Notting Hill slides into the centre of the social spotlight next weekend for its 60th annual carnival. Westbourne Park to Ladbroke Grove will overflow with the technicolour celebration of Caribbean culture and history, attracting so-called ‘carni’ goers: shirtless Chelsea boys in Kangol caps, and bikini-clad public school girls smoking rolled cigarettes. But W10 and W11 locals will know that the real social fixture – the flocking point of the summer – has laid quietly on Golborne Road all summer.
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Once the sole preserve of in-the-know aesthetes and Notting Hill locals wanting to stretch their legs and flee the touristic terror of Portobello, Goldborne Road has become the only social destination worth being seen at. Its wealth of pavement seating means one thing: endless people-watching opportunities. Where else are you going to catch Harry Styles in his short shorts (Layla, takeaway pastry in hand) or Lady Lola Bute with a 9pm americano (Goldborne Deli).
Anchoring one end of this new social parade, once famous for its fish and furniture markets, are Canteen – the reservationless Italian hotspot, boasting a roster of ex-River Cafe chefs and a Michelin Bib Gourmand – and The Fat Badger – the Public House Group’s pub whose legendarily strict door policy has given rise to the exquisite awkwardness of a will-we, won’t-we night out. First-timers loiter near the fire exit, confused as to where to find the proper entrance. Up the street, West Londoners skulk on the pavement, awkwardly early for their Straker’s reservation, so fearful of missing their slot after a two-month wait.
But now there is a refuge for these rejectees, somewhere for twenty-something West Londoners to soak up the tension of the local unsignaled guest-list scene.
Enter: Kiez, a Kebab shop-cum-late night bar where Bridgerton starlet Simone Ashley has been spotted and Suki Waterhouse has been photographed atop the custom stainless steel communal table. Little Black Book alumna Cordelia Groes hosted her Groes gang for a summer launch lunch, and Joe Jonas has reportedly stopped by for his Doner-fix a few times this summer. Thomas Straker, of the neighbouring namesake restaurant, has given his stamp of approval, whilst city boys Sam Fairer Smith and Harry Maxwell Bell have been spotted outside the joint amid a mix of neighbours who can flex a postcode-only discount card.
Kiez (pronounced ‘Keats’) is the brainchild of Annabel Colterjohn, Victor Lison, and siblings Sam and Lili Halterman. The group formed at St Andrews University and drew inspiration from (Sam) Halterman and Lison’s two-year stint in Berlin, where they became kebab connoisseurs then found themselves unable to find a worthy replica in their native Notting Hill.
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Inside, Kiez is a menagerie of steel, concrete, glass with hardwood walnut accents crafted by Colterjohn, an uber-slick interior designer who set out to recreate Berlin’s famous pared-back minimalism, with a nod to the city’s sex, drugs, leather and techno vibe. Its bespoke Friendly Pressure soundsystem hosts title DJ sets that are quickly building a cult following. The name, roughly translating from German to mean ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘hood’, captures the essence of the place: the group courts word-of-mouth buzz over TikTok virality. ‘The business is very young, so if you get a massive surge (from TikTok) you get a massive collapse,’ says Sam Halterman, who boasts a Cordon Bleu diplome de cuisine. ‘It’s going to be old news at some point, and if you don’t have the local support because it was just a TikTok thing, locals don’t want to go there.’
It has been a success. By 8pm, the 35-seater restaurant is overflowing and the party spills out onto the street amid puffs of smoke and the clink of craft cocktails by east London’s Bar with Shapes for a Name. Dirty martinis, negronis, Spicy margaritas (with a spiced extract bottle on hand, to tailor to any chillihead) are all on tap. Bar fatigue is a thing of the past: Halterman reckons anyone can have a dirty martini in hand in 20 seconds. Kiss goodbye to the Pelican bar-crush
Kiez also possesses that very rare thing in London these days: a license that extends beyond 11pm. With the help of 108 Golborne Road’s former custodian — an off-licence shop — the social joint boasts an after-hours party, as well as a license for takeaway alcohol, which Halterman expects to be a Carnival flocking-point this weekend.
It’s clear that the season’s social capital is edging ever northward: Golborne Road has officially arrived.
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