Notting Hill Carnival could be ticketed next year

We could be forced to buy tickets for Notting Hill Carnival for the first time ever to “improve safety” at the event. 

The proposals are being put to the tens of thousands of Notting Hill residents, who haven’t exactly been shy about wanting to end the Carnival entirely.

Next year’s traditional bank holiday Monday party might be completely scrapped as police are pushing for the carnival to be restricted to Sunday only.

Obviously the gentrification of Notting Hill is very real. This year was the most public school Carnival of all time with its decorative Red Stripes and no-longer ironic shirts. Bringing in tickets could drive the event even further from its roots.

This comes after police arrested the highest number people last year for a whole decade and want to clamp down even harder next year. 407 people were arrested and 57 were held for possessing some sort of weapon.

The Conservative MP for Kensington Victoria Borwick, , is sending out surveys to local houses in the New Year to find out their views.

Residents’ main concerns are that there is only one toilet for every 5,000 people attending and how their windows apparently get blown in by loud music every year.

Not a fan of the Carnival, Lady Borwick said: “We’re trying to open negotiations with the organisers. We know that the police are talking to the council but we also need to get the Carnival community on board.

“They don’t really want to see any changes but we’ve got to be realistic, this is not the Carnival we had ten or even five years ago.

“We want it to be a fun family occasion, celebrating the music and the culture, not somewhere people tell terrible stories about crime.”

The results of whether the Carnival will survive as we know it are expected next February.