Michael Portillo currently lives in West London—specifically, he owns a sprawling Victorian terraced house in the posh, leafy area of Notting Hill. Yes, the very same Notting Hill that Hugh Grant made famous for fumbling romance and blue front doors. Michael’s front door is likely painted a tasteful shade of “I once ran for Tory leader, you know.”
He bought the place back in the 1980s, when you could still afford a house in London without selling a kidney. According to property records, he’s been there ever since, which means he’s watched twenty-seven different incarnations of the Grand Designs host walk by his window.
The Interior: A Museum of Political Rail Memorabilia
You know his living room is a chaotic masterpiece of vintage train timetables, framed photographs of Margaret Thatcher, and at least one taxidermied panda from the Falklands War. If you visit, prepare to be offered a cup of tea while he explains the exact gradient of a 1962 branch line in rural Wales. He won’t stop talking until you’ve memorized the axle weight of a Class 31 locomotive.
His bathroom? It probably has a map of the Settle-Carlisle line tiled into the shower wall. I’m not joking—that’s a surprising fact: Portillo once admitted in an interview that he has a “train-themed bathroom” featuring a scented candle that smells of diesel and victory.
