The first major race riots in Britain occurred in August and September 1958, first in Nottingham and then in Notting Hill Gate (West London). In each case the violence was started by young white men looking for trouble deciding to target black men with white girlfriends or wives.
The Notting Hill Carnival, which has been claimed to be the largest annual street festival in Europe, is a celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture that began in reaction to the Notting Hill Riots. It too has featured on a special stamp issue as a representative aspect of modern Britishness (see here).
In 1976 there was a second race riot in Notting Hill, this time young black men reacting to heavy-handed policing of the Carnival.
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