Tavistock Road was originally Tavistock Terrace until 1870. On the 1900s Charles Booth map, Tavistock Road is described as comfortable mixed/fairly comfortable.
The 1968 Notting Hill Fair/Carnival concluded at the London Free School ’shanty town’ adventure playground between Tavistock Crescent and Tavistock Road, with an ’open air dance’ featuring the mod band the Action, Ginger Johnson, Pure Medicine and a steel band.
The St Luke’s Road corner of Tavistock Road hosted the Metro Youth Club, the scene of Alton Ellis and Aswad gigs and various police incidents in the 1970s.
During the 1976 Carnival Tavistock Road became the riot frontline between the police and youths. The junction with Portobello also appears in the car chase in ’The Squeeze’ film, starring Stacy Keach and Freddie Starr.
The Tavistock junction with Portobello has been a pedestrian precinct since 1982, known as Portobello or Tavistock square, piazza or plaza.
