Notting Hill Carnival organisers are facing calls to review the festival’s annual arrangements despite a reduction in serious violence.
This year’s festivities saw 528 arrests being made – up more than 50 per cent on 2024 – but just four stabbing incidents, compared to eight last year.
The Metropolitan Police has credited “proactive” policing and the use of live facial recognition (LFR) technology for the figures. However, there are still calls for the Carnival to be fundamentally reformed due to ongoing safety concerns.
What’s the problem?
Despite a fall in violent crime, critics of the Notting Hill Carnival’s current arrangements say that any levels of crime are unacceptable.
In a report released a fortnight before the festival, Conservative London Assembly group leader Susan Hall called for a cap on attendee numbers, paid ticketing and for the Greater London Authority (GLA) to become the official organiser.
On Wednesday (August 27) she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the crime figures seen over the Bank Holiday Weekend shine a light on why reforms are needed.
She said: “Thanks to the hard work of the Met and our police officers, I am relieved to see a reduction in the most extreme forms of violence. Crime continues to increase at an unacceptable rate, however, with arrests up 21% on last year, and 100 arrests and 11 firearms seized in the days before Carnival.
“This year’s event will cost the taxpayer at least £16 million, and my report On The Brink: The Future of Notting Hill Carnival shows that the event will cost the taxpayer between £80 million and £100 million over the next 5 years.
“This comes at a time when the Met is facing a £260 million black hole in its budget, with 3,300 police officers and staff set to be cut, and police counters across London set to close. We must reform Notting Hill Carnival to reduce the cost to the taxpayer, improve safety, and give the event the financial stability it needs to run successfully.”
Former Met Police officer David Spencer, now Head of Crime and Justice at the Policy Exchange Think Tank, told the LDRS: “That this year’s Notting Hill Carnival saw four stabbings and no murders is no cause for celebration – particularly given that it was necessary for 528 people to be arrested at this event.
“Too often the decisions about how Notting Hill Carnival is run, licensed and funded are made in secret – it is time for the sharp light of transparency to be shone into this whole enterprise.”
Meanwhile, Met Police Federation Chair Paula Dodds said concerns over the welfare of police officers working at the carnival still existed. There were 55 arrests for assaults on police officers at the festival, more than a tenth of the overall figure.
“We are pleased that the concerns we raised contributed to the work which led to a fall in serious violence at the two day event and look forward to this collaborative working continuing in years to come,” she told the LDRS.
“One assault on a police officer is one too many and their welfare must remain paramount.”
Is Carnival getting safer?
In 2022, the first year the festival took place following the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 209 arrests made. Then 2023 saw 275 arrests, and 2024 saw 349 individuals apprehended by police.
And while this year’s figure of 528 was significantly higher, the Met has said violent crime fell.
Arrests: 528
Stabbing incidents: 4
Assaults on police officers: 55
Drug offences: 167
Possession of an offensive weapon: 50
Violence: 53
Arrests from live facial recognition: 61
Arrests pre-Carnival: 100
Seizures pre-Carnival: 11 firearms and more than 40 knives
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward, the policing commander for Notting Hill Carnival, said 2025’s operation “focused on keeping people safe by targeting those who were coming to Carnival to cause harm to others”.
He added: “Officers were deployed in significant numbers at the event and on the approaches to and from it, tasked with intervening proactively to prevent crime and in particular, violence.”
Police also arrested 100 people ahead of the event. This approach appears to have worked, at least on the surface.
Officers responded to four reports of stabbing or slashing this year, none of which resulted in life-threatening injuries. Last year there were eight stabbings, including the tragic murder of 32-year-old mother Cher Maximen.
FOI data revealed that there were 10 stabbings in 2023, though none were fatal, and seven in 2022. The latter included the killing of Takayo Nembhard. So at the 2025 event, stabbings were at their lowest level post-pandemic while arrests were at their highest level by far. Critics argue that fewer stabbings on the back of a massive ramping up of arrests does not constitute a safer event.
The future of Notting Hill Carnival
The festival, first organised in 1959, now attracts more two million people every year.
While this shows the popularity of the event – with attendees flocking from all around the world to participate in the celebration of Caribbean culture – the figures present growing challenges for its organisers and supporters.
In June, Carnival Chair Ian Comfort said the future of the festival could be in doubt without “urgent” government funding to help with public safety.
It’s understood that organisers are happy with the way that crowds were controlled this year and that no fundamental reforms are needed – but they will still review any existing shortcomings ahead of next year.
The Mayor’s office is also facing pressure to intervene if incidents get out of hand in the future.
In April, the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee called on Sir Sadiq Khan to commission a review of crowd density and safety at the event.
Its chair Marina Ahmad told the LDRS on Wednesday: “Notting Hill Carnival is a tremendously popular event, highlighted once again this year, with over 2 million people from around the world attending across the weekend.
“Following a number of high-profile policing incidents at last year’s event, including two tragic, fatal stabbings, the Met raised deep concerns to our committee of the risk of a mass casualty event if changes were not made.
“The organisers and the Met took additional steps to mitigate the security and safety risks, including stronger crowd management protocols, with almost £1m extra funding from City Hall and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and City of Westminster councils.
“From the initial reports, it is positive to see that there was a reduction in the number of arrests for violent crime compared to recent years. However, any violent crime is unacceptable, and we want to ensure the Carnival remains a safe, family friendly event in London’s events calendar.
“We will discuss the policing operation of the Carnival with the Met at an upcoming meeting of the Police and Crime Committee at City Hall, which will help set out what further work can be done to ensure the Carnival is safely enjoyed by all.”
Sir Sadiq said in June that the Carnival has become a “victim of its own success” and said some scenes of crowds made him “frightened”.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told the LDRS: “Carnival 2025 was a spectacular event which attracted hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to celebrate the best of Caribbean culture on London’s streets.
“Hosting Europe’s biggest street festival was a huge team effort, and the Mayor extends his thanks to the event organisers and the thousands of police officers, paramedics, and emergency services personnel who worked day and night to keep us safe throughout the weekend.
“Now that this year’s event has concluded, the second part of the independent review into Carnival will look at longer-term improvements for next year and beyond to help deliver an even safer Carnival for everyone.”
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