A London council has warned camera-toting influencers and tourists descending on Kensington and Chelsea that they could face consequences for causing a nuisance.
Tourists seeking attractive photos are visiting the borough by the “coachload” to pose in front of blooming pink blossom trees and houses covered in climbing lilac wisteria.
See also: The best places to see bluebells in London, from Ruislip Woods to Epping Forest
However, some visitors have been seen blocking roads and balancing drinks, food and bags on cars and garden walls while the seek out the perfect photos.
Others have set up tents for outfit changes, while one resident described someone setting off a smoke flare in the middle of her street while filming a video for social media.
It has prompted fed up locals to put up signs asking visitors to the borough to respect their homes.
It comes after homeowners living in some of Notting Hill’s famous multicoloured houses began painting their properties black last year to put off aspiring models looking for a pretty Instagram post.
Many residents have also installed ropes across their front steps to stop tourists posing for pictures directly outside their front doors.
Kensington and Chelsea council have said its street enforcement teams are patrolling the borough daily on the look out for those causing disruption.
Beau Stanford-Francis, the town hall’s executive director of environment and neighbourhoods, said: “Kensington and Chelsea is a unique and characterful borough and we’re proud to host visitors from all over the world who want to experience our amazing spaces for themselves.
“We’re very happy to welcome them, but we ask that they respect residents and our local community.
“Our street enforcement team patrols the borough and where any behaviour is anti-social or constitutes a nuisance and we can intervene, we will take action.”
One resident told The Standard: “It’s mostly harmless and we’re lucky to live in such a wonderfully beautiful place, particularly in the springtime, but having strangers pose outside your front door every day can get tiring.
“It’s getting particularly bad at weekends when tourists are coming by the coachload. One person set off a red smoke flare in the middle of the road while filming a video with little regard for drivers coming by.”
Travel influencer Marina is just one of the many visitors to west London’s viral wisteria spots.
She told The Standard that after seeing wisteria for the first time last year, she was able to finally visit the houses this year.
Her travel guides include one hour walking routes through Kensington, tracing all the “prettiest spots”.
A resident on Abingdon Road told The Standard that visits to his Wisteria-flocked home have been “endless”.
Sweeping the petals from his front garden, he said: “[The influencers] usually bring a change of clothes to match the wisteria.”
But added that he “couldn’t care less” if people chose to take photos outside.
One group of students from China had been taking photos outside the property on Stafford Terrace for more than 10 minutes.
They said they had heard of the “wisteria hysteria” from the Chinese social media platform Little Red Book (known in China as Xiaohongshu).
“We are not influencers - just people who like taking nice pictures,” they insisted.
A sign outside the same property did not ask people to refrain from taking photos, but urged visitors not to “lean” or “press into” the plant so “that everyone can enjoy it in the future.”
