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Security boards have been installed over hundreds of shops and houses along the Notting Hill Carnival route over fears they will be destroyed.

Businesses which fit the boarding over doors, windows and around gardens say the demand for protection has doubled in the last 10 years.

The Metropolitan Police has also added "knife arches" along the route in a bid to tackle rising levels of violent crime at the August Bank Holiday event.

A specially-trained squad of more than 6,000 police officers, including a newly-formed violent crime task force, will patrol the streets after 300 people were arrested at last year's Carnival .

David McClure, a workman installing boards on the route, said his company, AES, will fit out roughly 160 shops and homes with protection - double what they did a decade ago.

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He said: "We started on Thursday, we have to do today (sat) and we have about 160 shops to board up.

"But that's just our company - there are others doing the exact same.

"We're working 14 or 15 hours per day putting them up and taking them down. It used to be only 60 or 70 shops.

"It's disgusting when you come to take it down but the council do clean it up pretty quick. They use these as urinals, it's disgusting the stuff they leave around."

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More than one million people are expected to descend on Notting Hill, one of London's wealthiest neighbourhoods, across Sunday and Monday.

A staff member at the luxury menswear shop Paul Smith said they always surround the building with wooden boards - but some revellers still attempt to scale the barriers.

He said: "We have always boarded up the shop in that time, everybody does now.

"We have had occasions where people have been trying to climb the hoarding and get into the garden, because we have an open garden and it would just be smashed.

"The council board off all their garden spaces, everything is closed off. You can't be the one that doesn't.

"You get the odd car left out and they are just destroyed or painted. It's carnage."

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Police bosses in charge of the Carnival security operation described it as "challenging".

Undercover tactics will be rolled out to prevent "troublemakers" entering the carnival and armed officers, dog units and police on horseback will be stationed along the route.

Superintendent Elisabeth Chapple said: "The sheer number of people coming to Carnival and the relatively small geographical area, means that it is a challenging environment to police.

"We are working closely with the event organisers to ensure that the event is a safe environment where people can come and enjoy themselves."

Most residents who live along the route had left their homes today to avoid the chaos.

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Penny Graham, 78, has lived in her flat for more than 40 years but said she has avoided Notting Hill during Carnival weekend for a decade.

She said: "It's because of the music, it's so fantastically noisy. In the beginning it was fantastic but the sound systems now are so loud.

"Even the windows shake, everything shakes. It's too many people.

"You look out of the window and see millions of people. If you do try and leave your house you're stuck. You can't get back in.

"It becomes like an alien city. It's mainly just spraying paint all over.

"And you have got that many people - where do they go to the loo?

(Image: PA) (Image: Getty Images Europe)

"I do feel it would be rather good if it could be somewhere else but goodness knows where."

She described the event as "fantastic" for the community and praised the "quick" clean-up operation.

But referring to growing levels of violence at the event, she added: "It's so sad we have become so violent."

Commander Dave Musker, police gold commander for Carnival, added: "The Met seeks to support Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, carnivalists and local communities to deliver a safe and spectacular event over the Bank Holiday weekend.

"Our continued major effort directed against violence across the Capital will continue.

"Let no one be in any doubt that if you have the intention to come to Carnival and be involved in crime or violence, my officers will robustly and proactively target you to keep Londoners safe."