Ladbroke Grove

This article is about the road. For the rail disaster, see Ladbroke Grove rail crash.

Crowds on Ladbroke Grove during the Notting Hill Carnival

Ladbroke Grove is a west London road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is also sometimes the name given informally to the immediate surrounding area. Running from Notting Hill in the south to Kensal Green in the north, it is located in North Kensington and straddles the W10 and W11 postal districts. Ladbroke Grove tube station is located on the road, at the point where it is crossed by the Westway. The adjacent bridge and nearby section of the Westway (London) was regenerated in 2007 in a partnership including Urban Eye, Transport for London and London Underground. It is also the nearest tube station to Portobello Road Market. It is the main road on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival in August.

History

The street is named after James Weller Ladbroke, who developed the Ladbroke Estate in the mid nineteenth century, until then a largely rural area on the western edges of London.

Music and culture

The psychedelic rock band Hawkwind were formed here in 1969, and eventually bonded and worked with fantasy author Michael Moorcock who was then a resident (and who also lamented the tendency of the band members to show up at odd hours in search of food, alcohol or drugs). The Deviants (formerly the Social Deviants) and Pink Fairies were musical groups out of the Ladbroke Grove UK underground movement, from which a number of bands would emerge, influenced by anarchistic singer/writer Mick Farren. Punk group The Clash also formed locally in 1976. The Roughler magazine emerged in the 1980s and 1990s to chronicle the antics of the more Bohemian residents, including the legendary Portobello Pantos.

Ladbroke Grove features as the scene of Van Morrison's 1968 song "Slim Slow Slider" from Astral Weeks, and is mentioned in the 1970s pop hit "One Man Band" by Leo Sayer. The Pulp song "I Spy", from the album Different Class, features the line "your Ladbroke Grove looks turn me on". The Blur song "Fool's Day" also features Ladbroke Grove in its lyrics. "LDN" by Lily Allen mentions Ladbroke Grove in an overdubbed chorus of London placenames. Killing Joke have recently released an EP (In Excelsis) that features two mixes of a song called "Ghost Of Ladbroke Grove". The novels of author Michael Moorcock often contain references to Ladbrook Grove, the location being the headquarters of his fictional character Jerry Cornelius.

Crossrail

Entrance to Ladbroke Grove Underground station.

At a site just to the east of the Old Oak Common site, Kensington and Chelsea Council has been pushing for a station at North Kensington / Kensal off Ladbroke Grove and Canal Way, as a turn-back facility will have to be built in the area anyway. Siting it at Kensal Rise, rather than next to Paddington itself, would provide a new station to regenerate the area. Amongst the general public there is a huge amount of support for the project and Mayor Boris Johnson stated that a station would be added if it did not increase Crossrail's overall cost; in response, Kensington and Chelsea Council agreed to underwrite the projected £33 million cost of a Crossrail station, which was received very well by the residents of the Borough. TfL is conducting a feasibility study on the station and the project is backed by National Grid, retailers Sainsbury's and Cath Kidston, and Jenny Jones (Green Party member of the London Assembly).

See also

• Ladbroke Estate
• Notting Hill

References

• British History Online
• Barbara Denny, Notting Hill and Holland Park Past, Historical Publications, 1993. ISBN 0-948667-18-4
• Derry Moore, Notting Hill, Frances Lincoln Ltd, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7112-2739-2

External links

• The Sound of Labroke Grove and a long way from Glam!