Frank Crichlow

Frank Gilbert Crichlow was born on 13 July 1932 in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He came to Britain in the 1950s as part of the Windrush-era generation of Caribbean migrants, and settled in the Notting Hill area of west London, where many Caribbean families lived and faced discrimination in housing, work and entertainment.

In 1968 Crichlow opened the Mangrove restaurant on All Saints Road in Notting Hill. It became more than a restaurant. It was a gathering place for the local Black community, a meeting place where activists, artists and writers met, and a safe place for Black people at a time when they were often unwelcome elsewhere. It also drew a wide range of visitors, including the model Christine Keeler and the politician John Profumo.

But the Mangrove was repeatedly raided by police, and Crichlow was subjected to constant police attention. In 1970 he joined Darcus Howe and other activists in a march on Notting Hill police station against what they saw as harassment. The march led to clashes, and Crichlow was among nine people arrested, the Mangrove Nine, who were charged with inciting a riot.

The Old Bailey trial lasted 55 days and made national headlines. On 16 December 1971 all of the Nine were acquitted of the most serious charges. The judge's comments acknowledged racial hatred in the Metropolitan Police, and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred rather than legitimate crime control within the force. Crichlow called it a turning point for Black people.

He remained a fixture of Notting Hill and of the Mangrove for decades. He died on 15 September 2010. His story was told in the 2020 film Mangrove, part of Steve McQueen's Small Axe series, in which he was played by Shaun Parkes.