192 Kensington Park Road, W11

192 wine bar/restaurant
Media haunt of such femmes fatales as Marianne Faithfull, Anjelica Huston (who went to school at Holland Park school), Carrie Fisher, Carol Decker of T'Pau, Mariella Frostrup, Ruby Wax, Helen Fielding (and her Bridget Jones character), Martin Amis, Francis Bacon, and more recently Oasis, All Saints, Kate Moss, Madonna and the Jaggers.

18 All Saints Road, W11

18 All Saints Road, W11

The Apollo
As the Metamorphosis Studios this was where All Saints began to form in 1993 when Shaznay Lewis first met Mel Blatt through Ben Volpelierre-Pierrot of Curiosity Killed The Cat.

227 Westbourne Park Road W11

227 Westbourne Park Road W11
Opposite the Warwick Castle is the equally notorious tourist attraction, the site of the "Blue Door" in the film Notting Hill that led to the former residence of the director Richard Curtis. In the film's highlight Hugh's Welsh flatmate appears here in his underpants. The actual door went to Devon in 2000 after being sold at Christie's for £5000.

224-6 Portobello Road W11

224-6 Portobello Road W11

Tesco Metro
The most happening 21st Century pop site so far, with Andrea Oliver, Nick Cave, Damon Albran, Robbie Williams and Geri Halliwell. With Gillian Anderson of the X-Files living nearby the truth is out there.

201 - 5 Kensington Church Street, W8

201 - 5 Kensington Church Street, W8

Kensington Place restaurant
Postmodern media haunt of people such as Princes Diana, Liz Hurley, Mariella Frostrup, Jeremy Paxman, Stephen Fry and Dustin Hoffman.

Inverness Gardens W8

Inverness Gardens W8
In 1971 Tony Blair spent his gap year here whilst attempting to get into the music business, putting on gigs with his friend. He ended up working at Barkers for a time.

49 - 53 Kensington High Street W8

49 - 53 Kensington High Street W8
The site of Kensington Market, the indoor precursor of Portobello that specialised in pop and rock subculture clothes and ephemera from 1969 to 1999, through glam to punk to rock to rave. The most famous stallholder was Freddie Mercury, in his previous incarnation as Freddie Bulsara, when he was in the process of forming Queen with his stall co-hort Roger Taylor and his Imperial College fellow Brian May. At the same time Jimi Hendrix spent his last day here and the following year Tony Blair bought a pair of white flares.

The Boltons SW10

The Boltons SW10
West Brompton area associated with celebs such as Liz Hurley, Madonna, Hugh Grant, and Chris Evans.

42 Oakley Street, SW3

42 Oakley Street, SW3
After Bob Marley was shot in Jamaica in late 1976 he recuperated here as punk rock was happening outside on King's Raod.

Worlds End Estate, SW10

Worlds End Estate, SW10
As well as giving its name to the McLaren/Westwood shop, Worlds End is a housing estate of pop iconic status as the residence of Christine Keeler after the Profumo affair.

Emperor's Gate SW7

Emperor's Gate SW7
Appropriately enough the first London residence of John Lennon with his first wife Cynthia and son Julian when the Beatles came down from Liverpool, until he moved out to Weybridge in 1964.

Acklam Road, W10

Acklam Road, W10

Formerly Subterania nightclub
"Big Brother" presenter Davina McCall once worked on the door here.

170 - 2 Kensal Road, W10

170 - 2 Kensal Road, W10

Cobden Club bar
Formerly the Cobden Workingmen's Club, turned media club. Original r'n'b gigs in the actual workers' bit whilst upstairs saw visits from Keith Allen, Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics, Stella McCartney, Salman Rushdie and Nigella Lawson.

1 Logan Place W8

1 Logan Place W8
The last residence of Freddie Mercury of Queen, with an accompanying graffiti shrine garden wall. Freddie bought the property in 1980 and moved in after the last Queen gig at Knebworth in 1986 to live out his days until his death in 1991.

Brompton Road, SW1

Brompton Road, SW1

Harrods
The department store was famously closed in 1965 so that the Beatles could do their Christmas shopping.

50 Cheyne Walk, SW3

50 Cheyne Walk, SW3

King's Head and Eight Bells pubs
Legendary locals of Charles II, Dylan Thomas, John le Carre's spy George Smiley, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and the Rolling Stones.

Kensal Green Station