As you leave the Notting Hill Gate underground stop on Saturday morning, you are greeted by a mass of people all headed in the same direction. Where are they going? Portobello Road. Just fall in with the crowd and soon you will enter this vast market, which stretches from the residential neighbourhood near the tube stop, all the way to the vegetable stalls at the north end, where Portobello Road runs in to Tavistock Road. In between you will find antiques, second-hand and novelty items in a quantity that is truly astounding.

Portobello Road bills itself as the world’s largest antique market. Although the streets are brimming with goods for sale, the real backbone of the market is a labyrinth of shops that line each side of the street, many of which have two or three floors and multiple dealers, all crammed into narrow aisles and filling every inch of space with antiques and second-hand goods. Although many of the shops are open during the week, the real action happens on Saturday, when the part-time vendors join the professionals, the items for sale spill out onto the street, and the crowds gather.

Here you can find people from every corner of the globe. There are serious collectors and antique hunters rubbing elbows with tourists and people who just came out to soak up the market atmosphere. You will hear multiple languages and multiple English accents mixed in with the cries of the vendors and the music of street performers. If you are an antique buff, or if you are in London on holiday and just want to pick up an unusual souvenir, you must visit Portobello Road. The time to visit is Saturday, when the market opens early in the morning and goes until the end of the day. Who knows, you may find some treasure buried in one the many stalls.