The Distillery

A four-floor gin house on Portobello Road, home to Portobello Road Gin, the GinTonica bar, and the Ginstitute distilling experience.

★ 4.4 $$$ Notting Hill, London A gin obsessive's afternoon, a Portobello Road pit stop, a make-your-own-gin session

Published January 27, 2026 · by Daniel Okafor

The Pitch

The Distillery sits at 186 Portobello Road in Notting Hill, a four-floor gin house built around Portobello Road Gin and run by the team behind the neighbouring Portobello Star. Each floor has its own bar, plus a small gin hotel and a working distillery upstairs.

Come for gin in every form, from a precise GinTonica to a cocktail flight, and stay for the Ginstitute, a blending class that sends you home with your own bottle. Skip it if gin is not your thing, because the whole building is built around the spirit.

At a Glance

Address186 Portobello Road, London W11 1LA

NeighbourhoodNotting Hill, London

Nearest transitLadbroke Grove (Hammersmith and City line), about 5 minutes

Price Range$$$

Typical spendabout £13 a cocktail

Drinks specialtyGin cocktails, GinTonicas, and bespoke blending at the Ginstitute

ReservationsWalk in for the bar, book the Ginstitute

Best forA gin obsessive's afternoon, a Portobello Road pit stop, a make-your-own-gin session

Plan Your Visit

The Distillery is in Notting Hill, London.

Get Directions Ask Our Team

186 Portobello Road, London W11 1LA

The Room

The building runs four floors. The ground-floor GinTonica bar pours Spanish-style gin and tonics, the Resting Room above is the quieter cocktail lounge, and the Ginstitute distilling room sits at the top with copper stills on show.

Tripadvisor reviewers single out the Ginstitute experience as the reason to visit, with the bottle you blend yourself the takeaway souvenir.

The Drinks

Order a GinTonica built around Portobello Road No. 171, the house gin distilled on Portobello Road since 2011. Cocktails land around thirteen pounds, fair for Notting Hill.

Book the Ginstitute if you want the full story. Time Out lists the experience as a guided journey through gin's history that ends with you blending and bottling your own.

What to Order

A GinTonica with Portobello Road No. 171

The house pour, Spanish-style with the right garnish.

A gin cocktail in the Resting Room

The quieter lounge upstairs for a measured drink.

The Ginstitute blending experience

Distil and bottle your own gin, history lesson included.

A bottle of the house gin to take home

Portobello Road Gin, distilled on the premises.

The Crowd and Vibe

The crowd is a mix of Portobello Road browsers, gin enthusiasts booked onto the Ginstitute, and locals who treat the GinTonica bar as a neighbourhood stop.

It runs busiest at weekends when the market is on. Book the Ginstitute ahead, because the distilling sessions sell out.

What Regulars Say

Tripadvisor reviewers rate the Ginstitute experience as a five-star highlight, with the make-your-own bottle the standout.
Regulars on the London gin scene point to the GinTonica bar as the easy walk-in option when the classes are full.
The four-floor layout means you can move from a quick tonic to a sit-down cocktail without leaving the building.