Notting Hill Carnival is the wildest thing we have ever been to.
Fact.
If you don’t know what it is, this is it. The Carnival is a burst of sound, colour, and taste and is a sensory overload. It’s a celebration of culture and heritage, expressed by generations of people amplifying what they love the most – music, dance, costume, food and drink.
Notting Hill Carnival is an annual street festival in the Notting Hill neighbourhood of London. It celebrates Caribbean culture and is rammed with colourful costumes, music, dance, and food. You will feel the music pounding through your body from the ‘Sound Systems’ dotted around and be submerged in the never-ending scent of BBQ that’s cooking the Carnival’s favourite food – jerk chicken. Plus, you’ll find people’s front gardens turned into bars where you can pick up a rum punch or a can of Red Stripe, one of Jamaica’s best exports (in our opinion).
The Carnival attracts millions of visitors annually and is one of the largest street festivals in the world. In 2023, the Carnival had around 2 million visitors, which we seemed to get caught in the middle of. Really. We got caught in a bit of ‘crowd crush’, where there was no way out but to try and stay on your feet to move with the crowd until you could make a break down a side street. Crazy!
The Carnival has a rich history dating back to the 1960s when a group of Caribbean immigrants organised a celebration to showcase their culture and combat racial tensions. This initiative was a response to the racially motivated Notting Hill riots of 1958, and it aimed to promote unity and understanding among different communities. Even today, it achieves the same thing – unity. The Carnival is a place to come, party, and celebrate Caribbean culture. The Carnival is a vibrant, exciting and unmissable event that brings all sorts of people together in one wild, wild party.
Notting Hill Carnival Pictures
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