Another grey and rainy London day? It can mean only one thing – a Bank Holiday weekend (Public Holiday weekend for non-British readers) is upon us. And seeing as we’re at the end of August, that means it’s Notting Hill Carnival Bank Holiday weekend! Taking place this coming Sunday and Monday (Sunday 28th is Children’s Day and Monday 29th is Adult’s Day), the Carnival is a great way to round-off the summer in London.

Grim weather aside (let’s just hope it clears up by Sunday), there’s plenty of Carnival events, as ever, to get you warmed up and looking on the sunny side of things. The main part of the Carnival will, of course, be the parade that takes place on a route via Ladbroke Grove, Westbourne Grove, Chepstow Road and Great Western Road, with plenty of sound systems dotted around within that zone to party hard at…and get slightly deafened by!

There will also be plenty of pubs and bars within the Carnival area participating to the event; many will be open during the Carnival itself as well as holding after-parties.

Once again, the fantastic Time Out have produced a great online guide to the Carnival, with guides to the best sound systems and parties, plus a useful map showing where all the action is. They also have plenty of “behind the scenes” stories if you’re after a bit more in-depth info; you an also pick up a copy of the Time Out magazine this week which has a dinky little Notting Hill Carnival guide inside.

The official Notting Hill Carnival website has plenty of info on all aspects of the event, with info for those attending and those taking part as well. (Keep your eye on this site if you want to take part in 2012.)

Local residents may also be interested in the RBKC Residents’ Information Bulletin (PDF) which contains useful info on parking restrictions, post-Carnival clean-up operations and similar. Spoonfed have a listing of Notting Hill Carnival tagged events mostly, but not all, in Notting Hill.

There were rumours that this year’s Carnival could have been cancelled following the atrocious riots that took place in London (and, of course, other cities in England) earlier this month. Fortunately, this great event is taking place and we hope all participants and attendees enjoy themselves and have a tremendous amount of fun! In many ways, that the Carnival is still going ahead this year is a great response to the riots. Enjoy yourselves everyone and stay safe!