Portobello Road Market, lunch from Ottolenghi and an afternoon at the Electric Cinema come together in this Roberts London film, published on 1 April 2017. The day begins at Notting Hill Gate, with Saturday crowds already heading towards the market.
The cinema is the main reason for the visit. Before the screening, however, there is time for antiques, a detour along Westbourne Grove and a takeaway salad eaten to the sound of street musicians. It is a day built around walking, eating and settling into one of Barry’s favourite London cinemas.
Saturday on Portobello Road Market
From the station, the walk passes the pastel-coloured homes that draw cameras before reaching the first market stalls. Portobello becomes progressively busier, with visitors gathering around shop windows and tables of antiques.
A planned coffee stop at Farm Girl changes when the queue proves too long. Instead, Barry continues through the antiques section and turns towards Westbourne Grove. That small change gives the day a different rhythm: away from the densest crowds and into streets of boutiques, cafés and restaurants.
Westbourne Grove and Ottolenghi
The detour is part of the point of this visit. Barry has filmed the market before and wants to include a neighbouring area that visitors might pass without exploring. Westbourne Grove is quieter on this particular Saturday, although the shops and pavements still have plenty of life.
Lunch comes from Ottolenghi on Ledbury Road, close to its junction with Westbourne Grove. The white frontage leads into a deli where the displays make choosing something to eat an occasion in itself.
Cakes and pastries are the first temptation. They fill stands and plates near the window, with the salad counter further inside. Barry nearly adds a cake but decides on salad, describing spring as his reason for choosing a lighter lunch.
A takeaway lunch and live music
The food leaves the shop in a takeaway box. An initial plan to film it at a nearby seating area changes because of noise, so the walk heads back towards the market. The lunch stop eventually combines the salad with a street performance.
Barry singles out the butternut squash as particularly good. The film gives a close view of the food before returning to the musicians and the passing crowd. It is a simple meal, but the setting makes it part of the outing rather than a break from it.
The market changes as you walk
Back on Portobello Road, the stalls shift in character. Barry describes antiques and reproduction antiques towards the Notting Hill Gate end, everyday market goods through the middle and more independent designers further along. The boundaries overlap, with permanent shops behind the temporary stalls.
Fruit and vegetables, cooking food, street art and live music all appear along the route. That mixture is what gives the walk its variety. Even with a cinema booking ahead, there is room to pause and watch a performance before moving on.
Inside the Electric Cinema
The Electric Cinema provides a complete change of atmosphere. Outside are market crowds; inside are leather armchairs, footrests, table lamps and the warm decoration around the curtained screen. The footage shows the auditorium before the screening begins.
Barry explains the connection with the Electric Diner next door, whose kitchen supplied food to the cinema during this visit. He also looks through the bar menu and describes the comfort of having somewhere to put his feet up. These details explain his affection for the place more clearly than the size of its screen alone.
The film that afternoon is Kong: Skull Island in 3D. The camera records the room and the screen preparation, then the visit resumes outside afterwards. Barry leaves pleased with both the film and the cinema, before heading back towards Notting Hill Gate.
A Notting Hill archive day
This film adds a different route to the earlier 2015 Portobello Road and Electric Cinema visit, which included breakfast at the Tabernacle and lunch at the Electric Diner. Here, Ottolenghi and Westbourne Grove give the familiar market walk a new focus.
The article preserves the 2017 visit and its original publication date. Food, menus and cinema arrangements are described as they appear in the film.
