The road leading to Carnival Day can be a rocky one, and never more so than for Notting Hill Carnival 2025. An existential crisis over funding, police warnings about crowd-crush risks, the horrible memory of two fatal attacks at last year’s event, and a steady stream of vitriol from national media would be enough to finish off most organisers’ hopes of putting on a major public event.
Not so Notting Hill Carnival. After tense weeks of negotiation with police, councils and City Hall, the organisers’ nerves held, funds for improved stewarding were released, and the day was saved – for now. Once again, Carnival had teetered on the brink and managed to pull itself back just in time. Given the number of enemies all too eager to push both Notting Hill Carnival and all who dare enjoy it over the edge into oblivion, that was something of a miracle.
The official media launch of Carnival 2025, held at the Tabernacle on Thursday 17 July, was a time for both celebration and reflection. The Tab was full of music, upbeat videos, fine plumage and entrancing dancing on stage as the agenda for this year’s event was presented for our inspection.
Junior Panorama and Jouvert
The big innovation for 2025 is Junior Panorama, which precedes the main event in Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance on Saturday 23 August. The pan stars of tomorrow showcase their skills from 5pm, while the adults bring the joyous ring of steel to us from 8pm.
J’Ouvert’s back! Officially, that is – we know it never went away. Officially a non-event last year, it proved to have all the anarchic energy that regular devotees have come to expect. So set the alarm early (or just party all night) and get yourself to the Canal Way roundabout at the north end of Ladbroke Grove by 6am. It can be chilly at that hour, so you might want to bring something warming in a flask.
Mas and music
No surprises: it’s the traditional mix again in 2025. At 10am on Sunday, there’s the entirely missable opening ceremony by the judging point on Great Western Road. After a while, the children’s mas will begin to come through. In recent years, children’s participation in Carnival has declined significantly compared to a decade or two ago. When done well, Children’s Carnival can be a beautiful and inspiring spectacle, not least because it will be from these young masqueraders that future leaders of Carnival will come. But who is nurturing their knowledge of and love for the culture?
Following on from about 3pm on Sunday the streets start to be invaded by the dutty mas bands and the T-shirted masses, spattered in mud, paint, chocolate, powder and who knows what? An excess of wild soca-powered energy makes up for the lack of feathers and glitter.
For the mas enthusiast, Monday is the highlight of the year. Don’t forget the sweet sound of pan on the road too (watch out for a combined pan-round-the-neck side). And of course you’ll never escape the beats of super-amplified soca (who’d want to?). It all revolves slowly – very slowly – round the circuit of Ladbroke Grove, Kensal Road, Great Western Road, Westbourne Park Road, Chepstow Road and Westbourne Grove. By about 6pm the whole parade grinds to a halt and on Ladbroke Grove, at least, the bands gradually become fused into a single tight-packed mass of humanity.
Inside the ring of steel and mas are the food stalls, music stages and static sound systems, which will operate, as usual, from midday to 7pm.
Confronting the critics
It’s the mas and the music, plus food and friendship, that makes Carnival irresistible and unforgettable. That’s why Notting Hill Carnival attracts countless thousands of participants, spectators and foreign visitors year after year. But there is a dark side too, as media commentators never fail to remind us.
In the past, the official response from carnival organisers has frequently been subdued, defensive and almost apologetic. This year, however, there was a powerful speech from the CEO of Notting Hill Carnival Limited. Matthew Phillip took the brave step of addressing media criticisms about criminality head-on. Yes, there were the deaths of Takayo Nembhard and Cher Maximen to deplore, but they were the victims of crime, not of Carnival, he said.
“Carnival is often portrayed as a cause of knife crime, which simply isn’t true,” Phillip insisted. In fact, Notting Hill Carnival owes its origins to a determination to counter the sort of violence that led to the (still unsolved) murder of Antiguan carpenter Kelso Cochrane in 1959. Sixty-five years later, the Metropolitan Police revealed that 16,789 knife offences were committed in London in 2024. “Carnival is not the cause of this crisis, but it can be part of the solution,” Phillip said, citing the way it can bring people of different generations and backgrounds together and provide vital opportunities for young people to learn new skills and express themselves.
In a statement, NHCL announced that it has aligned itself with the Elba Hope Foundation’s ‘Don’t Stop Your Future’ campaign against knife and violent crime. The organiser will also use its own R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Campaign to celebrate creativity, community and cultural pride, using social platforms and outreach. NHCL said that it aims to foster greater understanding and appreciation for Carnival and the neighbourhoods that host it.
The messages were serious, but many in the hall seemed to feel that they were not just necessary but long overdue. The media monsters couldn’t be ignored any longer and would be best served by politely but firmly throwing their ignorance and prejudice right back at them. This was a speech with fire, and as MC Martin Jay observed, it was unusually well received.
Phillip thanked City Hall, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Council “for helping find the investment required for Carnival 2025 to take place”. He pointed out that, by generating an estimated £400 million a year, Notting Hill Carnival is a significant net contributor to the economy, against which its costs are minimal. However, it has always been an uphill struggle to make this argument stick where it’s needed and never more so in the midst of (yet another) national financial crisis. Many carnivalists would agree with Phillip that Notting Hill Carnival “… is a cultural powerhouse, an economic driver and a unifying force in one of the world’s greatest cities”. It is not, however, true that this “goes without saying”. Persistent opposition to Carnival means that organisers need to shout this from the rooftops at every possible opportunity.
Silence
At 3pm on Sunday and Monday, Carnival will come to a standstill for the now-familiar 72-second silence in memory of the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. As a reminder: a small fire on 14 June 2017 spread rapidly through the 24-storey tower due to poorly manufactured cladding that was ineptly installed; the tenant management organisation was negligent and dismissive of residents’ concerns; and the London Fire Brigade’s ‘stay put’ advice proved disastrously inappropriate. Yet not one person or organisation has yet been prosecuted. The tower, wrapped in a shroud, remains a giant monument to callousness and injustice.
The silence will also be an opportunity to give thanks to the pioneers who laid the foundations for Notting Hill Carnival. NHCL said in a statement: “Their vision, courage, and cultural pride paved the way for this extraordinary celebration to become what it is today – a vibrant tribute to heritage, freedom and togetherness.”
Notting Hill Carnival is like a bumblebee: technically impossible, yet somehow it flies every year!
