Two musical legends are commemorated on a small mews in Ladbroke Grove.
Just metres from the tourist throng of Portobello Road and the queues to photograph a certain door and bookshop lies a lesser-noticed pop-cultural curiosity. It's among London's longest murals, and it has links to two of the biggest British music acts of all time.
Head a short way west along the non-crescenty bit of Blenheim Crescent and you'll come across Codrington Mews. You can't miss it. The entrance is painted with a vibrant black-and-white design that entices the eye further in.
Step down the mews, and you'll find that the artwork progresses across a series of buildings and round a corner, where it terminates in a pair of watching eyes. These form part of a portrait of Keith Flint, The Prodigy's frontman who died in 2019.
The wider design features a number of London landmarks. Battersea Power Station, Canary Wharf, the Gherkin, the O2, the Tower of London... all are swept away, erased by a tide of swirling lines. Apocalypse in Notting Hill. A lone Canute like figure stands at the mews entrance, attempting to keep the inundation at bay.
Music fans will already have made the connection. The lengthy mural is based on the cover artwork to The Eraser, the 2006 solo album by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. The album is a masterful slice of doom-laden electronica, not dissimilar to Radiohead's output at the time.
Both album art and mews mural are the work of Stanley Donwood, who designed the covers for every Radiohead album from The Bends onwards. The mural was painted across the mews in two stages. The earliest part, furthest from Blenheim Crescent, has been around since the album came out, almost two decades ago. The additional section up to the main road was added in 2024.
Why are Flint and Yorke muralised here? The mews is home to XL Recordings, the independent record label behind The Prodigy's releases, as well as Yorke's album and subsequent Radiohead outings. It's an exceptional, eye-catching way to celebrate the company's legacy.
All images: Matt Brown
