Author of the Daily Mail article that attests everyone is talking about Kensal Rise, Caroline Phillips, explains some of this filmic neighbourhood’s magic.
A film set. That’s what it’s like living in Kensal Rise these days. Faster than you can blink, the scenery changes. You go to bed living near Steptoe and Son; and wake up sharing a manicured street with Stepford Wives. Instead of vehicles that can barely pass their MOTs, gleaming sports cars and family estate cars are appearing; nicotine-yellow netting is being torn down for white plantation shutters; crazy paving is being replaced by natural slate and limestone slabs; and front walls of pillar-box-red bricks are being rebuilt with old yellow stock.
If you stay on set and walk down the road, you’ll notice the shops. Gone – or going – are the pound shops and plastic emporia. In their place, the set designer has had his carpenters hammer up frontage for delicatessens, hip milkshake bars and cute kiddies‘ clothes shops.
As for the costumes, the director has decreed, that they should be Very Notting Hill. His costume lady has interpreted this as vintage mixed with AllSaints. ‘Bag lady meets Selfridges,’ is how she puts it.
And the props? If you get a walk-on part, you’ll see fashionable shabby chic furniture and L- shaped sofas. Even the lighting on set these days seems somehow softer and more sophisticated.
‘And as for those camera angles… Well, I’m just so glad I got the part.’
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