Notting Hill Gentrification

In the victorian ear, Notting Hill was a rough, working class area and by the 1950's, the area had become infamous for its slum landlords and inner-city deprivation. 

In the period after WWII, the British Empire was encouraging Caribbean people to migrate to the UK and this caused an influx of many diffferent races into London. Notting Hill, being an area with cheap housing, was one area which recieved many of these new immigrants. in 1958, tensions rose between these newcomers and the 'teddy boys' of the British Union of Fascists - many riots occured and most famousily, one erupted inthe middle of the Notting Hill Carnival in 1976.

It was in the 1960's and 70's that predominantly young public sector professionals and managers began moving into the area

• perception of the suburbs as blandly uniform opposed to the inner city which offered diversity 
• sense of community
• Suburbs had higher living and house prices - not always value for money
• Notting Hill meant they could live in an uptown, city are for downtown prices
• They wanted to reassert the lost heritage of the area
• Notting Hill has a history of embracing alternative styles and appeals to artistic types
• Victorian townhouses are elegant and back onto to private comminal garden squares which appealed to families
• Urban pioneers sent their children to the local primary school and engaged with the existing community because they hoped other children would learn from their aspirations while their children learnt from others.

The urban pioneers have no moved on and the super rich are moving in. This 'super-gentrification' has been fuelled by city investors, foreign investors and celebrities. 

• cool reputation due to its bohemian roots
• victorian architecture
• high-end designer stores as well as family shops, schools and parks

• In just over 40years once dilapidated homes on Portland Road has seen prices rise from £11,750 to over £2million - 180 fold increase
• Even the cheapest housing on the street is £100,000 above the national average house price of £250,000
• influx of high-end boutiques, designer labels and high quality restaurants - the Portobello Arms pub closed much to the anger of the locals
• employment has lowered crime levels

Overll stabilisation of the community through increase property value, reduce vacany and refurbishment has come at a cost:

• cost has priced out local people - poverty is likely to increase elsewhere. Landlords like Rachman terrorise tenants with unlawful practices and violence
• tensions between original locals and the super wealth newcomers
• sense of community lost ie closure of Portobello Arms
• locals are often less vocal about their point of view than the wealthier, more powerful newcomers