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Notting Hill & Holland Park
Notting Hill, Portobello and Holland Park
A famous pub, the Portobello Road, a Japanese garden and a Victorian artist's house.
- Distance 5.8 km · 3.6 miles
- Walking time 1 h 15 min Allow 45 min for stops
- Stops5 Notting Hill Gate to High Street Kensington
- Terrain Flat
- Step-freeCheck routeNot verified for this walk
Take this walk offline
The route
From Notting Hill Gate, pass the Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street and head north to Portobello Road, then south through Holland Park and its Kyoto Garden to Leighton House.
The interactive map needs JavaScript. The stops are listed below.
Stops
- Start: Notting Hill Gate
- End: High Street Kensington
Distance and times come from a pedestrian route between the stops. Allow extra time for stops, and check for temporary closures.
Route and map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Walking routes by the FOSSGIS OSRM service, saved 2026-10-18. Spotted a mistake? Fix the map.
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Google Maps chooses its own footpaths between the stops, so its line may differ slightly from the map above. The GPX file has our route and every stop as waypoints, for use in a walking or hiking app.
5 stops, in order
Each caption is a short fact; check opening times and tickets on the official site before you go.
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Stop 1 · Pub
The Churchill Arms
Pub on Kensington Church Street, known for the flowers on its front.
1.4 km to the next stop
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Stop 2 · Market
Portobello Market
Street market along Portobello Road.
60 m to the next stop
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Stop 4 · Garden
Kyoto Garden, Holland Park
Japanese garden inside Holland Park.
690 m to the next stop
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Stop 5 · Museum
Leighton House Museum
The former home and studio of the painter Frederic Leighton, now a museum.
1.2 km to High Street Kensington station
Read the guide
A short note for each stop, written to be read or recorded as an audio walk. Audio is not available for this walk yet.
Introduction
Read the guide
This walk goes from Notting Hill Gate to High Street Kensington. You pass the Churchill Arms on Kensington Church Street, then head north to Portobello Road and the Electric Cinema. After that you turn south into Holland Park and its Kyoto Garden, and finish at Leighton House.
Stop 1: The Churchill Arms
Read the guide
There has been a pub on this site since 1824, when it opened as the Bedford Arms. The Victorian upper storey is original, and the ground floor frontage was added in the 1930s. The Churchill Arms is known for its lavish floral displays, and for its Christmas decorations in winter. Fuller's manages it. The pub claims to have been the first in London with a Thai restaurant, serving Thai food since the early 1990s or before. Next stop: Portobello Market.
Sources for this stop
Stop 2: Portobello Market
Read the guide
Portobello Road takes its name from Portobello Farm, built in 1740. The farm was named after the Battle of Porto Bello in 1739, when Admiral Edward Vernon captured the Spanish-ruled town now called Portobelo, in Panama. The road is about a mile long, and the market stretches along about nine hundred metres of it. The market opened around 1863, selling mainly fresh food. Antiques dealers arrived in the late 1940s and 1950s. Scenes from the 1999 film Notting Hill were shot on the street. Next stop: Electric Cinema.
Sources for this stop
Stop 3: Electric Cinema
Read the guide
The Electric Cinema first opened on Portobello Road on 24 February 1910. It is described as one of the oldest working film theatres in Britain. Gerald Seymour Valentin designed it in the Edwardian Baroque style, and it is Grade Two star listed. The site was acquired in 2000, and the cinema reopened in 2001 after restoration. Next stop: Kyoto Garden in Holland Park.
Sources for this stop
Stop 4: Kyoto Garden, Holland Park
Read the guide
The Kyoto Garden was donated by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto in 1991. It was created to mark the Japan Festival in London, held in 1992, as a joint project between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kyoto business body. A Japanese garden designer and their team designed and built it. It has a waterfall, and peacocks roam the wider park. Holland Park covers about fifty-six acres. Holland House is now a ruin, and serves as the backdrop for the park's open air theatre. Next stop: Leighton House Museum.
Sources for this stop
Stop 5: Leighton House Museum
Read the guide
Leighton House was built for the painter Frederic Leighton. George Aitchison designed the first part in 1864, and Leighton was granted the lease in April 1866. Building and additions continued until 1895. Carved wooden lattice windows in the house came from Damascus, and tiles were collected on Leighton's travels in the Middle East. The house is Grade Two star listed, and has been open to the public since 1929.
Sources for this stop
Written for Britlens from the sources listed under each stop. Check opening times and access on the official sites before you go.
Getting there and back
Both ends of the walk are at stations. Check live times and any planned works before you travel.
- Portobello Road is busiest on Saturdays. Market stalls and shops have their own opening times: check before you go.
- Step-free access has not been checked for this walk. Check the route and station access before you go.
- Opening times, prices and closures change: check before you visit.
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Photos are credited on the photo credits page. Route and map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.