Notting Hill Carnival takes place over the August bank holiday weekend in west London, draws around two million people, and is the largest street festival in Europe. It is a Caribbean carnival, run largely by volunteers, and it exists because of racism.
How it started
In 1958 Notting Hill saw sustained racist attacks on its West Indian residents, and the following year a young Antiguan carpenter, Kelso Cochrane, was murdered in the street by a group of white men. Nobody was ever charged.
Claudia Jones, a Trinidadian-born activist and journalist who had been deported from the United States for her politics, organised an indoor Caribbean carnival at St Pancras Town Hall in January 1959 in direct response — an assertion of pride and presence at a moment of fear. It was televised by the BBC.
The street event grew from a separate local children’s fair organised by the social worker Rhaune Laslett in 1966, which drew in the area’s Trinidadian steel bands and became something much larger.
What happens
Two days, with a different character each:
- Sunday — Children’s Day. Smaller, calmer, family-focused, with the junior masquerade bands. The recommended day for anyone with children or a low tolerance for crowds.
- Monday — the main parade. Adult mas bands in full costume, floats, and the largest crowds.
The elements to look for:
- Mas — short for masquerade. The costumed bands, some with hundreds of members, whose elaborate feathered and sequinned costumes take a year to make.
- Steel bands — the Panorama competition on the Saturday night is a serious contest and, for many, the best part of the weekend.
- Static sound systems — around thirty fixed rigs on side streets playing reggae, dub, soca, funk and jungle. Each has its own following, and choosing which to stand near is most of the day’s planning.
- J’ouvert — the dawn opening on Monday, involving paint, powder and chocolate.
The food
Jerk chicken cooked on oil-drum barbecues on every corner, along with curry goat, rice and peas, festival dumplings, patties, and rum punch. The smell of jerk smoke across the whole area is as much a part of carnival as the music.
The arguments
Carnival has been contested throughout its life. There were serious clashes with police in 1976, arising from heavy-handed stop-and-search, and policing has been a live issue ever since. Crime figures are reported prominently each year and are, per head of attendance, comparable with other very large events.
There are recurring proposals to move it to a park or ticket it, resisted firmly by organisers on the grounds that a street carnival that is not on the streets is something else entirely. Local residents are divided, and the area’s extensive gentrification since the 1960s has sharpened that.
Going
Take the Tube and expect stations to be exit-only or closed. Wear shoes you do not mind losing, agree a meeting point because phone signal fails completely, bring cash, and accept that you will not move quickly anywhere. Go Sunday if you want to see it properly and Monday if you want the full thing.