Notting Hill Carnival is back for its 60th year as an outdoor street festival, and 2026 is shaping up to be the most charged edition yet. Rooted in the traditions of Trinidad and Tobago and first taken to the streets of west London in 1966, the carnival has grown from a community gathering into the largest street festival in Europe, drawing more than two million revellers across the August Bank Holiday weekend.
The three-day programme runs from Saturday 29 August to Monday 31 August across the postcodes of W10 and W11, covering Notting Hill, Ladbroke Grove, Westbourne Grove, Westbourne Park and Kensal Road. Saturday kicks things off with the UK National Panorama Steel Band Competition at Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park, running from 4pm with Junior Panorama at 5pm and the main competition at 8pm. Bands from across the country perform a ten-minute calypso or soca composition entirely from memory, no sheet music permitted. It is one of the largest steel pan competitions outside the Caribbean, and well worth the ticket price. Sunday is Family Day, with the Children’s Parade from 10:30am, a more relaxed introduction to the carnival spirit. Monday is the main event: the Adults’ Parade rolls from 10:30am to 8:30pm, with 50,000 performers, mas bands in elaborate costumes, and more than 30 sound systems pumping soca, reggae, dancehall and Afrobeats from every corner of the route.
Food is central to the whole weekend. Hundreds of licensed street stalls line the parade route, serving jerk chicken slow-grilled over charcoal, curried goat, oxtail with rice and peas, and roti filled with curried meat or vegetables.
Tickets and getting there
The main carnival on Sunday and Monday is free. The Saturday Panorama Steel Band Competition is ticketed: adults from £21.56, children from £7 (ages five and over), via nhcarnival.org. The nearest Tube stations are Paddington, Bayswater, High Street Kensington, Queen’s Park and Shepherd’s Bush. Notting Hill Gate station is typically closed or severely restricted during carnival weekend, so check TfL for live travel updates before you travel.
