Westbourne Grove is a glamourous shopping street in London's Notting Hill. Westbourne Grove has one end at Kensington Park Road and the other at Queensway. London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Notting Hill is a district of London located to the west of the centre and close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park. ... Queensway is a bustling cosmopolitan street in the Bayswater neighbourhood of West London. ...

There are several other shopping streets in the area, such as Ledbury Road, which meets Westbourne Grove at the Westbourne Grove Baptist Church, redeveloped to include loft apartments during 2004-5.

The Notting Hill Carnival passes along a central part of Westbourne Grove. Carnival dancers on Ladbroke Grove. ...

The development of Westbourne Grove began in the 1840s and proceeded from east (which lay in Bayswater) to the west, where it became the principal east-west artery into the Ladbroke Estate. The far western end of the street only became known as Westbourne Grove relatively recently in 1938, having previously been called Archer Street. Bayswater is a place in the City of Westminster, in London. ...

The River Westbourne was diverted underground around what is now Ossington Street, but previously flowed across Westbourne Grove on its way south to the River Thames. The River Westbourne is a river in England. ... Picture of the street sign at the south end of Ossington Street, London, W2, also showing the sign for The Champion pub. ... Length 346 km Elevation of the source 110 m Average discharge entering Oxford: 17. ...

When the London magazine Time Out was featuring west London in its 9-16 August 1997 issue, it picked on Westbourne Grove as its representative:

"Seeking a key shopping road symbolic of western aspirations, we decided that preposterously fashionable Westbourne Grove, or "Westbourne Village", has it all. It was here that Madonna headed during breaks in filming "Evita" - to the funky boutiques, the avant-garde florists, the designer jewellery and futuristic furniture (at millennial prices). This is certainly up-and-coming - in terms of price tags that is."

History of the Westbourne area

Although Westbourne Grove was constructed as part of the westward expansion of London in the 1840's, Westbourne is a genuinely local name, and goes back to the middle ages, long before the land had been built on as residential property. There were originally two settlements, one to the east and one to the west of a river.

The settlement to the east was Paddington. The church of St Mary's, Paddington, still stands on its original site, although the present classical building was built in the eighteenth century. Paddington is an area in the west of London in the City of Westminster. ...

The area to the west was Westbourne, (in Old English Westan Burnan) because it was west of the river or bourne. It is recorded in 1222 as Westeburn and in 1294 as Westborn. Westbourne Green is recorded as Westborne Grene in 1548, Washborne Green in 1680 and Wesborn Green in 1754. Although Westbourne was a place west of a river, this was eventually forgotten and in the nineteenth century the river itself became known as the River Westbourne. The River Westbourne is a river in England. ...

The area to the west of the river was more thinly populated than Paddington and did not have its own church. For this reason, it formed part of the parish of Paddington until it reached the boundary with Kensington which was also mainly open country in the part now traversed by the western Notting Hill stretch of Westbourne Grove. Paddington is an area in the west of London in the City of Westminster. ... Paddington is an area in the west of London in the City of Westminster. ... Kensington is an area to the west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. ... Notting Hill is a district of London located to the west of the centre and close to the north-western corner of Hyde Park. ...

There was a small settlement to the north of what is now Westbourne Grove at Westbourne Green. It had five main houses. The largest of these was Westbourne Place or Westbourne House, which was rebuilt in 1745 by the architect Isaac Ware as an elegant Georgian mansion of three storeys with a frontage of nine windows divided into three parts. The central third was topped by a large pediment and contained the main door, which also had a pediment over it. The lower two storeys were formed into bays at each end, which contained three windows each. Amongst the well-known residents of this house were Sir William Yorke, baronet; the Venetian ambassador; the architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell (a distant relative of the diarist Samuel Pepys); and the General Commander in Chief of the Army, Viscount Hill, who left in 1836 (and who gave his name to the modern road bridge north of Westbourne Grove called Lord Hill's Bridge). The house was demolished in 1836 to make way for the houses and gardens of what is now Westbourne Park Villas. Thomas Hardy lived in this area, mainly at no 16 Westbourne Park Villas, which was his home 1863-67. Samuel Pepys Cockerell (1754 - 1827) worked as an English architect. ... Jump to: navigation, search This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Jump to: navigation, search Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. ...

Also north of what is now Westbourne Grove was Westbourne Farm which was the home, between 1815 - 1817, of the actress Sarah Siddons, who lived there with her daughter. The Farm was at the point where the Harrow Road, the Westway and the canal converge. Mrs Siddons was buried at St Mary's Church, the main church of Paddington, on Paddington Green, where her grave can still be seen. Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (1755–1831) was a British actress, the best-known of the 18th century. ...

Internet link: Victoria County History article on the area

Westbourne Grove today

Westbourne Grove and its immediate area is now home to a mixture of independent and chain retailers, such as Joseph, Ted Baker, Whistles, Agnes B, Paul Smith and the like. There are numerous restaurants such as Zucca and newcomer Chair, where it is possible to purchase the furniture.

Notting Hill Post Office, on Westbourne Grove, finally closed in a storm of controversy during early 2005.