Iconic houses just off Portobello Road painted black to deter influencers
What was once a mecca for influencers could now become a sanctuary for goths.
That’s because people on Lancaster Road in Notting Hill are fed up with tourists taking pictures on their doorsteps.
What draws people to the street, where homes go for upwards of £2 million, is the brightly coloured houses.
But some residents are not happy with living in a postcard so have taken to painting their houses black.
Mike, who lives in a turquoise flat, told Metro the noise from tourists has got so bad that he has had to move his meditation classes to the back of his house.
He said: ‘What is more irritating than anything else is just noise. Tourists work at a different volume level. There will be a group of 70 plus. It sounds like a football match.’
And it’s not just people in the street who have noticed.
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A cyclist weaving through a group of Instagram addicts shouted: ‘You are all f**king sheep. These are normal houses.’
Mike’s not ready to repaint his flat black like his neighbours. But he’s worried their plan might backfire.For now, Lancaster Road remains a battleground between neighbours and the unstoppable selfie crowd.
The set designer said they run the risk of becoming ‘the new epicentre for goths.’
Walking down the street, you can see there are other indications that people are not happy with being a selfie hotspot.
Some houses have chains or belt barriers blocking off their front doorsteps.
Others have put up signs asking people to be quiet, and others haven’t painted their homes in any colour at all.
So what do the tourists think?
(Picture: Justin Griffith-Williams)
When we visited Lancaster Road, Tete and Giullermo Obeid were taking pictures with three three children, Conrado, Consuelo and Justina.
The family, visiting from Argentina, went straight to the street after seeing the brightly coloured houses on social media.
When asked what they thought about the black houses, they said they liked the new edgy paint just as much.
However, most other tourists seemed to avoid taking pictures outside those houses and seemed much more attracted to the colourful ones.
A letter has been shared around the street, asking others to join in with the pantone revolt, but whether anyone actually will is yet to be seen.
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