London residents furious after influencers get changed in their gardens to take selfies
A wealthy London street is being plagued by influencers and tourists trying to take the perfect picture of its cherry blossom trees.
Selfie-hunters have descended on Stanley Crescent in Notting Hill, where flats sell for £1million and entire homes command nearly £20million.
Visitors have been setting up ring lights and professional cameras, as some have even been spotted changing outfits in gardens.
Stanley Crescent went viral on TikTok and Instagram after its cherry blossom trees bloomed.
One home with two trees in the garden is particularly popular, and yesterday saw crowds of 60 people outside taking pictures.
A woman who answered the door declined to be interviewed but said: ‘We’re doing everything we can to protect our privacy.’
One local described the constant stream of people as a ‘plague’ – before getting into a heated argument with one tourist.
The resident, who was cycling past but declined to be identified, said: ‘It’s not just a lot of people – they’re not invited, it’s just a horror. It’s our community, we love it here, and there’s no respect, very little respect.
‘They sit all over the place. Our neighbours have had to make sure nobody goes in there. They have no manners. They’re not interested in manners – ‘do you mind if we take photographs?’ they don’t ask.’
Turning to Hungarian tourist Orsolya Kozak, who had been sitting on a wall posing for photographs, the furious neighbour said: ‘I hope you asked the neighbours if you could sit on their wall and take photographs of their house and their trees. Did you ask them?’
The 29-year-old responded: ‘Why should we?’
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Speaking following the argument, Orsolya, who was visiting her London-based boyfriend Martin Fulop, 25, said she had decided to visit after seeing the street on Instagram.
She said: ‘I wanted to make some nice photos – especially during the cherry blossom time. It’s not just a house – it’s a block of houses, and many people are living inside it. I don’t think it’s bad to take photos in front of it.
‘Nowadays everything is about posting photos, sharing: where do you go, what do you see? So, I think it’s normal.’
Kim Liu, 48, travelled from south London to take a picture of the cherry blossoms.
Originally from Hong Kong, Kim said: ‘For Hong Kongers and many Asians, they like to watch the blossoms and Japanese flowers, they’re very beautiful.
‘Instead of travelling to Japan, we live in England, so it’s very easy for us to come as visitors.’
Kim said she understood why some local residents felt like they’d had enough of all the tourists, adding, ‘If I lived here, I would feel the same as well. There are just so many people who stay around here the whole morning, it’s very noisy.’
Stanley Crescent resident of 13 years, Jo Ghelmini, 78, said tourists had been visiting for ‘quite a few years’ since pictures of the street were put on Instagram.
Out for a walk with her dog Angel, the tenant said: ‘When you’re trying to walk your dog, you don’t want to interfere with their photos, but it gets boring after a while.
‘We now have an issue where our road gets a lot of influencers and posers having photos sitting on people’s steps, just owning the place.’
Full-time professional content creator Julia Belza, 23, was visiting Stanley Crescent for the third year in a row.
The Instagrammer, who has more than 570,000 followers, said she was shocked at the behaviour of some tourists, but thought the homeowners could ‘just cut the trees down’ if they’d had enough.
She added: ‘If you have the money to live in a house like this, there are some consequences.
‘Not even like vandalism and stuff – but if they’re pretty, there are going to be tourists that come here. People don’t have this where they live; you don’t have a second London.
‘I would not maybe appreciate people coming here, as it’s constant and I imagine so annoying, but I would be more open-minded about it.’
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