Couples looking for love amid Notting Hill books 20 years on
THE owners of the bookshop that inspired the film Notting Hill say they expect to be inundated with requests from couples to get engaged in the shop ahead of the film’s 20th anniversary.
Tourists from around the world visit the shop in London and the proprietors hope to be “chock-a-block” next year – 20 years on from the 1999 film in which Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts’s characters fall in love after meeting by chance in Grant’s travel bookshop.
James Malin, who has owned The Notting Hill Bookshop with his brother Howard for 10 years, said they are delighted by the prospect.
He said: “We have had several approaches during the past few years and there are other people that we are not aware of, like an American couple we didn’t find out about until they returned for their anniversary.”
The biggest trend they see is the number of international choosing London for engagement.
Mr Malin added: “They come from all over – it’s like a pilgrimage – we’ve had people from Australia, the United States, China and Japan. We even had a young Chinese cou- heir ple who were here on their honeymoon and dressed up again in their wedding outfits to walk around with a professional photographer. Another young Chinese couple who met in our shop came back six months later to tell us they were still together.”
A German man, from Eppstein, proposed in the back section of the shop. Having watched the film together as teens inspired Marius Köppen, 32, to hide an engagement ring inside a Harry Potter book for his then girlfriend, Angela, in September 2015. He said: “I I wa wanted to do something special for her. I thought about what connected us over o the years.” With the film’s fil 20th anniversary fast approaching, approachin the Malin brothers are expecting expecti to be busy.
“I just ju hope that it is chocka-block a-blo all week,” said Mr Malin. Ma “Tourists always have ha a smile on their face. fa It is just a great space sp to work in.”