Notting Hill Carnival explodes into colour on opening day
West London came alive yesterday as Notting Hill Carnival kicked off in a blaze of colour, rhythm and Caribbean spirit.
From sunrise, thousands of revellers poured onto the streets for J’Ouvert — the traditional daybreak celebration that drenched the neighbourhood in paint, powder and joy. By mid-morning, the Children’s Parade filled the roads with glitter, jewels, sequins and feathered wings, as steel pans, brass bands and booming sound systems set the tempo.
The air was thick with the scent of jerk chicken, curry goat and rum punch, while reggae, soca, dub and drum & bass pulsed from towering speakers and side-street stages. Flags flew high, costumes shimmered, and crowds danced long into the evening.
At 3pm, the music paused for 72 seconds of silence to honour the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and Carnival’s own fallen. Then, the beats returned — louder than ever.
The National 24 Hour Three Peaks Challenge
2 nights from
£497.00pp
But that was just the warm-up. Today, the adults take over the parade route in full costume, with even bigger floats, stages and sound systems turning W10 into the world’s biggest street party.
A celebration of London’s large Caribbean diaspora, Notting Hill Carnival began in the mid-1960s and has grown dramatically over the years. Today, it has become one of the biggest street parties on the planet, attracting well over a million people. This year’s edition looks set to be one of the most unforgettable yet!
