Da UK On-line Urban Magazine

It's Bank Holiday weekend and the decision is whether to go to Leeds or London carnival? London is the UK's biggest street party for over 40 years. Leeds is a huge park celebration with sound systems and the infamous Pyjama parade. But which one will you be going?

Held each August Bank Holiday since 1966, the Notting Hill Carnival is the largest festival celebration of its kind in Europe. Every year the streets of West London come alive, with the sounds and smells of Europe's biggest street festival. Twenty miles of vibrant colourful costumes surround over 40 static sound systems, hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, over 40,000 volunteers and over 1 million Notting Hill carnival revellers.

Starting its life as a local festival set up by the West Indian community of the Notting Hill area, it has now become a full-blooded Caribbean carnival, attracting millions of visitors from all over the globe. With many astonishing floats and the sounds of the traditional steel drum bands, scores of massive sound systems plus not forgetting the hundreds of stalls that line the streets of Notting Hill.

Sunday is Kids' Day, when the costume prizes are awarded. On Bank Holiday Monday, the main parade takes place. In the evening, the floats leave the streets in procession, and people carry continue partying at the many Notting Hill Carnival after parties.

The Leeds Carnival, also called the Leeds West Indian Carnival or the Chapeltown Carnival, is the longest running West Indian carnival in Europe, having been going since 1967. The carnival is held in the Chapeltown and Harehills parts of Leeds every August bank holiday weekend. 150,000 people were estimated to have attended the 2009 event.

It is a 3-day event, climaxing in a carnival procession on Bank Holiday Monday, which starts and finishes in Potternewton Park in Chapeltown. A parade of floats and dancers makes its way along Harehills Avenue, down Roundhay Road in Harehills, along Barrack Road and back along Chapeltown Road to the park, where a wide range of stages and stalls provide entertainment and refreshment for carnival-goers. Since 2005 this event has been covered by the BBC station 1xtrain conjunction with Notting Hill Carnival.

Supatrax will have photos from London and Leeds carnival, if you go to either send your reviews to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Click here to see photos from Bristol 2010 carnival