The Notting Hill Carnival Is A Colourful Celebration of Music and Dance
The Notting Hill Carnival takes place in the Notting Hill area of West London on the Sunday and Monday of every August Bank Holiday weekend. It began as a small event in the 1960's, organised and celebrated by a mere few hundred West Indian immigrants. It has since grown to be a festival of culture visited each year by up to two million people from around the world.
Contents
A summary guide to what you will find on this site
It is possible to click on any of the links immediately below to go directly to your chosen part of this site.
- Shall We Go To The Notting Hill Carnival?
- The 2008 Notting Hill Carnival Parade on Video
- The Notting Hill Carnival Dancers
- Notting Hill Carnival in Pictures
- The London Street and Underground Map
- Some Fantastic Notting Hill Carnival Souvenirs
- The Notting Hill Carnival Parade
- Notting Hill Carnival and London Culture on Hub Pages
- I too write for Hub Pages!
- More Pictures from the Notting Hill Carnival
- Some Random Blog Posts on the Notting Hill Carnival
- Notting Hill Carnival Parade 2007 on Video
- Food at the Notting Hill Carnival
- Jerk Chicken
- Do You Want to Learn How to Cook Jamaican Food?
- Notting Hill Carnival Souvenirs on eBay
- Do you want to find out more about the Notting Hill Carnival?
- Some more about London here on Squidoo
- Have you ever been to the Notting Hill Carnival?
Shall We Go To The Notting Hill Carnival?
A question which caught me completely unawares
I have to be absolutely honest here, right from the start, and admit that when my girlfriend suggested we spend Bank Holiday Monday paying a visit to the Notting Hill Carnival, I thought she was either ill-informed, joking, or that she had gone a little bit crazy. The whole idea appealed to me about as much as going to a football match would to her (she hates football!) I freely admit that I had never previously been to the part of London that is Notting Hill - never mind the Notting Hill Carnival - but like most people in the UK, I had seen TV news reports of the troubles and the number of arrests made each year and I had in my head this impression of something that was little more than a drunken riot in a backwater London slum. Well...was I wrong!It probably goes without saying by this stage, but I finally agreed to make the trip and we decided to arrive mid to late morning, hopefully to avoid the crushing crowds and the biggest capacity for any trouble. As Notting Hill Gate Underground Station was closed for the duration of the carnival, we disembarked at Bayswater and simply followed the crowds. As the remainder of this site will testify, we discovered a festival of music, dance, culture, food and a hundred other things that literally swept us along in its midst and gave us both a thoroughly enjoyable day out.
The 2008 Notting Hill Carnival Parade on Video
Click the arrow in the centre of the screen below to begin
Notting Hill Carnival 2008 fun not riots
Notting Hill Carnival London Monday 25th August 2008 Lana & Gem having fun, compilation of the best of Carnival
curated content from YouTube
The Notting Hill Carnival Dancers
A bevy of beauties dance and perform throughout the event
I would very much like to thank these two lovely ladies - and the two further up this page with whom I am pictured (yes - that's me sporting the half-grown beard) - for taking the time out of their incredibly busy schedules (and in this second case their lunch!) to pose for these photographs. I think it says a lot for the spirit of the Notting Hill Carnival that the performers are in most cases all too happy to accomodate visitors in this fashion...what I am absolutely sure is time, after time, after time. The London Street and Underground Map
A very useful tool for visitors and locals alike
I have to admit that we would have been totally lost in London during our visit to the Notting Hill Carnival without maps of both the London Underground and the London Streets. Here is a fantastic publication (which I have just discovered) that actually combines the two into one!
Don't rely on directions and advice entirely - snap up this bargain on Amazon today and find your own way around London.
Don't rely on directions and advice entirely - snap up this bargain on Amazon today and find your own way around London.
Streetwise London Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of London, England
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 12/29/2009) 
Some Fantastic Notting Hill Carnival Souvenirs
Great products at fantastic prices
Were you at the Notting Hill Carnival this year? Would you like a souvenir shirt to remember it by? Have a look at these top quality products available to buy online! Note also that as the prices quoted here are in US Dollars, they should be roughly halved to obtain the Sterling equivalent. Bargains, or what...?
Click on any image to enlarge it.
Click on any image to enlarge it.
Light T-Shirt
Price: 26.99
Ringer T
Price: 26.99
The Notting Hill Carnival Parade
A showpiece rivalled only in Rio
We were extremely fortunate to find - quite by accident rather than design - a magnificent spot at which to watch the Carnival Parade and take what are probably several dozen top quality photos between us. Every group that came along offered something different in terms of their accompanying music, their magnificent costumes, or their elaborate and delightful dance steps and movements. It truly was a joy and a fascination to behold but as is generally the case with all such pleasurable activities, the time and the parade itself seemed to pass by almost in the wink of an eye.The lady pictured to the left was just one of many such performers perched high on the range of floats, dancing and waving as they passed.
Notting Hill Carnival and London Culture on Hub Pages
Click on any of the links for further details
- Is London known as international centre of culture in music, arts, museums, festivals, etc.
- Festivals Around the Yes, London is known as an international centre of culture in music, arts, museums, festivals, etc. There is diversity of cultures in London. London city has been a house to more than 300 different...
- Festivals Around the World
- Notting Hill Carnival and other world festivals by a native of Notting Hill.
- An Illustrated Guide to London
- Why do people love London so much and why do people from different countries want to visit this city?
I too write for Hub Pages!
These are my ten most recently published articles
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySome Random Blog Posts on the Notting Hill Carnival
Note that these links will automatically rotate on a daily basis
- Notting Hill Carnival 2010 - Visit London
- The Notting Hill Carnival usually gets under way on the Saturday with a steel band competition. Sunday is Children's Day, with a shorter parade route. It's also the day that the costume prizes are awarded. ...
- Washington Tremlett Notting Hill Carnival, Hampstead Water ...
- Niche line Washington Tremlett has launched three new London-inspired fragrances: Washington Tremlett Notting Hill Carnival, Hampstead Water & Chelsea Garden are available in 100 ml Eau de Parfum.
- Notting Hill Carnival |
- I live just on the edge of the Notting Hill Carnival in London and most years I avoid it but this year, I ventured down. Now as usual, I spent Carnival.
- DIGJEST.COM another London guide: Digjest Images: Notting Hill ...
- Digjest Images: Notting Hill Carnival 2009. Notting Hill Carnival August 30-31 2009. Labels: "central london guide" digjest kensington "london w11" "london digest" "london blog" uk. posted by DIGJEST at Monday, July 20, 2009 ...
Notting Hill Carnival Parade 2007 on Video
Clcik on the arrow in the centre of the screen to begin
Notting Hill Carnival 2007
Notting Hill Carnival 2007 - The biggest street festival in London, the extravagantly colourful parade, filled with feathered costumes and plenty of dancers. Feel like dancing? Throw some shapes to the sounds of steel bands, hip-hop beats, reggae favourites and modern dance hits, all blasting out through the streets courtesy of some serious sound systems. This band is from Paraiso School of Samba.
curated content from YouTube
Food at the Notting Hill Carnival
If you're not hungry when you get there, you soon will be!
It was approximately eleven o'clock in the morning when we were walking the approach roads to the Notting Hill Carnival site but already, the streets were lined with stalls selling an almost infinite variety of delicious smelling foodstuffs with origins from all over the world. Some of the stalls were laid out in front of cafes and restaurants; others were like the one pictured right and set up in a front garden. Regardless of what form they took, the one thing these stands all had in common was that there produce looked delicious...and smelled even better! Jerk Chicken
One of the most popular dishes served at the Notting Hill Carnival
Jerk Chicken is a Jamaican dish, served up by almost every food stall at the Carnival. I only tried it for the first time during my visit and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Below are some photographs of Jerk Chicken dishes. Click on any image for the relevant recipe.
curated content from Flickr
Do You Want to Learn How to Cook Jamaican Food?
Have a look at this bargain book!
Sorry, there are no results available from Amazon.
Notting Hill Carnival Souvenirs on eBay
Auctions will appear below as and when they are updated and/or available
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Do you want to find out more about the Notting Hill Carnival?
Check out the links below!
- AFP: One million revellers take to the streets for Notting Hill Carnival
- An official news report on the 2008 Notting Hill Carnival
- Notting Hill Carnival
- A gallery of photographs taken at the Notting Hill Carnival
by "Halden Photography" photographer Mark Denton. - Notting Hill Carnival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- No event guide would be complete without Wikipedia's take on the proceedings!
- Notting Hill Carnival - Notting Hill London Carnival, Notting Hill Carnival Parade
- Notting Hill Carnival - Notting Hill London Carnival, Notting Hill Carnival Parade, Notting Hill Carnival 2008, Notting Hill Carnival Route, Notting Hill Carnival Childrens Day
- Guide to London Town
- Carnival sets London on fire in a blaze of Caribbean spirit as extravagantly costumed dancers, calypso and soca musicians, giant soundsystems and steelbands are joined by over a million revellers of all ages. Held since 1966, and originally a local affair for west London's homesick Caribbean communi
Some more about London here on Squidoo
Check out these great sites linked to below
-
Enjoy Visiting London
-
Like many big cities, London can be quite intimidating for first-time visitors. Which areas are safe? What is the best way to travel around London? Are all the historic attractions expensive to visit? What are the pitfalls and dange...
-
Tower of London
-
The Tower of London is one of the capital's best known and most popular visitor attractions, as well as a World Heritage site, but it's had a long and bloody history. It had a dark and sinister reputation, although it was used as a palace for a while...
-
The River Thames
-
The River Thames winds its way through the City of London like a huge aeorta, carrying and distributing the lifeblood of the city. It is the reason why London is located where it is and it has nurtured and supported the city through its millennia of...
-
Uxbridge, Middlesex
-
Uxbridge is a medium sized town in the County of Middlesex, in the London Borough Of Hillingdon, approximately 15 miles West of Central London and a mere 5 miles from Heathrow Airport. It is believed to have existed since before the time of...
-
Who Are London Cockneys?
-
When you hear of Londoners, you probably think of Cockneys but not everybody who is born or lives in the capital city is a Cockney. The tradition has been that it only applied to somebody born within the sound of Bow bells. There are traditions and...
Have you ever been to the Notting Hill Carnival?
What did you think of it?
Stumble It!
Were you as surprised as me as to the true nature of the event? Did you enjoy it as much as I did? I very much hope that you can spare a moment or two to let us know in the space below.
submit
by Gordon_Hamilton
My name is Gordon Hamilton and I live in the United Kingdom.
Explore related pages
The Chiang Mai Thailand Flower Festival- Chiang Mai Flower Festival Parade Every year during the first weekend in Februar...
London things to do and the best secret places- London- everything you need to know about those hidden gems, secret places, thin...
YTB Travel and Prosper- Start your own YTB online Travel Business – NOW! http://www.TripConcepts.c...
India Now Incredible- The Tourism Ministry in coordination with the office of Mayor of London is under...
Mardi Gras Books- I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks about reading when he think...
Richard Thompson- Richard John Thompson (born 3 April 1949 in Notting Hill Gate, West London) is a...
