Notting Hill Carnival is set to make a triumphant return this Bank Holiday weekend after the pandemic shut down the colourful street party for two years. Tomorrow will be the first time Europe's biggest street party—rooted in British-Caribbean culture—has gone ahead since 2019, marking the 54th carnival since its inception in 1966.
The carnival has its roots in an indoor celebration organised from 1959 to 1966 by Trinidadian communist Claudia Jones in response to the Notting Hill race riots of 1958. The murder of aspiring Antiguan lawyer Kelso Cochrane spurred Rhaune Laslett to organise a children's street fayre that became the first outdoor carnival in 1966 when the popular Russ Henderson Steel Band got involved.
Notting Hill Carnival brings hundreds of thousands of tourists to London and is thought to create £120 million for the London economy. It is the second largest street festival in the world after Rio Carnival in Brazil, with over one million people flocking to West London in 2019 to celebrate Afro-Caribbean culture, music and food.
This year's festivities begin on Saturday, August 27, with Panorama, the UK's national steelband competition, from 6pm to 11pm at Emslie Horniman's Pleasance Park. The main carnival starts on Sunday, August 28, with J'Ouvert from 6am to 9am at the Sainsbury's on Canal Way, followed by the opening ceremony at 10am at the Judging Zone on Great Western Road. Children's Day runs from 10.30am to 5pm, while Adults Day continues until 8.30pm.
On Monday, the Adults Day Parade and Carnival takes place from 10.30am to 8.30pm along the parade route, with sound systems operating from 12pm to 7pm. The parade route covers a three-and-a-half-mile loop across the W10 postcode, starting near Westbourne Grove tube station. Street trading operates from 10am to 8pm in Kensington and Chelsea, and 10am to 7pm in Westminster.
Carnival-goers consume vast quantities of food and drink: five tonnes of chicken, 30,000 corn on the cobs, a tonne of rice and peas, and five million drinks including 25,000 bottles of rum. This year's event features seven Brazilian bands, 14 steel bands, and more than 100 live stages.
