Cancel the Notting Hill Carnival!

[Witchofwisteria]

AIBU. This year police have confiscated 49 knives and 70 offensive weapons total, including ACID and stun guns plus one stabbing. Over 400 people were arrested, up from 313 last year and I am starting to wonder when enough will be enough.

The streets are left in a state after the event and the cost to taxpayer is astronomical. I feel like the Notting hill carnival has lost its way and turned into a breeding ground for opportunistic thugs. The thought that someone was wondering round with ACID, willing to throw it into a crowd and scar however many tens of people it sprayed on is beyond sick. We are quite happy to say terrorists are a major threat to Londoners but these groups are a MUCH worse threat to our daily lives and it's just too risky to have this event when we know it's going to attract these nasty individuals and gangs.

I'm totally not a fuddy duddy and appreciate that things like rubbish being left and dirty streets are always going to happen with big public festivals (like Brighton Pride) but Notting hill is just seeming to get more sinister each year.

Time to cancel the festival for 1 year, sit down and re think how this could be made into a ticketed festival in 2020. The price of the ticket will help pay for the extra policing and security, fencing and security around the cordoned off area and contribute towards charities the festival supports. Think Hyde park concerts in the park type event, we need to keep people safe.

Like PP I am a resident - don’t live on the route but on one of the side streets in the middle of the route - this year we had portaloos at the end of the street. I don’t have a problem with carnival - it was ther before we arrived and it’s only one weekend a year (we go away). Some of our neighbours had obscene graffiti spray painted on their houses which is a bit yuk but apart from that it’s just rubbish and noise. I wouldn’t take kids to it as I do find the atmosphere a bit scary but I had a good time there in my 20s and those who go seem to enjoy it. Certainly wouldn’t single it out for banning.

@argentino unclean. Really? When I walked my daughter to nursery at 8:15 all the rubbish had already been picked up, the street had been swept and they were just power cleaning the area.

espoleta My parents live within spitting distance of the station and at 7 this morning there were still mounds of rubbish on the street (and garden)

I'm not sure you can just look at arrests. I went to Glastonbury when it was less safe. There were lots of dealers very openly dealing all sorts of stuff. The small number of police there did nothing about it. They were focusing on keeping people safe.

@argentino hmm.
When you say "the station" I take it you mean Notting hill station, which isn't on the carnival route?
I live inside the carnival route so maybe cleaning up where we are takes priority.
Still, it was only 7. Cleaning up was taking place in earnest

It's not just the route that has rubbish. We were stepping over broken glass, food bags and laughing gas files this morning.

The Carnival zone is pretty wide because of people coming via further out train and tube stations because I assume notting hill gate, Holland part etc were closed as usual?

I used to live in the area and agree with a lot of what previous posters have said:

• all the old people get shipped out for the weekend as it's too noisy for them
• the noise, oh god the noise. Your windows vibrate from it. It's awful and inescapable
• the litter is obscene. The graffiti is awful. I know people who had paint chucked over their cars and houses
• everyone I knew there had dealt with people urinating/defecating on the pavement in front of their houses/in their doorways/in their front gardens
• most of the local shops board up for three days so don't benefit at all
• all the local bus routes are suspended, the roads are closed and the tube stations are closed so if you can't walk you're basically trapped in your home

I'd be in favour of moving it into Hyde Park so you can control the crowds better.

They did try - we had a festival there one year (ages ago) which was fun (good food and music) but very badly attended.

The Carnival isn't what it stated out as - a local celebration of the Caribbean for the local mix of cultures in Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove (black and white). It was supposed to bring a bit of Caribbean celebration to the grey post war streets of the arse end of West london.

Now it's just a behemoth that is too big for the streets. It's gone a bit burning man.

Think the term is Twerking and I don't get it either (old though, lol , lots I don't get)

I don't understand Morris dancing either but I would never make a song dance about it because it's not about me.

Twerking, rhythm and all of that is part of other people's cultures. It's fine not to get it, but to say "oversexualise" ? Haha not every culture is prudish towards sex

The male equivalent is 'daggering' I think. Where a male simulates sex from behind with a female, to the beat of the music.

Any noise at night is not directly related to Carnival - all on street sound systems must finish at 7pm. Obviously there are many licensed premises who take the opportunity to party later on, and private houses. But there will be no official carnival amplified noise after that time.
There is no way on earth that the Royal Parks will accept it in Hyde Park - they get upset if traders spill oil on the grass at the concerts!

@LuluJakey1

Let's think about the acceptability of that comment in relation to people who come to live in Britain and don't like our customs For any who don't like it ... simple solution is to move
I don't think you'd be accepting that sort of comment directed at immigrants- you would call it racist and discriminatory.
You don't know me to at all to say I'd call it discriminatory.

This is not about immigrants. Stick to the point of what I'm saying in relation to residents of Notting Hill.

It's about moving out of an area if you don't like it/or a regular event in the area.

I say the same about those who buy houses in flood zones. They knew the risks and went ahead with the purchase .... then are distraught when the river bank bursts and homes are damaged.

You know the Notting hill carnival is an annual event...buying or renting there is a personal choice...unless you are a social housing tenant.

If I personally didn't like the customs of another country to the point I was moaning or complaining about it .... then I would leave. If the custom of a country was discriminatory in itself...then that's a different issue.

My view is when in Rome

7000 police- I'm so happy that my tax is paying for 7000 police for one day in London -it's a joke , we don't have 7 police covering one of the largest areas in the country at night. I'm sick of London taking the hogs share of everything - there is plenty of population north of Watford you know.

My poor parents have to board up their beautiful home and pay someone to housesit. They went to Paris for the weekend and were anxious the entire time.

Why don't they relocate if it causes such anxiety on an annual basis?

Surely their health is more important.

Noise finishing at 7pm? Oh no. It rumbles on and on (not counting the rehearsals - so loud you can feel your chest vibrate).

And when my family moved here - early 70s - carnival was a much smaller thing, so you can't really say 'oi, immigrant, if you don't like it, bugger off'. We were here before it got so big!

Although I did have zero sympathy for the people who tried to silent St Mary Abbots church bells because they disturbed them (very rich new West Londoners).

7000 police

Meanwhile in my rural town the police station has been closed down and the nearest one is 25 miles away.

Sometimes I resent London. Just so they can have a party for a few days.

Well considering that I have personally gone around sound systems and made sure that they have gone off at 7pm for the past 4 years.... the noise is not officially linked to carnival.

Jill Crewsmum

I am a Londoner but we are not safe .. There is never usually any police presence on a day to day basis.
They also recruit officers in for those days as well as the Met Police.

The rumbling goes on though - from all angles. Not necessarily official carnival noise but there are a hell of a lot of pubs and parties that go on over the 2 days (well starting from the Saturday really).

I’m a resident, don’t mind the noise particularly but I did walk past a human crap this morning on my way to the tube. That was pretty grim. But the actual parade was fun until about 3pm when the mood changed and it all got much darker. I get it’s not for me but got a big fed up of seeing young women getting humped from behind by aggressive men so went back home for a nice cup of tea.

football matches don't require 6000+ police officers to manage the event each day though.

Indeed...
Went to rugby final at Twickenham in May.... Crowd of 75,000.... saw two police officers in the 3 hours I was in and around the stadium!

I think the reporting is very one sided, always reporting on the negatives and not any of the amazing culture that takes place.
I don’t dispute the issues but many people go and have a great celebration, sound systems are well run with their own security and there are also many positives?

Re mess & litter, pretty standard on Clapham high steet early Sat or Sun morning.

I don’t go to carnival any more or similar events as I don’t like crowds or queuing for toilets but I think it should stay. It’s very popular so they are doing something right.