Well! Now we know. Portobello is OFFICIALLY the best neighbourhood in the UK! A delegation was presented with the award on Wednesday evening in London by the Academy of Urbanism. This was set up around 15 years ago to identify and promote the best in urban design, designs which involved local communities and helped to foster community spirit. It also hopes that, by highlighting these, others will be able to learn and apply the lessons within their own areas. They found lots of GREAT things about Porty!
The certificate has the following poem:
Take a trip across this poem like you might
Wander through Portobello from dawn’s glow
To the welcoming illumination of midnight
And there are no straight lines through Portobello
Just detours and byways you have yet to find
By the water, by the market, by the Turkish Baths
Where you soak your body and rest your mind
Walk along this poem. Do the Portobello maths
Where beach plus sea plus drink plus food
Plus ideas, plus forward thinking adds up to something
That’s deeper than a feeling, broader than a mood
About the idea that community can bring
Answers to questions you never knew you’d posed
Portobello is an unlocked mind that’s never ever closed.