A Day of Antiquing on London's Portobello Road

My friend Carol recently moved to a charming little town outside of London.  She is vibrant, a fab dresser (I've never seen her in the same outfit twice!) hysterically funny and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  Carol builds people up with compliments, calls everyone dahling in her South African accent (dahling, have you lost weight? dahling, I love your shoes), and loves a good party (in fact, she is the party!) and especially loves a glass of vodka & OJ at the end of a long day.  Our little town misses her so much!

Carol is stylin' under the Portobello Road sign

The other day, Carol took a trip into London to check out Portobello Road (unfortunately the famous Market was closed that day) which is billed as The World's Largest Antiques Market.  The road runs for two miles straight through the heart of Notting Hill, the trendy area of London made famous by the movie of the same name starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant (who can forget that cheesy line - "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her"). 

Here are some of Carol's cool finds and interesting shopping spots.

Shops along Portobello Road

Alice's Antiques on Portobello Road

A sampling of Portobello Road offerings

Leather b-balls and the greatest metal suitcases!

I want this whole basket of advertising milk bottles

For the golf enthusiast and more great old leather suitcases

Carol's Weird Find of the Day! 

WWI gasmask for $55 US! Carol also found lighters made from old bullets made by soldiers in the trenches.

Some Other Fun Spots along Portobello

An old orange Fiat in a pizza place! Arancina has a great window display.

The fashion chain AllSaints walls are lined with antique Singer sewing machines.

Antique sewing machines line the brick walls of the clothing chain AllSaints which opened about two years ago.  They are located in a huge 15,000 sf building that once housed 150 antiques traders.  Some Brits think this chain store coming to the street could be the beginning of the demise of Portobello Road.  

The famous Travel Bookshop where Hugh Grant's character worked in the movie

Wow! Thanks Carol for letting us live vicariously through your camera lens.  Looks like you had an amazing day and we can't wait for more pics from your travels.

Click on the Portobello Road website for more info.