Future of Notting Hill Carnival ‘up in the air,’ as organisers ask for more cash - and MP calls for it to be moved

19 June 2025, 08:33 | Updated: 19 June 2025, 10:14

A Labour MP has sparked a row by calling for the Notting Hill Carnival to be moved to Hyde Park and be made a ticketed event.

Jonathan Hinder, a former police inspector, posted online that he thinks the carnival should take place in Hyde Park, be ticketed and that would result in ‘no stabbings’.

He scoffed at the suggestion in a leaked letter that the carnival needed extra funding to address “critical public safety concerns”.

A letter written by the carnival’s organisers said the event’s future could be in doubt without ‘urgent funding’ from the government.

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The carnival’s chair, Ian Comfort, has written to the culture secretary to request public funds to address “critical public safety concerns.”

Mr Comfort said that public money was “essential to safeguarding the future and public safety of this iconic event.”

“Limited resourcing has restricted the police service’s ability to respond to growing operational pressures,” Comfort said in the letter.

He said increased investment in stewarding and crowd management was “now essential to allow the police to focus on their primary role of crime prevention and public protection”.

He did not state a figure in the letter.

He said although the GLA and the two councils had provided “substantial support” for stewarding, they could no longer “meet the growing operational requirements” of Carnival.

In April, the Met's assistant commissioner for frontline policing, Matt Twist, raised concerns over Carnival becoming a ‘mass casualty event’.

He said "In addition to frequent monitoring of nine locations we know are challenging, we [had] to step in a number of times in order to reduce the crowd density in order to save life."

He said crowd density at Carnival was “probably the most concerning part” for those responsible for ensuring safety at the event.

Giving evidence to the London Assembly police and crime committee last September, Twist said: “While we acknowledge that crime often gets the headlines, the thing that worries me most is the crowd density and the potential for a mass casualty event.”

The carnival is second in size only to Brazil’s Rio carnival and is considered to be the largest street event in Europe.

It attracts about 2 million people over the August bank holiday weekend. This year’s event is scheduled to take place on 24 and 25 August.