32 The London Bus
Kensington High Street where
another art deco edifice, the
former Barkers department
store, towers over the area.
These days it houses a selection
of smaller shops.
Now the 27 turns north up
Kensington Church Street
towards Notting Hill Gate,
passing the flag- and flower-
bedecked Churchill Arms
pub along the way. Crossing
Bayswater Road, we find a short
stretch of tourist-oriented shops
on Pembridge Road – a hint of
the busy street market farther
down Portobello Road, which
dives off to our left. Pembridge
Road itself is a quiet oasis of
upmarket white Georgian villas,
curving slowly round to the east
until we merge into the more
bustling Westbourne Grove.
On the day I travelled the
route, a ‘Spring Contemporary’
art exhibition was under way
here at Maddox Gallery, a
recently opened branch of an
international gallery chain. The
front window display appeared
to consist of substantial live trees
with pink and white blossom
bursting out through the glazingLondon by Bus
ABOVE: Eastbound
ADH45029 at
Hammersmith
Broadway.
RIGHT: St Paul’s
Hotel, part of
the former St
Paul’s School, in
Hammersmith.
BELOW: Art deco
style at Olympia.