With the August Bank Holiday only a couple of sleeps away, thousands across the UK will be planning a visit to West London for the Notting Hill Carnival, come rain or shine, hell or high water (likely the latter if the flooding reports for Finchley Road station today are anything to go by).
Notting Hill Carnival
The Carnival takes place over Sunday 25th and Monday 26th August this weekend with the bands starting at 9am on Sunday which is children’s day and the same time on Monday for adult’s day. There will be multiple road closures and tube station restrictions in the area throughout the weekend, the most major of which are depicted in the map below (click on the blue lines for more info) and outlined here:
Road closures: 07:00 – 03:00 both days
Harrow Road, Notting Hill Gate, Clarendon Road, Queensway and most of the roads within the area these roads outline. If you’re planning on driving or taking a cab through West or North West London on these days you are advised to avoid this area or allow extra time for your journey as traffic will be heavy. ubiCabs users are advised to allow extra time for bookings in West London during this period or to amend their bookings by calling the partner company number (included in their confirmation email) directly.
Tube station conditions
The following conditions are all provisory and stations may be closed at any time if overcrowded to prevent injury to the public.
Ladbroke Grove: Closed
Latimer Road: Open until 23:30 Sunday and Monday.
Notting Hill Gate: Exit only between 12:00 and 19:00 both days. District and Circle lines will not stop at this station between these hours on Sunday or at all on Monday.
Royal Oak: Exit only from 11:00 to 18:00 and Closed from 18:00 both days.
Westbourne Park: Exit only between 11:00 and 18:00. Closed from 23:30.
Bayswater: Open
Queensway: Open
Paddington: Festival organisers advise using this station instead of Royal Oak or Notting Hill Gate to avoid overcrowding.
Other stations near to the Carnival running without restrictions are Holland Park, High Street Kensington and Queen’s Park; But, if the proposed London Overground strike by RMT goes ahead, Queen’s Park may only be accessible via the Bakerloo line.
RMT Rail Strike for 25th & 26th August
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) have proposed a strike by London Overground Staff over the Bank Holiday weekend to oppose plans to remove guards from all London Overground trains. This strike will go ahead unless an agreement can be reached in talks over the next couple of days: keep checking the TfL website for updates.
If the Industrial Action goes ahead there will be no service between Willesden Junction and Richmond/Clapham Junction or between Gospel Oak and Barking. TfL states that a four train per-hour service will run between Willesden Junction and Stratford.
Tube line closures this weekend
24th – 26th August
District Line – Saturday: Turnham Green to Ealing Broadway, Sunday & Monday: Ealing Common to Ealing Broadway
Piccadilly Line – all weekend: Acton Town to Rayners Lane
25th – 26th August
Northern Line: Camden Town to Edgware
Jubilee: Willesden Green to Stanmore
Metropolitan: Harrow-on-the-Hill to Aldgate
With warm weather expected for at least some of this weekend, we recommend that you take a bottle of water with you whether you’re going to the carnival, taking the tube, walking or travelling by car or cab and make backup travel plans just in case you have to change them on the fly.
