BEINSMARTSIDE UK Iconic houses just off Portobello Road painted black to deter influencers

Iconic houses just off Portobello Road painted black to deter influencers

Iconic houses just off Portobello Road painted black to deter influencers post thumbnail image
London, UK, 4th June, 2025. Residents of Lancaster Road have painted their houses black in an attempt to dissuade tourists from taking selfies in front of their properties. The street has become a magnet for social media influencers and tourists.
Residents are trying to persuade tourists to be quiet and stop snapping their homes (Picture: Justin Griffith-Williams)

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.

London, UK, 4th June, 2025. Residents of Lancaster Road have painted their houses black in an attempt to dissuade tourists from taking selfies in front of their properties. The street has become a magnet for social media influencers and tourists. Picture shows tourists talking photographs and ???selfies??? in front of the multi-coloured houses.
Instagram users are flocking to Lancaster Road (Picture: Justin Griffith-Williams)
London, UK, 4th June, 2025. Residents of Lancaster Road have painted their houses black in an attempt to dissuade tourists from taking selfies in front of their properties. The street has become a magnet for social media influencers and tourists.
The three houses have joined forces to put off the tourists (Picture: Justin Griffith-Williams)

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?

London, UK, 4th June, 2025. Residents of Lancaster Road have painted their houses black in an attempt to dissuade tourists from taking selfies in front of their properties. The street has become a magnet for social media influencers and tourists. Picture shows the Obeid family on holiday from Argentina - Guillermo (father), Tete, (mother) Conrado (son) Consuelo (daughter) and Justina (younger daughter).
(left to right) Consuelo, Conrado, Giullermo, Justina and Tete Obeid in front of the still colourful houses on Lancaster Road (Picture: Justin Griffith-Williams)
London, UK, 4th June, 2025. Residents of Lancaster Road have painted their houses black in an attempt to dissuade tourists from taking selfies in front of their properties. The street has become a magnet for social media influencers and tourists. Picture shows tourists talking photographs and ???selfies??? in front of the multi-coloured houses.
Neighbours pray for rain, when tourists will leave their street alone
(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.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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