The owner of the Travel Bookshop made famous in the film Notting Hill is selling her flat above the iconic world-famous shop.
Sarah Anderson, 67, remembers the films scriptwriter Richard Curtis coming to see her and making notes about the bookshop she founded in 1979.
Although she sold the shop in 2011 it re-opened as the Notting Hill Bookshop and continues to trade to this day. It remains the focus of curious attention by tourists and fans of the film who may hope to see its stars Hugh Grant – who played the bumbling bookseller – and Julia Roberts as the film-star browsing the shelves.
Sarah who has lived above the shop for 35 years in a two-bedroom maisonette and is moving across London once said: The main difference between reality and the film is that I’m a much better bookseller than Hugh Grant.
Her flat which has two bathrooms, two reception rooms and a roof terrace is, as you might expect, packed with travel books. But she says that it is time to move on and that she embraces change.
However, she will miss both the flat and the shop which is genuinely world famous. Wherever I go people anywhere in the world people ask me about the shop and I can hardly go out of the door without being photographed 17 years on after the films release, she says.
Although the film-makers recreated the shop for the film and used the exterior of another building the Travel Bookshop in Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill became the focus for people who wanted to see the original location for the film.
Sarah remembers the filming taking place in nearby Portobello and a visit to the shop by the film stars Roberts, who played a Hollywood movie star and Grant who played William Thacker the stammering bookseller. He bought a book she didn’t!
Sarah’s flat is being sold by Marsh & Parsons Notting Hill office. Marsh & Parsons Gareth Kelly said:Buyers will be buying a piece of British film history but they also get a comfortable slightly bohemian flat in a very sought after area of Notting Hill.
Sarah’s flat is on the market with Marsh & Parsons Notting Hill office for 1,595,000.
Contact: Marsh & Parsons Notting Hill Tel: 020 7313 2897
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For further information please contact: Instinctif Partners, Emily Barnes / Darius Meehan, 0207 427 1403 / 0207 427 1430
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