Originally opened as part of the Metropolitan Railway on 13 June 1864 as Notting Hill with the extension of that line from Paddington to Hammersmith it was renamed Notting Hill & Ladbroke Grove in 1880 and Ladbroke Grove (North Kensington) on 1 June 1919 before acquiring the present name in 1938.
The station is the nearest to Portobello Road Market and market traders and shopkeepers in the market have started a campaign to have the station renamed Portobello Road in an effort to strengthen recognition of the market's proximity.Let's call it Portobello Road Tube, Evening Standard, 30 June 2006
In 2009, because of financial constraints, TfL decided to stop work on a project to provide step-free access at Ladbroke Grove and five other stations, on the grounds that these are relatively quiet stations and some are already one or two stops away from an existing step-free station. Ladbroke Grove is two stops away from Wood Lane which has step-free access. The project at Ladbroke Grove would have provided two new lifts to platform level and a new step-free entrance. £3.06 million was spent on Ladbroke Grove before the project was halted.