Notting Hill Carnival 2025

Last month, I attended Notting Hill Carnival for the first time since launching my now-sold-out zine. It was another brilliant Carnival; full of energy, music and familiar faces. It was also great to connect with photographers there, although unsurprisingly a few meet-ups were missed thanks to phone signal issues; two million people in one place will do that!

Here are a few takeaways from this year’s Carnival:

• Atmosphere: Brilliant as always, didn’t see any trouble

• Police presence: Heavy but reassuring and they didn’t interfere with the event’s vibe

• Food stalls: Some of the stalls have a longer queue for a reason! I took a punt on a short one and ended up with a bland, dry, jerk chicken wrap; one of three regrets of this year’s Carnival (see “silly billy”)

• Music: Sadly no “Pineapple People” sound station this year for house music, the best alternative I think was KCC and the Rocking Crew. Had a great time at GT Flex too.

• Silly Billy: I broke my own rule of not going from the south to the north (or vice versa) section after 3pm and I lost over an hour getting stuck in the crowds. My second of three regrets this year (see “bob”)

• Is that rum in your pocket or are you happy to see me: Havana Club filled hip flask was a success!

• Bob: At one stage I saw Bob Vylan walk past me and as a bit of a fan, I stopped him and asked if I could take his photo. I’ve never had such an embarrassing mental block as I couldn’t remember his name and could only get out “you’re that musician aren’t you?” I’m still cringing about it. He answered “yes” and smiled. Nice guy.

Below is a selection of my images from this year’s Carnival (in chronological order). In a few years I’ll see if I’ve gathered enough shots to make a follow-up zine.