Black History Month
Notting Hill Virtual Black History Walking Tour
Notting Hill is an affluent district of West London. It's full of vibrant houses, shops, stalls and is home to many notable figures, Portobello Road Market and Notting Hill Carnival. It’s also full of remarkable events in Black history:
Created by Debbie Adegoke, Imperial BME Officer
Battle of Portobelo,
Portobello Road
Portobello Market has become one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world, with one of the largest antiques, bric-a-brac and vintage clothing markets. You may have noticed a multitude of Mews in the area - these were built to serve as stables in the 18th Century. In the early 19th century, the area was home to potters and pig farmers. The rural land was overturned by the wealthy Ladbroke family, who redeveloped the area into a fashionable suburb of the capital with streets of large houses and private garden squares. Portobello Road (taken from Portobello Farm), was named in commemoration of a British victory in the Battle of Portobelo (1739), where Vice Admiral Edward Vernon attacked and captured the Spanish colony of Panama, looting the coastal city Porto Belo. It translates to beautiful port. Portobelo has been used to name a variety of locations such as the Portobello District in Edinburgh and Dublin, and Porto Bello in the US states Virginia and Maryland.
The Capture of Peurto Bello, 1739; Royal Museums Green, The Collection (right) and a stall in Portobello Market (left).
Evidence of Edward Vernon's legacy can still be seen today.
301-303 Portobello Road housed the Black people’s Information Centre. The organisation was run by Rhodan Gordon on the site of his Caribbean restaurant Backayard in the 1970s. Gordon set up the Black people’s Information Centre with the aim of improving the rights of the black community and the resources available to them. It now houses the “Thai Rice” restaurant.
303 Portobello Road; the Black people's Information Centre in the 1970s (left), and Thai Rice restaurant today (right).
Basing Street Studios,
8 Basing Street
The recording studio (now SARM studios) was built inside a former church. It was a hangout popular to artists and celebrities such as Bob Marley (& The Wailers), Diana Ross, Muhammad Ali, Marvin Gaye, Band Aid and Rhianna.
In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves “The Teenagers”. They later changed their name to “The Wailing Rudeboys”, then to “The Wailing Wailers”, at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to “The Wailers”. By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. The global awareness and impact of reggae music is largely due to the musical creativity and the missionary message of liberation and upliftment promoted by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Bob Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience. You’ll see a Blue plaque solely dedicated to the breakthrough group members- Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer for their 1973 albums ‘Catch A Fire’ and ‘Burnin’’.
Basing Street Studios in the 1970s (left) and the Blue Plaque commemorating Bob Marley & the Wailers (right).
The Mangrove Restaurant,
8 All Saints Road
Here is home to the first Black restaurant in the “Grove” (Ladbroke Grove), set up by Frank Critchlow (1968), playing a central role in Notting Hill’s Black community. It was described as “a meeting place and an eating place, a social and welfare club, an advice and resource centre, a black house for Black people, a resting place in Babylon.” Black people sought advice on housing & legal aid and radicals discussed the revolution in the Caribbean and the fortunes of the American Black Panther movement.
The Mangrove Restaurant also saw its fair share of big names including the Black intellectuals CLR James and Lionel Morrison, celebrities such as Nina Simone, Sammy Davis Jr, Jimi Hendrix and Vanessa Redgrave, and White radicals like Colin MacInnes, Richard Neville and Lord Tony Gifford. Despite this thriving restaurant’s success, it was perceived as a threat and soon came under attack. "The heavy mob", a group of police officers, according to The Hustler, raided the Mangrove 12 times between January 1969 and July 1970. They claimed that the Mangrove was a “drugs den”, despite the lack of evidence. The police pursued Critchlow over petty licensing charges, including permitting dancing and allowing his friends to eat sweetcorn and drink tea after 11 pm. Critchlow stood against this persecution; after filing a complaint to the Race Relations Board (1969), he and the local branch of the British Black Panthers organised a march on Portnall Road. On 9 August 1970, more than 700 police were assigned against this march, despite only 150 protesters present. Police intervention resulted in violence and Frank Critchlow, Darcus Howe, Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Rhodan Gordon, Anthony Innis, Althea Lecointe Jones, Rothwell Kentish & Godfrey Millett were charged with inciting a riot. The group were acquitted in 1971, after a 55-day trial. This was of the first incidents that led to the judicial acknowledgement of racially motivated behaviour within the Metropolitan police. The Mangrove is now private housing. You’ll see a blue plaque in Frank Critchlow’s honour.
Frank Critchlow's complaint to the Race Relations Board in 1969 (left) and the Blue Plaque honouring him (right).
6-8 All Saints Road. The Mangrove is now private housing (left) and the Mangrove 9 (right).
1958 Notting Hill Race Riots,
9 Blenheim Crescent
Many are familiar with the animosity that newly settled West Indians faced after arriving in Britain upon the Empire Windrush from the late 1940s, but not as many are aware of the extremely well dressed young white men who were at the forefront of clashes with Britain's new immigrants. Prior to the well-known Notting Hill race riots of 1958, White fascist gangs (Teddy Boys) would regularly look for Black victims to beat up, throwing bricks or petrol bombs through windows. Jamaican ex-serviceman Hubert ‘Baron’ Baker and his friends saw the need for resistance; they formed a volunteer self-defence force to patrol the area and protect members of the Black community. Matters came to a head in the 1958 race riots, when local racists terrorised communities for two days. The next day - despite the authorities advising Black people to stay indoors - Baker and others pushed back and a now-infamous ‘battle’ took place at Totobag’s Caribbean café at 9 Blenheim Crescent, ‘the Fortress’ of the Black community in the area. With his military experience, Baker and his friends were meticulously prepared, and a gang of angry White rioters outside the café were met with fierce resistance. Approximately 30 Black men were defending the café with Molotov cocktails, iron bars and other weapons. Baker and his friends succeeded in chasing the rioters away, but the police arrested Baker for his part in these events. The riots ended, having gained global attention; they ultimately triggered a huge shift in British culture. A dramatized re-enactment of the battle is shown in a ‘West Side Story’ dance sequence featuring Jet/Capulets versus Shark/Montagues.
There is currently no plaque in Baker’s honour; Black History Walks is fundraising to have a plaque installed.
Blenheim Crescent in 1971 (left) and the now (right).
9 Blenheim Crescent in the early 2000s (left). It is now undergoing renovation (right).
Notting Hill Carnival,
Tavistock Road
Notting Hill Carnival is Europe’s biggest street festival, showcasing Caribbean traditions with music and colourful and vibrant costume parades. The carnival was created as a way to end racial tensions and subsequent 1958 Notting Hill Riots in London, following the post-1948 migration of people from the Caribbean. Claudia Jones took the unconventional approach of planning a celebration to bridge the culture gap between communities. In a country where her community had felt dehumanised and shamed for their culture, she believed it was time to show its wonders. As she said: “A people’s art is the genesis of their freedoms.” The very first London Caribbean Carnival, a precursor to the Notting Hill Carnival, was held indoors at St Pancras Town Hall in January 1959, televised by the BBC. The week-long festival included pageants, food stalls, music which ended with a parade. Rhaune Laslett-O’Brien, born to a Native American mother and a Russian father, saw Notting Hill’s diversity as something to be celebrated. Notably, Laslett invited musician Russell Henderson and his Trinidadian Steel Band to perform for the crowd. Henderson also performed at Jones’s Carnival and was well loved in the West Indian community. In conjunction with the London Free School, the Notting Hill Fayre intended to give Londoners exposure to the cultures around them in the hopes that they would find common ground. Tavistock Crescent was where the first Notting Hill Carnival procession began on 18 September 1966. Leslie Palmer was the director of the Notting Hill Carnival from 1973-1975. He played a key part in shaping the carnival into its modern form and made a controversial decision to invite local Jamaican sound systems and black music bands to play at the festival. There are 4 plaques on Tavistock Road in honour of Russel Henderson, Leslie Palmer, Rhaune Laslett-O’Brien & Claudia Jones for their contribution towards Notting Hill Carnival.
Blue Plaques of Claudia Jones (left) and Rhaune Laslett-O'Brien (right).
Blue Plaques of Russell Henderson (left) and Leslie Palmer (right) on 69 & 70 Tavistock Road.
A Steel Band Playing at Carnival.
And that's it!
I hope you enjoyed this tour. Please refer to the map with for (socially distanced) walking tour directions:
