‘Fantasy’ flat above romcom Notting Hill bookshop hits the market

The bright blue facade of The Travel Book Co has brought film fans flocking to London’s Portobello Road since Richard Curtis’s romcom Notting Hill hit cinemas in 1999.

In reality, the interior scenes where “posh-geeky bookshop owner” William Thacker, played by Hugh Grant, first meets Hollywood star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) were filmed in a studio, said Time Out, and the retail space is now home to a gift store. But movie buffs are being offered the chance to live out their “romcom fantasy” in the flat situated above.

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The “fantasy flat” situated over the bookshop where the “unlikely” film romance first begins is on the market for a “serious” £2,375,000, the magazine reported.

The apartment sprawls over 1,414 square feet and is split over three floors, the first of which features an open-plan kitchen, reception and dining area leading onto a generous terrace – “great for entertaining”, according to estate agents Russell Simpson.

The reception area is the “star of the show”, said House Beautiful, with an “original brickwork wall, fireplace, oak flooring and double sash windows” offering “the kind of character you don’t find in every home”.

The second floor features two bedrooms and a large bathroom, and the “entire” top level is “dedicated to the master bedroom, complete with an en-suite bathroom”, said the Daily Mail. The property is “truly a one-of-a-kind sales opportunity”, said Hermione Russell, sales negotiator at Russell Simpson.

The seller bought the property in 2006 for £860,000, the London Evening Standard. Russell said similar properties in the area are often sold to “young, single women, because you’re in amongst the life and the busyness of Notting Hill” and “it’s a very safe place to live”.