Notting Hill Festival in August
 

Has anyone been to the Notting Hill Festival during the last weekend of August? I'll be in London during that time and was thinking of going. I'm flying in on Sunday, so I was thinking of going on Monday. What is it like? Is it extremely crowded? How early should I get there? How much time should I plan on being there? Anything you can think of that would be useful, please share.

Thank you.
Lynn

It's extraordinarily crowded - to a point of extreme discomfort.

It really consists of three things: the procession and judging of the floats (elaborate constructions on lorries, almost entirely concentrated on a steel band, and accompanying processors/dancers), half a dozen or so (spectacularly loud) sound stages, and a range of stalls, mostly selling stuff like curried goat and ackee. Marijuana isn't on ostentatiously open sale, but arrests for soft drug possession are very rare.

It's quite difficult to get to, as most tube stations in the area have to be closed for safety, so there really is no alternative to walking in from quite a distance. All the access details are in that week's edition of Time Out, which usually has a 48 or so page supplement going through all the floats and acts, and allowing more space than any sane human could want to the ideological squabbles that inevitably surround an innnocent street festival that's become heavily politicised over the years.

The Carnival (the right-on term is Mas, and the cringe-making term is "Carnival" without the definite article) has a terrible reputation for petty theft. Don't take anything except the loose change for a plate or two of salt cod and enough cans of Red Stripe to ease the pain.

If you like the music, you'll want to stay all day. If you don't, you'll want to get out after ten minutes. Allow at least an hour and a half to get in and the same to get out (the stations that close vary a bit from year to year, but assume the nearest station for access is Notting Hill Gate and that you need to get back to Paddington at the end).

The action on the Monday is from 2 till 9. There's stuff going on all the time. Don't be around after it gets dark.

Thank you for the info...sounds like maybe it's not something I really want to do. Also if I really want to walk around Notting Hill and then go to Portobello Road, it might be better to do another day.

Again, thank you VERY MUCH for the info.

My phrase "politicised" might mislead.

The Carnival hasn't been politicised in the way that many ethnic events round the world get hijacked by the political issues in the country of origin: the West Indies really don't have the kind of issues that some Irish, Kashmiris or Sikhs have taken with them on their migrations.

So the Carnival isn't full of "Free the Grenadines from the St Vincent oppressors" posters, and there's no chance of violent clashes between supporters of rival factions in the recent Antigua elections.

It's just full of hundreds of thousands of people getting more or less drunk or stoned listening to a lot of arguably great, but unarguably damn loud, music, with many of them being reasonably discretely, and almost always non-violently, pickpocketed by a few dozen sharpsters.

The politicisation comes in the world-beating tedium of the ideological squabbles over the nature of the event, its funding, its relationship with Big Government ("Babylon", I understand, is the fashionable term among the afficionados) and all the other nonsense that can easily grow up around community festivals in any complex city.

It's all a matter of taste, but as with a lot of big events, you would probably see more from the comfort of an armchair in front of the TV news programmes.

One year visiting friends in Marybelone, they took me to the festival but we didn't stay long. The croud was larger than expected, alot of pickpockets and a few minor fights.
It could be an exception that year, but I suspect any event with that size a crowd would bring out the trouble makers.

Check out the crime figures for the days of the festival. Most of the crimes are pickpocketing or muggins but there have been stabbings associated with this carnival.

Personally, I would stay far away.

I am really glad that I decided to post about the Carnival, because as a result, I'm taking it off my itenerary. I thought it might be fun to stop by and spend a bit of time there, but it seems that the hassle wouldn't be worth it. Also, I definitely would have my camera with me, and that doesn't seem like a good idea either, especially since I will be alone. If someone was coming with me, maybe I'd give it shot, but as of now, I've decided to skipt the Carnival and return to Notting Hill and Portebello Road later in the week when things will be a bit quieter.

Thank you everyone for your input, it's truly been helpful.

Faux's experience with this mega annual event is that it causes a huge crush of people in the tube (subway) in London. Obviously, many people enjoy this event.

Faux attempted to avoid Notting Hill because crowds like that do not make her happy. If you go, know what you are getting into it.