A man who lives on one of Notting Hill’s most colorful streets says he loves the “free entertainment” offered by the tourists and influencers taking over the area.
Bart, who does not want to reveal his last name, says that every week hundreds of people pass by his street to grab the perfect content for Instagram or TikTok.
His street, which he also kept private, is often listed among the 10 “most Instagrammable” streets in Notting Hill and is lined with colorful houses.
Bart’s videos show influencers hovering around the neighborhood, lying on other people’s doors, throwing smoke bombs and dancing in the street.
He has lived in the area for three years, but it wasn’t until earlier this month that he began documenting the phenomenon on TikTok.
Bart, who lives on a street in London’s Notting Hill, has fun filming influencers taking content for social media.
Bart has even found influencers shamelessly posing on his doorstep when he opens the door.
Bart said: “On social media, we are often presented with highly curated snapshots of people’s lives that portray seemingly perfect moments, but what lies beyond the camera lens remains invisible.
“I thought this would be a TikTok angle that people would enjoy, which has proven to be true so far.”
The London suburb has been romanticized in popular culture after Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant’s 1999 romantic comedy of the same name.
Popular streets for beautiful pastel homes include Portobello Road, Lancester Road, Elgin Crescent and Hillgate Village, and each of them is packed with influencers looking to capture the perfect aesthetic shot.
Bart understands that others may find the phenomenon annoying, but he “loves free entertainment.”
He said: “The lengths people go to to get the perfect image are quite funny.
‘The other day I saw someone jumping down the street seven times followed by five cameras.
‘One of the videos shows a woman lying face up next to a pile of rubbish waiting to be picked up by the garbage collectors.
In one clip, which he titled “garbage day aesthetics,” Bart showed a girl lying on someone’s stairs while residents took out their bins.
Social media lovers film TikTok dances against the background of beautiful pastel-colored houses
Bart filmed an influencer posing on the stairs of one of the houses, but the reality in the background were garbage bags lined up on the street.
Luckily, influencers saw the funny side when Bart caught them in the act by filming their content.
“I’m sure it would bother other people, but I really see it as just something to laugh at.”
Without realizing it, Bart’s TikTok account quickly went viral and his videos were already racking up millions of views.
He said: “Living in a place like Notting Hill, you have a front-row seat behind the comical process of capturing the ‘perfect’ shot.”
‘(They come to do) TikTok dancing and modeling especially, and others come just to take a photo of a colorful street.’
Bart has fun using David Attenborough’s voiceover to accompany his clips of the influencers, calling them “the most dangerous animal on this planet.”
In other videos he jokes that it is “day 5,000 of seeing TikTok from influencers on my street.”
A tease from social media lovers showed Bart joking about a ‘garbage day aesthetic’ as influencers stood on the steps to take photos as residents put out their bins.
Bart filmed them setting off sparklers, posing with balloons, and captured people posing on his own doorstep.
Influencers even bring their own props, like heart-shaped balloons (pictured) or sparklers.
Influencers flit around the neighborhood and lie down in the middle of the road to capture the perfect photo
But others living in Hillgate Village in Notting Hill have been less than enthusiastic about the relentless influx of influencers to the area.
Lucy and Sophie Harrow live in a pastel blue house in the area and have found up to 60 people outside their house in the summer months.
They said Sun that living in the area resembles ‘Disneyland’ or ‘the zoo’ due to the numbers that crowd its streets to take photographs.
Meanwhile, experts say the area’s colorful homes could be worth 20 percent more than simple properties.
An analysis by HomeOwners Alliance in 2020 showed properties on vibrant Ten Bell Street were worth 65 per cent more than a similar home just a few streets away on Victoria Street.
But homeowners will have to pay the price of having social media stars flock to their doors to capture the perfect photo.
The owners of the iconic Notting Hill bookstore credit TikTok with a rise in Gen Z customers buying books and a renewed interest in reading.
The London area has been romanticized since the release of the film Notting Hill, starring High Grant (pictured in the film) and Julia Roberts.
Portobello Road (pictured) is a colorful street popular with influencers.
And the owners of the iconic Notting Hill bookstore have said sales have doubled since the pandemic, again thanks to social media’s fascination with the area.
Brother duo James and Howard Malin run the bookstore and said they’ve seen more young people visiting and wanting to discover new books thanks to BookTok, a “sub-community” on the app.
They previously told MailOnline how TikTok has contributed to a rise in young customers visiting because they are fans of the film and because they have seen it on the trending social media platform.
They said: ‘We have seen many more young people interested in reading and discovering new books thanks to TikTok.
“TikTok has definitely had an impact on the number of people buying books (especially physical ones): 48 percent of TikTok users read more books than before thanks to using BookTok.”
The Notting Hill bookstore is located at 13 Blenheim Crescent, while the film’s souvenir shop, The Travel Book Shop, is at 142 Portobello Road.