Has London’s wisteria craze gone too far?

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2:45Walking around London at the moment, you cannot miss the change of hue, with lilac blue and lavender shades of wisteria cropping up all over the city. You might be tempted to take a photo, and you would not be alone in that endeavour. But is it fair to indiscriminately take pictures of people's homes? And will security measures be brought in to curb the antisocial behaviour of some wisteria enthusiasts in London?

3:18Hi, and welcome back to the Standard Podcast. I'm Tamara Kormornyk. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up, has London's wisteria craze gone too far?

3:44Notting Hill has long been a tourist haunt, particularly since the release of the eponymous 1999 film featuring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts about a bookseller who falls in love with a film star. This spring, local residents will likely resonate with a particular scene in the film where Hugh Grant's character walks towards his front door and...

4:15he is greeted by a sea of paparazzi photographers. Certain streets in the area have become littered with visitors keen to take a picture in front of the viral wisteria growing in front of pastel-coloured homes. Some local residents have expressed concerns about the crowds and Kensington and Chelsea Council are considering enforcing security measures in residential areas. Here to discuss today's story is Standard journalist Neva Yadav. Hi Neva, welcome back to the Standard podcast. It's great to have you. Thank you so much as always for having me. So Neva, this story really caught my eye as last weekend I went to Somerset and there was just wisteria absolutely everywhere and it was so beautiful.

5:03It was in this kind of, you know, purple fever dream. The wisteria hysteria is very much a real thing, especially in kind of Kensington, Chelsea, like West London, Notting Hill. It's really caught on and it is insanely beautiful. And when I'm looking at wisteria now, it does sort of remind me of, you know, the Bridgerton sets, the Regency era, a lot of the most popular spots are these kind of column stucco fronted buildings that have this purple wisteria outside. That lilac colour that people really associate with Bridgerton, that kind of picturesque, floral. But I mean, people are literally flocking to go and see the wisteria.

5:45People are creating actual guides on the best places to go and see it, you know, a one-hour walking route through Kensington just to go and see this vine, which is crawling in arches across people's homes. And I actually did the one-hour walking route. through Kensington. We need a review of the Walk of Kensington. I'd give it a 10 out of 10, honestly. It was a great walking route. I mean, to be honest, I'm no horticulturalist, but the walking route was nice. The flowers are pretty. It's a lovely area. I can understand why people maybe are drawn to going and seeing it. But understandably, these are people's homes.

6:22And so having, you know, hordes, I wouldn't say crowds, but large numbers of people stood outside your house snapping photos all day probably at some point gets quite annoying you probably do want privacy at some point so snapping photos outside people's homes is not a new phenomenon I remember 10 years ago or so you know taking pictures outside stucco-fronted buildings in central West London with the black and white mosaic entranceways. That was a very cool thing to do. And it was very, we didn't have the word back then, but in quotes, aesthetic. So Neva, why do you think that this year in particular, the Wisteria Hysteria is in full bloom?

7:20So from speaking to people who were actually there outside, I spoke to a group of students from China and they were telling me about this app called Red Note or Xiaohongshu which is like a Chinese version of I suppose TikTok, Instagram, it's an e-commerce type platform and that is where this has really blown up as like one of the number one places to get your photos and they literally scrolled through you know her phone and you could see it was insane just how many people have gone there and so that has really I think driven a large number of people to go and take photos there and the same actually applies even on Instagram people are now making guides which I don't think ever happened before but it's now kind of extended to other trees people are doing it with cherry blossom trees in Notting Hill and so it's become viral on social media and that's really what's kind of sucking people into going and seeing it and it's also a lovely area Notting Hill right now at this kind of season, there's nowhere I'd rather be.

8:21So I get it. And, you know, from the face of it, is it really a problem if someone sees a beautiful, you know, flowery vine over someone's house, takes a quick picture and leaves? Well, just from having this little walk yesterday, you can see how people, it's not just a quick picture for one. I mean, some people were literally stood outside for, you know, in excess of 10 minutes and the other thing which is crazy to think about is people are taking pop-up tents with a change of clothes to do different outfit changes and in the middle of the street so that I suppose if you're a resident there at some point it will probably grate on you I think also the lack of privacy I mean these are beautiful townhouses where you can quite literally see into the windows and you could see you know people visibly shutting their curtains but on the other side the wisteria isn't doesn't really last very long you know it's a short-lived season and so it's not you know this isn't going to be forever

9:24we'll take a quick break here coming up neva and i discuss the ethics of snapping wisteria pictures in front of people's homes and i asked for her tips on where to find the most instagramable spots we'll be back here in just a moment

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11:50Welcome back. So, it's safe to say that not all residents are on board with the attention their homes are getting. Here's what they have to say about their experience with social media enthusiasts. They haven't got a clue. They're just here to get a picture in front of a house that matches their outfit and tick a box. It's very noisy and very untidy as a result. The street is covered with litter. In the past few years, some residents have repainted their pastel homes in minimalist shades like black and grey in order to deter visitors from taking photos. This house is painted this colour because of the number of times that I stepped out of my front door to find somebody getting changed in my porch.

12:42Our house is already a different colour. It's light colour, so it's not a colourful house. And I think the other people in the street should do the same.

12:55so having done the walking tour ethically where do you stand on this trend it's a good question i think i'm the wrong person to ask given i don't really care about taking aesthetic instagrammable pictures but if that was my house i would probably at some level be quite irritated. Having said that, a lot of the residents were fine about it. You know, there was a man who was sweeping, you know, petals from his garden and he literally said, you know, I couldn't care less. I'm not home and so they can do as they wish. There's one house in Kensington and the owners have put a sign outside to say they don't mind people taking photos as long as you're not kind of pressing against the plan.

13:41And so there's a kind of, I guess mutual understanding that they're just going to have to deal with it for a couple of weeks and a lot of them are okay with that. There is also of course this incoming idea that the council are going to send anti-social behaviour forces to break up the hordes of people.

14:03Bo Stanford Francis, Kensington and Chelsea's Executive Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods, has said that we're very happy to welcome visitors, but we ask that they respect residents and the local community and that the street enforcement team patrols the borough and where any behaviour is antisocial or constitutes a nuisance, then we can intervene and we will take action.

14:33I did look into this and I saw a video of, it was doorbell cam footage of a woman leaning back onto the railings right outside somebody's front door in Notting Hill and the owner of the house has actually said that it's caused£2 ,000 worth of damage. The high heels have damaged the the flooring and the railing is bent now. And I think it's interesting the anti-social behavior side of things because Notting Hill is obviously home to Notting Hill Carnival. This is one of the most famous carnivals in the world held on the August bank holiday weekend. And some of the residents, particularly of the more expensive properties, will plan to leave at this time.

15:19They bought up their houses. And, you know, this trend of people snapping pictures clearly has riled some of these residents because a while ago, residents decided to paint their once beautiful pastel houses black in order to deter people from taking pictures outside their homes. Did you see any of these blacked out houses while you were en route? Yes, they're still very much there. There was a lot of controversy when that happened because Notting Hill which is known for its colourful houses I guess the argument was you know what you're getting so why would you then go and paint your house black do you know what I mean I think it's part of the deal when you buy a house in Notting Hill or a pastel coloured one anyway and there's a lot of anger that it really took the character out of these beautiful roads but at the same time if you've lived there and you've seen you know a couple of people taking photos and that suddenly escalates to hundreds of people taking photos on a daily basis then maybe there's an argument that as to why you wanted to paint your house black so if you are planning on wisteria hunting in london this weekend what are some of your top tips and where do you find the prettiest wisteria oh top tips i think you have to be respectful of people's properties.

16:46I think it becomes quite obvious when people maybe don't want you to stand in front of their garden gate. If they have their windows drawn, maybe that's a sign they don't really want you peeping in. Don't lean on the plant. Don't press on the plant. Don't linger for like 25 minutes. I think be speedy, be rapid, get your pictures, get out, or just go to Kew Gardens or somewhere where there's loads of flowers that you can take photos in front of without hounding residents but you know there's no expectation of privacy because you're outside you're on the street and so I think there's a level of expectation there from the homeowners that there will be interest in their in their gardens and a lot of them are really proud of their gardens.

17:30And Niva what are some of the top streets to view Wisteria in London? The swap with the most visitors was Stafford Terrace in Notting Hill. But there are plenty of other places that you can hunt wisteria, as it were. And so there's Abingdon Road, there's Launceston Place, Kynance Mews, Pembroke Road, Gloucester Road. There are just loads of places and people are sharing these all over the shops. And there's also St Mary's Church in Battersea. That's a really popular one too. So there's loads. and it doesn't necessarily have to just be limited to Kensington and Notting Hill you know Wisteria grows all over London so Neva thanks so much for jumping on the standard podcast it's been great to chat thanks for having me and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating.

18:33If you'd like to get in touch, email us at podcasts at standard.co.uk. We'll be back here on Monday morning. See you then.

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