Tavistock Mews, W11 lies off of the Portobello Road.
Tavistock Mews is a short mews off Hayden’s Place, running behind Nos. 237-247 (odds) Portobello Road. Originally, the entrance to it was through an archway between Nos. 239 and 241 Portobello Road and there was no way through from Hayden’s Place. No trace of that entrance remains and Tavistock Mews is now effectively a branch of Hayden’s Place. The eastern side is lined with storage units and the other side gives access to the rears of the Portobello houses.
The mews was built in the 1860s and there is a full set of early deeds for the original Nos. 1-3 Tavistock Mews in the Local Studies section of Kensington Central Library. The buildings are described in the deeds as “coach-houses and tenements” – i.e. the coach-house would have been on the ground floor with accommodation above. In the 1920s, it was the Home of the Tavistock Mews Lads’ Club and Institute.
In 1933 the Mews was clearly in a very dilapidated state and it was declared a clearance area. The Council then seem to have acquired most of it and it became a Council depot.
