1. The year 2004 marks the 40th anniversary of the Notting Hill
Carnival. The event attracts over a million people in a bank holiday
week-end in August and provides London with its largest
European street festival. It attracts a multi-racial and multi-
cultural audience which reflects the full diversity of the UK’s
capital city.
The History of Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival began initially from the energies of Black
immigrants from the Caribbean who had dreams of creating a
festival to bring together the people of Notting Hill. In 1964 when
it all started, people were facing racism, a lack of economic
opportunities and poor housing.
Carnival’s origins come from the slavery era when slaves were
forbidden to play musical instruments and wear costumes except
for during the period of ‘Carnival’. When slavery was abolished, the
slaves took to the streets in song and dance. This was an avenue
for freedom of expression and has evolved into what is now known
as Carnival today.
Carnival Today
There are several components making up the Notting Hill
Carnival, delivering economic benefit to thousands and pleasure
to many more.
• A key component are the “Mas Bands” which are mobile
amplified music bands accompanied by hundreds of
“masqueraders” who pay for their costumes and to
participate with or ‘follow’ the band.
• “Steel Bands” are live percussive music units on mobile
floats playing the unique steel pans derived from Trinidad’s
ultural heritage.
• There are about 250 trading sites licensed to sell food and
drink, and these are mainly Caribbean and Asian influenced.
• There are the companies who make the fantastic and
beautiful costumes which are artistic showpieces in their
own right.
• Providing the musical backdrop for this colourful event are
‘calypsonians’ which use political, social and satirical
commentary set to music, and soca, a fusion of soul and
calypso which originated in Trinidad.
Which businesses benefit from Notting Hill Carnival?
Apart from the obvious costume producers, fabric sellers,
musicians, event organisers, and sound systems, there are many
more businesses that work behind the scenes or play a hand in
making this Europe’s largest street festival. Carnival is more than
an event over a bank holiday week-end in London. Carnival is a
global and year round industry which supports thousands of jobs
– primarily in the BME communities in the UK. Cleaning
contractors, security companies, caterers, sign design specialists,
music producers, clothing designers, merchandisers, and many
more make Carnival what it is and derive some economic benefit
from the event.
Businesses operating in the retail and accommodation sectors in
and around the Notting Hill area also benefit from an upsurge in
sales before and after the Carnival weekend. Visitor spend over
the weekend is estimated at £45 million but the trickle down effect
makes the actual economic impact of the Carnival so much more.
A recent London Development Agency (LDA) report indicates that
the Carnival contributes up to £93 million each year to the London
economy and supports the equivalent of 3,000 full time jobs. It
also attracts an estimated 90,000 tourists from abroad.
Creating a more sustainable future for Carnival
businesses
The LDA’s recommendations to improve and ensure the
sustainability of Carnival while making its economic impact reach
its maximum potential include:
• Developing a robust public awareness, PR, media,
communication and advocacy programme locally, nationally
and overseas.
• Carrying out a fundraising strategy to broker both public and
private sector support for the Carnival.
• Delivering a branding, marketing and merchandising
strategy aimed at improving the position of London’s product
offering.
• Developing a programming strategy which would allow for
more inclusion in an annual calendar of carnival events and
other activities.
• Gaining a better understanding of the skills and business
challenges faced by small businesses involved in Carnival
• Incorporating education on Carnival into school activities and
other relevant educational outlets in the media, arts, or sports.
• Establishing a Carnival visitor centre
• Including Carnival into further research studies on tourism
and creative industries.
The Industry Of
Carnival
F A C T S H E E T

2. Carnival for the Future
Business Link for London’s Knowledge Centre on Black and
Minority Ethnic Businesses is committed to helping businesses in
this sector succeed. Carnival related businesses need support to
move them from projects to a more profitable and self-sustaining
status. In this regard, the Knowledge Centre recommends the
pursuit of the following two initiatives as a starting point to
achievement of this goal:
1. “Carnival in the Park”
Carnival in the Park is an event which will showcase the various
industries of Carnival, highlight their commercial value and
contribute to the further development of participating businesses.
It is proposed that the event will take place on the weekend before
the Bank Holiday weekend and will consist of stage shows
featuring musicians, artists, and parades of costumes and fashion
designers. A “Global Village” will also house vendors selling food,
music, clothing and arts and crafts from the various cultures that
traditionally take part in street festivals and Carnivals - such as the
people of the Caribbean, South America, Asia, Africa and the
Chinese.
The “Global Village” will also facilitate two-way trade between
local and overseas companies, and ‘zoning’ the village will help to
showcase the various cultures participating in Carnival. In addition
to the obvious benefits to BME businesses over the week-end
itself, the event will provide a timely boost to the Carnival’s
development. Specifically it will:
• allow greater and direct interaction between local UK
companies and individuals and those overseas.
• open the Carnival up to a wider audience - the mainstream
and other segments such as young families and elderly
people who may be dissuaded from participating because of
the confines of a street parade.
• provide greater funding opportunities for the London
Notting Hill Carnival Limited and access to more
sponsorship from a wider audience – for example
corporates and multi-nationals.
• allow for more direct benefit to the BME companies
associated with the Carnival industry and remain in keeping
with the cultural heritage of the Carnival.
• It will complement the Bank Holiday Notting Hill Carnival and
make the event into a larger tourist attraction.
2. “Centre for Carnival Arts and Industries”
At present there is no physical home in London for the businesses
involved in Carnival. This is constraining the further development
of these industries directly and indirectly related to the creative
arts sector. As such, a Carnival Arts and Industries Centre is
proposed.
• A Carnival centre would provide a base which could
accommodate small and medium sized businesses from
“incubation” through to longer term growth stages. It would
facilitate interaction between businesses and enable them to
benefit from clusters, by giving them economies of scale and
more engagement with related businesses along their
supply chains.
• An additional benefit would be the human resource training
and opportunities for development which can arise from such
commercial hubs. Carnival provides an excellent training
ground for those who wish to apply their acquired skill set to
other commercial ventures such as fashion design or
theatrical costume design.
• The Centre could accommodate the display of the large
Carnival costumes both for fashion shows on catwalks and in
perhaps a museum showcase format in order to act as a
permanent visitor attraction for both locals and tourists.
Again, this would promote Carnival within new segments of
the market to those who may not want to participate in a
street parade.
• The venue could also act as a hub for entertainment –
sponsored Carnival parties or ‘fêtes’ in the lead-up to the
Notting Hill Carnival - providing a further stream of income to
Mas bands, as well as businesses such as sound systems,
catering, lighting and event management companies. This,
all at the same time, creating loyalty among potential band
‘followers’, who would familiarise themselves with the new
Carnival music for the year and ‘get into the spirit’ of Carnival.
• Opportunities exist for the location of such a Centre in the
priority regeneration areas of the Thames Gateway of
London. With such a Carnival Centre, London and the UK
would be well positioned to exploit its potential role as being
the focus for this global industry which is growing in size and
economic contribution worldwide.
To download more KCBMEB Fact
Sheets, visit
www.knowledgecentres.com/bme
For more details on the research report published by the London Development Agency - “The Economic Impact of the Notting Hill
Carnival”, please call 020 7680 2000.
For more information about “Carnival in the Park” or the “Centre for Carnival Arts and Industries”, please contact Vernon Barrett,
Head of the BME Knowledge Centre at vbarrett@bl4london.com