Notting Hill Carnival is (mostly) a really good time, but it’s time we all admit that the violence, stabbings and death need to be dealt with, as it’s something that seems to reliably occur every year at the event.

In total at Notting Hill Carnival in 2024, there were 2 murders and 8 stabbings. and more than 300 arrests for possession of deadly weapons or drug offences. All this despite the event being incredibly well-policed, with over £10 million spent on bringing down police forces from around the UK, with thousands of officers present and even anticipatory arrests being made before Carnival begins on known troublemakers and gang members.

Despite all this, it’s still the most violent annual major event on the UK calendar.

And so, a former Metropolitan police detective has suggested that Carnival be “re-positioned” to a location such as Hyde Park to help make the annual London event “better policed” and “more secure”.

Peter Bleksley told LBC that this change + turning Carnival into a ticketed event will help to prevent violent crime in future:

“I don’t want the Carnival banned at all – far from it… But this criminality, this bloodshed has to stop.

“In my view the best way of doing that would be to reposition it, move it to Hyde Park for example. Make it a ticketed event and thereby holding it in an area which can be better policed, more secure and just try to stop this bloodshed.”

Bleksley called for the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to intervene having previously made the same move with other high-profile events in the capital.

“He (Sadiq Khan) ticketed the New Year’s Eve fireworks display, so there is precedent for ticketing a large scale event with hundreds of thousands people attending it in London and thereby giving it a greater element of control.”

At this year’s event, there were also 61 incidents where police officers were assaulted:

“The assaults mostly involved kicks, punches or pushes. There were four incidents where officers were spat at, two where officers were headbutted and two where officers had glass bottles thrown at them.”

So in theory, moving Carnival to Hyde Park or some other suitable venue and issuing tickets is probably a good idea, but then does it also kill the magic of the event? The whole point of Notting Hill Carnival is that it’s on the streets and everything is spread out. Moving the event to Hyde Park would mean everyone is jammed into one space with fencing all around the park, and would no way be able to acccomodate the 1 million or so people that pass through Carnival during the two-day celebrations each year. Hyde Park could handle maybe 65,000 people tops?

Then again, Hyde Park is only about a mile up the road from Notting Hill, so I’m sure it will be spilling out onto the streets too even if it’s not part of the “official” event taking place in Hyde Park. Which means things could still get stabby regardless, even with the proposed changes, but at least those with tickets in Hyde Park would theoretically be safe.

Essentially, the proposed change would turn Carnival into a completely different event, but maybe it’s worth trying if it means less people are hurt or killed every year. Your move, Sadiq Khan.

For the ‘Do You Wanna Die?’ prank that landed one YouTuber in hot water at Notting Hill Carnival, click HERE.