A rum old time
Carnival is about more than the parade – we take you beyond Notting N Hill
AUGUST bank holiday in London means one thing: Notting Hill Carnival. Whether you’re already mixing your own bottles of home-made spiced rum and ginger cocktails, or ensuring you’re as far away as possible, it’s the last hurrah of summer and it’s always huge. So huge in fact, that it’s spreading. You no longer need to be in west London to hear the reggae beats or to get your hands on top-notch Jamaican street food.
You can always catch up on the viral videos of dancing policemen later: here are the best ways to get into the party spirit wherever you are in town.
Pre-gaming
Partying on the Friday night means you have plenty of time to recover before heading down to Notting Hill on Sunday lunchtime. The Cirque du Soul Carnival Special is giving the weekend a circus spin, making it the only place in town where the costumes might be more colourful than the parade. The headline act is dance duo Goldfish, who hail from Cape Town and employ live instruments, African
You don’t want to hit the streets of Notting Hill cold. Warm things up the night before at the Prince of Wales in Brixton, which is hosting the Carnival Old School Rooftop Garage Rave, offering four floors of music and a BBQ on the terrace. You can put in a long shift — the part y is from 3pm until 4am and includes back-to-back sets from
Royal-T, DJ Q and Flava D. Tomorrow, 467-469 Brixton Road, SW9, pow-london.com
Friday is the calm before the streets around Bayswater become packed with hordes of sweaty, dancing people, and so The Beachcomber bar is throwing a Caribbean Carnival feast, where you can line your stomach before things really get going.
Food writer and supper-club queen Vanessa Bolosier is hosting three sharing courses: get to know your neighbours over smoked chicken creole tartlet, Caribbean prawn fricassee and home-made coconut ice cream with flambéed crepes.
And the Creole Kitchen pop-up is hanging around after the bank holiday is over, serving up salt fish fritters and blue Agwadisiac cocktails made with trois rivieres rhum, agwa coca leaf liquor, blue curaçao and orgeat almond syrup every night of the week. Tonight, 86 Queensway, W2, facebook. com/thebeachcomberbar
Norman Jay MBE’s soundsystem was a Notting Hill staple for more than 30 years but in 2015 he headed east for the first time, after redevelopment of W2 started changing the face of the area. It went so well he’s coming back, this time to Oval Space with his night Good Times Goes East. The grandfather of British house and master of funk and soul will have the East End jumping. Tomorrow, Oval Space E2, ovalspace. co.uk
Taking it easy
Carnival can be incredible, but if you don’t like crowds, feeling lost, or facing down an interminable quest to find a loo, it can be overwhelming. The Common Slice in Willesden is offering a more laid-back alternative in the form of the Notting Chill Carnival.
Relax at the all-day party by the canal, where pop-up Platta will be serving chicken wings, Jamaican patties filled with 21-day aged beef, lamb, goat and mutton and raw pineapple juice with lime, ginger and fresh chilli. Music is chilled out: house rather than carnival beats, and comes from ReviveHer, Kish-Kash and Y.A.W. Sun, The Common, Old Oak Lane, NW10, thecommonoldoak.co.uk
Alternatively, just find somewhere serving rum and you’ll be participating wherever you are. Rum Kitchen is co-hosting the King SSP Sound System stage with Radio 1’s Toddla T at the Carnival itself but if you can’t make it down, they’re still looking after you, offering a new rum punch called Carnival Crush packed with summery pineapple, passionfruit and lime. It’s just a fiver this weekend at the bar’s Kingly Court and Brixton branches. All weekend, 443-445 Coldharbour Lane, SW9, and Kingly Court, W1, therumkitchen.com Callooh Callay has five new rum cocktails for its #NotAtCarnival party.