Notting Hill Carnival

The Notting Hill Carnival is in its 47th year and this year it took place on Sunday the 28th and Monday the 29th of August, over the bank holiday weekend.  I went to Notting Hill before, but as I was living in Fulham and had a few months left in London, I thought I would be the last chance I got to go to the Carnival. After all the riots that took place last month, people were saying it was all going to “kick off” again. However, it was a really good day out, the Carnival started at 12 noon and finished earlier than usual, at 7pm.

I followed  the guidelines on getting to the carnival:

Avoid using main stations, use Bayswater, Paddington, High Street Kensignton, Holland Park and Kensal Green. I got off at High Street Kensington and then met a friend and we walked up to Notting Hill.

Extra buses were laid on, but before and after the event, the roads were very busy so it was not really worth taking the bus, you were better off walking.

Security

There were 6,000 police officers in Notting Hill, they were everywhere, some of the revelers started talking to them as I captured on this blog.  There were 16,000 police officers across the capital this week, with the majority at Notting Hill.

There were 400 – 500 Stewards on duty which was helpful as you could always find someone to ask any questions about the carnival.
A few facts from 2010

5 tonnes of jerk chicken were eaten along with 16,000 coconuts.

25,000 bottles of run and 70,000 litres of carrot juice were drunk

I bought myself some jerk chicken for 6 pounds and corn on the cob was 1 pound each. There were also lots of stands to buy alcohol, the good old “Red Stripe” which is the traditional Caribbean beer.

I took a few photos to remember the day out. It was a good day, despite the over cast weather, everyone was taking advantage of the major street parties.