Portobello Road Market

What makes it special

The southern end, from Notting Hill Gate down to Elgin Crescent, is the stretch billed as the world's largest antiques market. Its dealers cover every era and style: Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian pieces, Art Deco and Art Nouveau, fine jewellery, fine china, sterling silver and antiquarian books.

Stalls have traded on this road since the 1860s, and the market is still best known for its antiques and bric-a-brac. Look among the bric-a-brac for old printers' type cases and loose vintage letters.

North of Elgin Crescent the stock changes. Beyond the Westway flyover, Portobello Green holds vintage clothing and accessories, collectables and bric-a-brac. It leans to vintage on a Friday and carries more new fashion on a Saturday.

Visiting

Portobello Road trades in full on Fridays and Saturdays, and Saturday is the busiest day, with stalls lining both sides of the road. Monday to Thursday, only the stretch between Elgin Crescent and the Westway opens, with fruit and veg, household goods and a few clothing stalls. The antiques arcades open on Saturdays only, so plan the antiques for a Saturday.

Walk it from south to north, starting among the antiques near Notting Hill Gate. The arcades off the road between Chepstow Villas and Westbourne Grove open from about 7am, and most close around 4pm. The Portobello Road Arcade at number 177 is a covered hall of more than 30 dealers.

Prices on antiques stalls are generally negotiable, more so later in the day or when you buy more than one piece.

Keep walking north past Elgin Crescent and stop for lunch at the street food stalls under the Westway flyover, where the cooking runs from Caribbean and Moroccan to Mexican and British. Finish among the vintage rails at Portobello Green, then follow the stalls round the corner into Golborne Road.

Tips

Bring a sturdy tote, because most dealers do not hand out bags. Cards work almost everywhere, but cash helps when you bargain, and the cash machines near the market get busy on Saturday mornings.

Some stalls on the road sell only cheap Notting Hill souvenirs. They are not the antiques market, so walk on to the dealers and the arcades. Rain does not stop trading, since most antiques dealers work under covered or semi-covered stalls.