Notting Hill Carnival 2019 ft King Tubbys, Saxon, Nasty Love & Channel O...

Notting Hill Carnival 2019 ft King Tubbys, Saxon, Nasty Love & Channel One

Established in the 1960s as a way to bring cohesion to the community, Notting Hill Carnival has been a stalwart on the capital’s party calendar.

Notting Hill Carnival became a major festival in 1975 when it was organised by a young teacher, Leslie Palmer." The carnival was also popularised by live radio broadcasts by Pascall on his daily Black Londoners programme for BBC Radio London.

By the 1950s, both Notting Hill and Brixton had substantial West Indian populations. In fact, both areas became overcrowded, and conditions were poor: poverty riddled every run-down tenement building. There was no hot water, no electricity, and London was fraught with social unease and racial tension. Working-class whites clashed fiercely with their new neighbours, and in 1958, the Race Riots cracked the area further: from August 30 until September 5, mobs of white Teddy Boys vandalised houses and fought with residents. At the time, both Oswald Mosley's far-right Union Movement, and the White Defence League were both dispiritingly popular.