Notting Hill: I'm just a girl, standing in front of a door, not asking to take a photo. Getty images
Notting Hill: I'm just a girl, standing in front of a door, not asking to take a photo. Getty images
In a twist of fate, residents in one of London's most gentrified neighbourhoods are complaining of being forced out by selfie-centric tourists.
Notting Hill in West London became one of the city's most desirable boroughs, after being the centre of a series of films in the early 2000s. Over the past 20 years, the instantly recognisable rows of coloured houses near the Portobello Road have shot up in value by 800 per cent with many people driven out by the areas new found desirability.
Carnival atmosphere: The London Borough hosts Britain's most famous annual street party. Photo / Getty Images
The London borough, which was home to a large West Indies community in the 1960s, hosts Britain's best known street party inspired by Caribbean carnival.
Some residents have started taking measures into their own hands, to drive away Instagram-happy tourists.
Methods to get rid of them include "photobombing" from windows and leaving ugly stains on their doorsteps to detract from their houses' appeal for photos. (A stained door in Notting Hill? The house-proud neighbourhood must be desperate to remove these tourists.)
One resident has begun leaving a donation box outside their door, reports The Sun. A message on the box asks for a £1 ($1.90) donation to charity if they are going to take photos outside the property.
It's not just the residents of Notting Hill who are feeling the unwelcome influence of Instagrammers.
Other previously peaceful picture locations being swamped by smartphone photographers include the Cotswolds and Edinburgh's New Town.
Residents of Bidbury in Gloucestershire are getting tired of the attention and moving out of their twee sandstone cottages.
Last month hotel chain Premier Inn released Research showing the UK's most popular "alternative" destinations via Instagram popularity. London was found to hold 5 of the top ten spots.
