'... you need this book on your shelf' The Londonist "a fascinating look at a fascinating part of London" -- Robert Elms BBC London "elegy for a lost community" Evening Standard "a charming addition to the canon. The 'Lives' in the subtitle - a colourful cast of rock stars, bohemians, hustlers and slum landlords - are brought to life in such detail, you can almost smell the jerk chicken." Easyjet Traveller

JULIAN MASH graduated from the University of East Anglia with an MA in Creative Writing in 2011. He spent much of his twenties running a record label and playing in a band before becoming a bookseller. He has lived and worked in and around Portobello Road for the last ten years, half of which was spent working at the Travel Bookshop, a local institution and the inspiration for the bookshop in the film Notting Hill. He is currently manager of the Idler Academy and literary events manager for End of the Road Festival. He was a recipient of a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction in 2013.

Introduction: Beyond the Blue Door Part One: Into the Market Out of the Barrow and Into the Ring Vinyl Habit: Minus Zero and the Life and Death of the Record Shop The Travel Bookshop 1979-2011 Homeless Bones: Antiques Tomorrow's You: The Health Food Revolutionaries Sunset Boulevard and the Birth of Vintage Fashion From Rogue to Vogue: Paul Breuer Vintage Clothes An Appointment with the Dentist Part Two: Lord, Don't Stop the Carnival There's a Riot Going On: 1958 and the Notting Hill Race Riots Pageant, Fireworks, Music, Plays & Poetry: The London Free School and the 1966 Carnival Mas in the Ghetto: Carnival 1973 Gaz's Rockin' Blues The Mangrove Steelband Fox Friends: The Maverick Masquerade Band Part Three: In Love with Rock 'n' Roll Pink Floyd Go into Interstellar Overdrive Hawkwind: The House Band 1976 Rough Trade and the Birth of Punk Killing Joke: The Adventures of Youth Under the Westway: Damon Albarn The Rise of XL Records Part Four: Bricks and Mortar A Legal Matter: Goodwin & Knipe In Search of a Furnished Room Performance and Powis Square Further Limits: Duncan Fallowell Heathcote Williams and the Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Squatting Agency Basement Bedlam and the Rise of the Super Rich Behind the Blue Door with Richard Curtis Afterword Notes Index Acknowledgements