Notting Hill Carnival: Inside the history behind the celebration
18 August 2025, 14:49
As Notting Hill Carnival 2025 bank holiday weekend is fast approaching, it is time we reflect on the significance of the cultural event and the history behind why we celebrate, including the lasting legacy of Kelso Cochrane. Here are all the details.
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Notting Hill Carnival 2025 is back and bigger than ever, with a staggering two million people attending each year, that figure growing each year – but why do we celebrate? And what is the history of this iconic event?
This year’s carnival is taking place on Sunday, the 24th, and Monday, the 25th of August, with Saturday the 23rd being the UK National Panorama Steel Band Competition.
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The event has been going for over 60 years, and in all of its divisiveness, is an inexcusable part of London culture – so where did it all begin?
When did Notting Hill Carnival start?
Following the mass arrival of Caribbean immigrants to the capital, tensions in communities were high, reaching their peak in 1958 when nationalist groups fuelled the Notting Hill Race Riots.
The riots were a racist response to the large community of West Indians that had moved into the Notting Hill area over the previous years, which is why the area is so significant to the event.
The tension in the area came to a peak when Antigua-born Kelso Cochrane was murdered by a group of white youths, which sparked a movement. Over 1,200 people attended his funeral procession through the streets of Notting Hill.
It was the latter that same year, in 1959, that Trinidadian journalist and activist Claudia Jones organised the first ever ‘Caribbean Carnival’.
The first event took place indoors in the St Pancras Town Hall, featuring a cabaret-style performance highlighting all of the ‘best bits’ of Caribbean culture.
It was eventually taken to the streets of Notting Hill in 1966 by Rhaune Laslett, who didn’t know the previous existence of the indoor festival, but instead proposed an event that celebrated all cultures in the local area so individuals could better understand each other.
It was this Notting Hill Festival that eventually evolved into what we now know as Notting Hill Carnival.
Leslie Palmer, the director of the carnival from 1973-1975is credited for introducing more steel-pan bands, stationary sound systems, with the help of Duke Vin, and extending the route to one that is most familiar to today.
So, if you’re heading to West London to enjoy the celebrations this year, make sure you are conscious of how far we have come to get here!
Whilst the fun of Notting Hill Carnival is impossible to ignore, take time to reflect on the significance of the event, as even in this day and age, there are critics trying to put a stop to it.
