Frank Gilbert Crichlow (13 July 1932 – 15 September 2010) was a British community activist and civil rights campaigner, who became known in 1960s London as a godfather of black power activism.

The defendants were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour (the repeated raids) motivated by racial hatred, rather than legitimate crime control, within the Metropolitan Police.

Originally from Woodbrook, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Frank Crichlow arrived in England in June 1953 on the SS Colombie, among the first wave of post-war immigrants from the Caribbean.

Margaret Busby writes in The Guardian that the band had a few television and radio appearances, which, by 1959, gave Crichlow enough money to open the El Rio cafe in Notting Hill at 127 Westbourne Park Road.

[2] He was also a central figure in the Notting Hill Carnival; his restaurant served for many years as the base from which activists, musicians and artists organised the event.

[8] Charged with possession of heroin and cannabis, which he said the police had planted, Crichlow was defended by Gareth Peirce, Michael Mansfield, and Courtenay Griffiths.

[13][14] Actor Shaun Parkes portrays Crichlow in the Mangrove episode of Steve McQueen's 2020 film anthology/television miniseries Small Axe.