by Chirag Trivedi BBC News Online, London

Shops are being boarded in preparation for carnival

But they are unlikely to be affected by the million people coming to west London this weekend for the carnival - unlike those running businesses who see it as a mixed blessing.

Tony Kite, manager of restaurant Lucky Seven, said over the two days he will make an extra �2,000.

"We won't be opening the shop up but we've been granted a licence for a bar, which will serve both food and drinks, to be set up outside," he said.

"Last year we made around �6,000 over the carnival weekend. On a normal weekend we take about �4,000."

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But Mirdula Desai, who runs a Londis newsagent, said they had opened for carnival for 26 years but closed for the last seven because it had become too busy.

"We used to take on extra staff but now it's just not worth it," she said.

"It's too hectic in here at the best of times and during the carnival, especially as it is now much bigger than before, it is too much."

One off-licence owner, who did not want to be named, said he looked forward to the carnival saying "it was the best weekend of the year".

'Area boarded up'

"During the carnival it does get really, really busy and it's hard to cope sometimes - but my bank manager is not complaining and neither am I."

But for others, like Anthony Morris, it can be a nightmare.

He runs Crucial Trading, a carpet and rugs design business, which he said could lose up to �50,000 over the bank holiday weekend.

"In past years people have asked to use my toilet and I have let them, but then I get inundated with people who want to use it and then leave a mess.

Jane Appleby-Deen is boarding up as a precaution

"Since then I've closed over the weekend and when I've come back I have found people have urinated up the shop front or left rubbish, usually food, and I have to clean it up because the council refuses to.

"On a good weekend I can make between �40,000 to �50,000, which I lose when I'm forced to shut.

"It's now far too big for the area.

"If you just look around and see the area being boarded up - it's like we are preparing for war not carnival - it should be moved to somewhere like Hyde Park."

Jane Appleby-Deen has run Appleby, a high quality vintage clothing business, for six months and has decided to board the shop up as a "precaution".

Graffiti artist Seal gets to work legitimately

"I love the carnival and I'm glad it is happening because it is brilliant," she said.

"But it only takes one drunk person or someone being silly for someone to be thrown through the glass and hurt themselves."

For one teenager the carnival means he can legitimately use his graffiti skills to decorate the route.

'Seal', 15, said: "I have been doing this for the last few years and I can do it without the police giving me hassle.

"I love carnival."