I live on Notting Hill's famous 'rainbow street' on Instagram – influencers and tourists have flooded my area and posed on my doorstep, but I love the free entertainment
A man who lives on one of Notting Hill's most colorful streets says he loves the 'free entertainment' offered by tourists and influencers taking over the area.
Bart, who does not want to reveal his last name, says that hundreds of people come to his street every week to create the perfect content for Instagram or TikTok.
His street, which he also kept private, is often in the top 10 of Notting Hill's 'most Instagrammable' streets and is lined with colorful houses.
Bart's videos show the influencers zipping around the neighborhood – lying on other people's sidewalks, lighting smoke bombs and dancing in the road.
He's lived in the area for three years, but it wasn't until earlier this month that he started documenting the phenomenon on TikTok.
Bart, who lives on a street in London's Notting Hill, finds entertainment in filming influencers using content for social media
Bart has even seen influencers posing shamelessly on his doorstep when he opens the door
Bart said: 'On social media we are often shown very carefully curated snapshots of people's lives portraying seemingly perfect moments, but what lies beyond the camera lens remains unseen.
“I thought this would be an angle on TikTok that people would enjoy, and so far that has proven to be true.”
The London suburb has been romanticized in popular culture following Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant's 1999 romantic comedy of the same name.
Popular streets for the beautiful pastel-colored houses include Portobello Road, Lancester Road, Elgin Crescent and Hillgate Village – and they're all awash with influencers looking to capture the perfect aesthetic shot.
Bart understands that others may find the phenomenon annoying, but he 'loves the free entertainment.'
He said: 'The lengths people go to to get the perfect photo is quite funny.
'I recently saw someone running down the street seven times with five cameras following him.
'One of the videos shows a woman lying on her back next to a pile of rubbish waiting to be collected by the garbage collectors.
In one clip, which he called a “trash day aesthetic,” Bart showed a girl lying on someone's steps as residents took out their trash cans
The social media-loving film TikTok dances with the backdrop of the beautiful pastel-colored houses
Bart filmed an influencer posing on the steps of one of the houses, but the reality in the background was garbage bags along the street
Luckily, influencers saw the funny side when Bart caught them filming their content
“It would annoy other people, I'm sure, but I actually see it purely as something to have a good laugh about.”
Inadvertently, Bart's TikTok account quickly became viral, with his videos racking up millions of views.
He said: 'If you live in a place like Notting Hill you have a front row seat to the comical process of taking the 'perfect' photo.'
'[They come to do] TikTok is mainly about dancing and modeling, and others just come to take a photo of a colorful street.'
Bart finds amusement by using David Attenborough's voiceover on his clips of the influencers, who calls them “the most dangerous animal on this planet.”
In other videos, he jokes that it's “day 5,000 that I'm watching influencers TikTok on my street.”
A mockery of the social media enthusiasts had Bart making fun of a 'trash day aesthetic' as the influencers draped themselves over the stairs for photos as residents took out their bins.
Bart filmed them shooting flares, posing with balloons and catching people posing in front of his own door.
The influencers even bring their own props, such as heart-shaped balloons (photo) or torches
The influencers fly through the neighborhood, lying in the middle of the road, to take the perfect photo
But others living in Notting Hill's Hillgate Village are less than enthusiastic about the relentless influx of influencers into the area.
Lucy and Sophie Harrow live in a pastel blue house in the area and have found up to 60 people outside their home in the summer months.
They said The sun that life in the area resembles 'Disneyland' or 'the zoo' because of the figures that fill the streets for photos.
Meanwhile, experts have said the area's colorful homes could be worth 20 percent more than regular properties.
A 2020 analysis by the HomeOwners Alliance found that properties on vibrant Ten Bell Lane were worth 65 per cent more than a similar home just a few blocks away on Victoria Street.
But homeowners will have to pay the price of social media stars coming to their front door to take the perfect photo.
The owners of the iconic Notting Hill Bookshop have credited TikTok with a rise in the number of Gen Z customers buying books and a renewed interest in reading
The London area has been romanticized since the release of the Notting Hill film, starring High Grant (depicted in the film) and Julia Roberts
Portobello Road (pictured) is a colorful street that is proving popular with influencers
And the owners of the iconic Notting Hill bookshop have said sales have doubled since the pandemic, again thanks to social media's fascination with the area.
Brother duo James and Howard Malin run the bookstore and said they have seen more young people visiting to discover new books thanks to BookTok, a 'sub-community' on the app.
They previously told MailOnline how TikTok has contributed to the rise of young customers who attend because they are fans of the film and have seen it on the trendy social media platform.
They said: 'Thanks to TikTok we've seen many more young people interested in reading and discovering new books.
'TikTok has certainly had an impact on the number of people buying books (especially physical ones) – 48 percent of TikTok users are reading more books than before thanks to using BookTok.'
The Notting Hill Bookshop is located at 13 Blenheim Crescent, while the film souvenir shop – The Travel Book Shop – is located at 142 Portobello Road.