Brixton Bugle April 2022

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BRIXTON BUGLE YOUR FREE

No 82 | APRIL 2022

ABOUT THE BRIXTON BUGLE The Brixton Bugle is back after a two-year

absence due to Covid Some information for new readers: The Bugle is published

by Brixton Media, a community interest company required by law to benefit the community and to spend any surplus it might generate on improving its service to the community and not lining the pockets of shareholders Almost everybody who works for the Bugle is a volunteer We believe the accurate reporting and investigation of what goes on in communities is an essential part of civil society and democracy – as is offering a platform to people without the means or the opportunity to make their voice heard Brixton Media CIC, which also publishes the Brixton Blog (brixtonblog.com) is also dedicated to offering opportunities to people – especially young ones from backgrounds that find it hard to enter journalism – to work on stories and obtain bylines After two years, we are near to starting again from scratch and have opportunities for volunteers in many roles – including distribution, administration, advertising sales and administration, as well as journalism To find out more, email work@brixtonblog.com

Published monthly in and for Brixton

ISSN 2397-852X

BRIXTON BOUNCES BACK

Brixton is recovering more quickly from the economic effects of lockdown than any other area a specialist survey firm deals with.

This was the message delivered to a recent meeting of the Brixton Business Improvement District (BID).

Movement Strategies analyses spending patterns and amounts using data from credit card sales.

As more and more people use cards for even the smallest purchases, the data becomes more significant.

Andy Nuttall of Movement Strategies said: “Brixton is younger, more polarised in terms of spend profile, more dependent on the night-time economy and recovering quicker over the last few months than any other area we work with.”

Card spending in Brixton increased 30% year-on-year between the fourth quarter (October to December)

But recovery depends on the night-time economy

Find out more about the unique economy of Brixton – see page 10 of 2021 compared to 2020. In nearby Croydon, there was no change over this period.

The night time economy has driven the local recovery from a Covid-induced slump.

Night time spend in Brixton over the latest period for which figures are available is running at nearly 150% of pre-Covid levels.

In Croydon it is only 10% of pre-Covid levels and in Lambeth as a whole it is still well below 100%.

Nuttall said that Brixton’s night time economy is the largest in the country as a proportion of the total local economy.

It represents more than 40% of the total, compared to less than 20% in Croydon and less than 30% in London as whole.

BRIXTON BLOG & BUGLE ART SHOW 2022 Now seeking entries for the show in July – details p8

COMMUNITY PAPER

STREET DANCE From Paris to Brixton

15

MAYOR TO LIEUTENANT Queen’s local representative

3

IT’S ABOUT MAKING FRIENDS Meet San Marino’s coffee king 17

CAN DO Ukraine raffle raises £875

5

CRAZY CAT Meet Book Mongers’ Popeye 14

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2 NEWS

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ISSUE 82 Contributors Iona Cleave Ollie Goodwin Medya Gungor David Horsley Simone Richardson Print Iliffe Print iliffeprint.co.uk Distribution: Self Select Distribution selfselectdistribution.co.uk NEXT ISSUE Our next issue, May 2022, is due on the street on Wednesday 4 May Deadlines Advertising: 11 April Editorial: 18 April A massive thank you to everybody involved in making this issue, and the Blog & Bugle project, a success If you would like to be a Bugle stockist please email distribution@brixtonblog.com

Cressingham residents to seek fourth judicial review Cressingham Gardens residents are preparing to take Lambeth council to court for a fourth time in their campaign to stop demolition of the housing estate that overlooks Brockwell Park.

They have renewed their fundraising appeal to pay for the legal costs involved. As of now, the appeal is about half way to its £40,000 goal.

And, following storm damage to some roofs on the estate, the council’s repair and maintenance standards have been referred to the social housing regulator, with campaigners warning of more possible legal action.

The council plans to knock down and rebuild Cressingham Gardens, along with other housing estates in the borough.

Cressingham residents are also mounting evening “toad patrols” around the estate which is recognised by the Department for Transport as a Toad Crossing, of which there are only two in London. The other is Ham Common near Richmond Park.

Local volunteers have been counting and photographing toads and moving them off roads as they head for Brockwell Park ponds to spawn.

The fourth application for a judicial review by campaigners to save the estate is a direct result of their third application for a review.

In July last year, the council cancelled permission that it had agreed earlier for Homes for Lambeth, its wholly owned housing company, to demolish 12 homes in Ropers Walk on the estate.

The council said cancellation and a new planning hearing would be quicker and cheaper than going through the third judicial review of its plans for which campaigners had won permission.

The review would have focused on whether or not the council had properly considered the heritage aspects of its “regeneration” scheme.

A new planning committee hearing once again agreed to the demolition of the homes in Ropers Walk. But, to deal with the issue raised by campaigners, the new planning application addressed heritage issues raised by its plans to demolish Ropers Walk.

Campaigners said it was no surprise that the council had approved its own planning application, despite

it “clearly breaching the human rights” of an 84-year-old resident.

However, they said, there was a positive side to the application because “the council has finally admitted that Cressingham Gardens is indeed a heritage asset”.

In the light of this, “residents have once again engaged lawyers to submit yet another application to the High Court for a judicial review,” the campaigners said.

“This will be the fourth judicial review application that the community has submitted.

“As before, we will be starting to furiously fundraise again to pay for this legal action.”

A fundraising event is provisionally planned for 14 May. Recent storm damage to the estate, which saw some flat roofs blown off, led one resident to recall a conversation some years ago with a contractor working on their roof.

When complimented on the standard of work he was doing, the contractor replied that he would not be doing it for long because the council was not happy that he was working to such high standards.

While the roof of the resident who had this conversation is intact and has never leaked since, other roofs on

the estate have been blown off on several occasions over the past decade.

Campaigners said the council acknowledged 10 years ago that roofs on the estate needed to be replaced.

One of the council’s initial reasons for the proposed demolition, the campaigners said, was that it could not afford new roofs – “since when do buildings get demolished simply because they need a new roof after 40 years?” they asked.

However, “Instead of doing a proper job, or even getting the work done under storm damage insurance, they have had contractors do temporary and patch repairs, such as simply battening down the metal roofs with wooden battens and screws. The latest storm clearly showed that this is the height of negligence and very dangerous.”

The campaigners said that three weeks on after the storm, the council had still failed to cover roofs with temporary tin hats to prevent rainwater penetration.

“The matter has now been referred to the housing regulators,” they said.

“This may yet become another collective legal action by residents depending upon the outcome from the regulators.”

Central Hill – page 11

2022 APRIL

Council seeks views on sites with links to slave trade Lambeth council has created a website with details of local historic sites with proven links to the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved people.

The sites include statues, monuments, and street names across the borough.

Cllr Sonia Winifred (below), council cabinet member for equalities and culture, told local residents: “We now want to hear your views on the small number of locations across the borough with proven links to the slave trade.”

She said the website details where the sites are and what their links are to the slave trade. It includes an interactive map where sites can be highlighted and comments left.

“Your views will help us to decide the future of these sites and future sites,” Cllr Winifred said.

“In Autumn 2020, I was proud to host the first event into this important work, which featured Deputy Mayor of London Debbie Weeks-Bernard and more than 1,000 local groups, residents, and national organisations to join in on the community discussion.

“Following this event, Lambeth Archives carried out extensive research and located a small number of sites in Lambeth with links to the slave trade.

“At the second meeting held earlier this month we shared where the sites are, what their links are to the slave trade, and it was an opportunity for attendees to share their views and ask questions.”

The review of statues, memorials and place names was announced in October 2020, following the killing of George Floyd in the USA and the mobilisation of the 2020 Black Lives Matter campaign.

“As a proudly diverse borough which has previously taken a lead on commemorating Black leaders in the late 20th century, we have committed to reviewing existing troubling or historic links and assess whether we can legally suggest new names or commemorations to mark the lives and contributions to key people who have made Lambeth the place we know today,” said Cllr Winifred.

A bit.ly/LBL-slavery

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

NEWS 3

Stockwell skatepark facelift Stockwell Skatepark, close to Brixton town centre, is to get a half million pound makeover to smooth worn-out and rough concrete surfaces and add modern skating features.

The park on Stockwell Road, which is free to use, opened in 1978 and attracts skateboarders, BMX bikers and other riders of all ages and abilities from a wide area.

Lambeth council, which owns the site, said it had worked closely with the Friends of Stockwell Skatepark (FOSS) and local residents on the refurbishment which is due to start on 4 April.

The council said the improvements will significantly improve the experience for all types of riders, with an improved flow around the park, a more inviting space for beginners, and refreshed seating.

Betongpark, one of Europe’s leading skatepark design and construction firms, will do the work.

It is expected to take four months with re-opening scheduled for the end of July.

Brixton BMX Club, whose main track is in Brockwell Park, are also involved in the project.

Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth council cabinet member for the voluntary sector and leisure, said: “Stockwell skatepark is really valued by both the council and the community, so I am delighted that this important improvement

Rueben Goodyear at Stockwell skatepark

Photo Wig Worland project will soon start.

“Engaging with the community has been central to this project and I thank everyone who has been involved for giving up their time so willingly, and their passion for the project.

“We have really worked hard to get this right, factoring in the needs of different users so the end result will be a really inclusive skatepark for all to enjoy.”

Other improvements will include a new family friendly and accessible viewing area.

To support community use, the London

Marathon Trust has given £10,000 towards sessions for local schools, Lambeth residents and disabled users for when the park re-opens.

Some of this money also will go towards skateboarding courses, including specialist instructor training for people with disabilities.

Daphne Greca, from FOSS, a community association that works to protect and promote the Skatepark, who has campaigned for the refurbishment, said: “Stockwell skatepark is loved by so many people, and it’s such a valuable site for so many reasons,” she said.

“It boosts wellbeing, gives young people an exciting way of exercising – but, more than that, a community has built up around the park which is just brilliant.

“The park sits in the middle of an incredibly diverse, heavily built-up area where opportunities for free outdoor exercise and socialising in a safe space for our young people are in short supply. The park is currently run down, the surface is bumpy and its features are out of date.”

The project will be funded using contributions from developers for local projects worth £180,000, including £100,000 from Network Homes, a housing association that has built new flats next to the skatepark, £110,000 from the London Marathon Trust, and further funding from the council.

Christopher Wellbelove in his role as Lambeth Mayor in Brixton

Former Lambeth Mayor appointed as Queen’s local representative

By Iona Cleave

Daphne Greca: ‘Stockwell skatepark is loved by so many people, and it’s such a valuable site for so many reasons’

Council planning ‘bee roads’ to re-wild borough Lambeth council has won £440,000 from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to create 10 miles of wildflower patches, rain gardens and new woodland to boost urban biodiversity.

The two-year series of rewilding projects across the borough – called “bee roads” by the council, will replace turf on selected roadsides, roundabouts and other under-used public spaces with native wildflower meadows.

This is intended to create “linear habitat” for butterflies, bumble bees and other pollinators.

The council said the project would also include the creation of rainwater ponds on housing estates, making new habitats for frogs, toads and newts and species such as dragonflies.

Its proposal was based on

working with “local community champions” to create a network of re-wilded patches on formerly unused or underused land alongside major roads.

Council leader Claire Holland, who, launched a borough climate action plan on March 21, said the funding would transform many different parts of the borough, “making our public spaces more biodiverse and better for the wellbeing of our residents”.

The GLA grant is from its Green and Resilient Spaces Fund, part of the Mayor of London’s “green new deal”, which invests in projects that enhance resilience to climate change.

Several Lambeth parks already have wildflower meadows that help preserve native species of plants and wildlife, including butterflies

Lambeth Walk Doorstep Green, a Local Site of Importance for Nature Conservation

and bumblebees. Thames Water is an active partner in the plans to create self-sustaining rain gardens that improve drainage and reduce flood risk.

On St Matthew’s Estate in Brixton the council plans to create a permanent and a seasonal pond by diverting rainwater from the roofs of people’s homes, as part of a new countryside walk – a natural screen from the busy Effra Road.

Outside La Retraite School in Clapham Park, the council plans to build out from the school entrance to help calm traffic and make the road safer – and plant the new public space as a wildlife habitat.

A rain garden with pavement planting is planned for the Tulse Hill Estate.

In the long term, the council plans to replace grass with five new roadside wildflower meadows and two areas of woodland .

More than 100 people have offered to volunteer with Lambeth Bee Roads. To be added to a general volunteering list for the project, email parks@lambeth.gov.uk, stating ‘Lambeth Bee Roads’ in the title.

Christopher Wellbelove, former Mayor of Lambeth, has been appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London representing Lambeth.

Wellbelove held a seat on Lambeth council for 16 years, and is one of the few councillors to have served as Mayor of Lambeth twice.

In his new role, he will act as the Queen’s representative in Lambeth, assisting the Lord-Lieutenant, Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, in serving London’s communities.

It is a position that recognises those who have long served their community through public life and through charitable or voluntary services.

“It’s a massive honour,” says Wellbelove. “The Lord-Lieutenant is very keen in making the lieutenancy more representative of the community and he picked me as someone who has long worked for Lambeth council and lives here.”

He hopes now to raise awareness of his role. “Organising royal visits to the borough is a key part, and so is making people aware of the Lieutenancy – what it is and what it can do for the local area.”

And, what does Brixton mean to the near Deputy-Lieutenant? “Brixton is the heart of Lambeth and a special place for the Royal Family,” explains Wellbelove.

“When it comes to royal visits, I will be really pressing to highlight the different community organisations and businesses in the area.”

Wellbelove is already well-known in the community for his commitment to supporting mental health services, including the Mosaic Clubhouse mental health charity on Effra Road in Brixton.

He will continue to support these charities in his new role, and hopes to look for ways to make connections between different community groups in the area and have their voices heard.

“I do regular reports for the Lord-Lieutenant and his office, and it would be useful for me to make sure that Brixton is well and truly in those people’s minds at all the time,” he says.

“As mayor I’ve met hundreds of people who work so hard in the community, and I want to make their cases and get more people like that put forward for awards.”

brixtonblog.com

4 NEWS

2022 APRIL

Tenants launch water charges refund campaign

St. Martin’s Estate tenants (l-r) Janet, Grace, Dennis and David

Brixton prison ‘set up to fail’ Brixton prison and its inmates are being “set up to fail” by changes to the prison service caused

by Covid, an independent report has warned.

Brixton is officially a resettlement prison, preparing people coming to the end of their sentence for release.

The annual report on the prison for the year ending in August 2021 by its independent board said that pressure on local prisons and changes to the flow of offenders through the prison system meant men were arriving at Brixton from local prisons without passing through training prisons, some very soon after being sentenced.

This, and Covid restrictions, meant that Brixton “could no longer function effectively as a resettlement prison”.

The process was “setting up both these prisoners and the prison to fail,” the report said.

The Prison Act 1952 requires every prison to be monitored by an independent board appointed by the government from members of the community in which the prison is situated.

Tenants of the three housing associations that run the St. Martin’s Estate in Tulse Hill are campaigning over refunds for water charges that can amount to several hundred pounds.

T h e y s ay t h e a s s o c i a t i o n s – Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, Optivo and Notting Hill Genesis – are only refunding residents from 2004 rather than 2001. as tenants of Lambeth and other local councils have been.

The refunds arise from a national arrangement between Thames Water and social housing providers that was the subject of a High Court case following three years of campaigning on the issue by tenants.

St Martin’s campaigners have letters from the associations fobbing off their complaints without explanation after being sent from one department to another when querying refunds.

Tenants have also been told that the refunds will only be paid into their rent account and not by bank transfer or cash.

Wi t h t h e h e l p o f c o m m u n i t y

organisers at High Trees Community Development Trust, they are taking collective action on the issue.

Optivo resident Janet Blake said: “When we owe the money, they’re practically breaking down our door. Now it’s the other way around and they just don’t care.”

Vanessa Simpson, also an Optivo resident, said: “This is a nice area and we all really get along. It’s a shame the housing association doesn’t do its job and help the people it’s supposed to. That’s why we have to make them.”

In March last year, Lambeth council announced that it had started legal action against the three St Martin’s housing associations over their failure to tackle serious damp conditions on the estate.

The announcement came after six years’ campaigning by tenants who had, again, been fobbed of and also blamed themselves for the damp because of their “lifestyle” and “behaviour”.

A high-trees.org/community-action

Lifesaving defibrillator in Brixton McDonald’s Brixton McDonald’s is now home to a potentially lifesaving community public access defibrillator.

Installed by franchisee Terry Eagle, it could help save a life if someone nearby suffers a cardiac arrest.

The unit is available to the public and all emergency services 24 hours a day.

All McDonald’s managers are trained in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Terry Eagle, who will be installing more defibrillators in the seven restaurants he owns across South London, said: “We’ve been considering

installing a defibrillator for some time, and as the economy has reopened and the night life scene is back to being busy, we decided this should be installed.

“We hope it’s never used. However, if it is used and saves a life, it will be money well spent.

“Being a community hub, it’s already received a lot of positive attention and created awareness – no one could say where there is another one in the town.

“We want to ensure that our community can rely on us.”

Brixton Seventh-day Adventist Church recently welcomed their new minister, Pastor Richard Daly. He has been in full-time ministry for 27 years where he has pastored churches in Bristol, Gloucester and London.

He has a passion for working in the community and has served in local community initiatives and leadership projects.

He has extended his ministry outside of the church as a hospital, prison and university volunteer chaplain and served as an Olympic Games chaplain working with athletes.

Richard Daly is an avid reader and the author of 16 books. He is married to Maxine and together have three young adult boys.

A For service times and more information about the Brixton Seventh-day Adventist Church, visit: brixtonsda.co.uk

Affordable workspace Lambeth Council is inviting applications for affordable and supportive workspace projects for the second round of its £8 million Future Workspace Fund.

Organisations can apply for grant and loan funding for workspace projects that support growth in the council’s priority sectors – life sciences, low carbon and creative and digital – by safeguarding, enhancing or providing new affordable workspace.

The first round of the Future Workspace Fund committed £2 million to support four workspace providers to establish or grow themselves in Lambeth, including 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning on Railton Road.

The second phase will increase the number of diverse workspaces on offer, provide grants for feasibility projects and will assist Lambeth’s economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local charity bids to break the bias

Award for local MP

L o c a l M P B e l l R i b e i ro - A d dy h a s b e e n named as the 2021 Newcomer MP of the Year by the diversity and inclusion charity Patchwork Foundation.

The Labour MP for Streatham, whose constituency includes parts of Brixton, was recognised for her work championing under-represented communities at the foundation’s awards ceremony in Westminster.

MPs are nominated for the awards by the public and winners are selected by independent judges.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy was recognised for her efforts to combat digital exclusion among children and to help them to continue their education through the pandemic, as well as her championing of refugee rights and inclusion in her constituency.

She said it was an honour to receive the award.

“It’s not been an easy time to come into the job, so I’d like to thank everyone in my team for their hard work and support, not to mention the wider Streatham community.”

New pastor for Brixton

Brixton McDonald’s staff with the defibrillator: (l-r)Melinda Lonyai, business manager; Norca Amparo, customer care; Zak Moshie, shift runner; Tatiana Leon Salguero, crew member; John Berry, customer experience leader

Brixton-Harlem festival planned for August The Brixton Business Improvement District (BID) is working on a “Brixton X Harlem” festival in August this year as part of the twinning scheme between it and the 125th Street BID in New York.

The Harlem community’s 125th Street district is one of the most significant and important landmark streets in the city and carries the double name – Martin

Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

It is the home of the world-famous Apollo Theatre and the Hotel Theresa where Fidel Castro chose to stay in 1960, as did Malcolm X, and poets Langston Hughes and Allen Ginsberg. Today it is a hive of business activities and tourism.

Barbara Askins, president of the 125th Street BID, said, “Harlem

and Brixton have similarly rich histories and are well positioned for important and positive change and growth.

“One of the main initiatives that we are both involved in is to begin framing a new streetscape.

“We are very excited by the possibilities offered through this new friendship which we helped broker, and all of its promise.”

Brixton’s Baytree charity, which works alongside many families experiencing various difficulties and has a mission to support women and girls, is participating in the Big Give Women and Girls Match Fund campaign this year.

This aims to encourage young girls and women to #BreakTheBias of stereotyped gender expectations and turn their aspirations into reality.

An important part of this campaign is that all donations are doubled by the fund A thebiggive.org.uk/s/

women-and-girls-match-fund

Stonewall award The LGBTQ+ equality charity Stonewall has named Lambeth as a Stonewall Silver Employer for its commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion at work. Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers list ranks the best LGBTQ+ inclusive workplaces.

New Gold, Silver and Bronze Stonewall Awards are part of its Bring Yourself to Work campaign, which highlights the importance of inclusive work environments.

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

NEWS 5

The changing miniature worlds of Brockwell Park Brockwell Park’s main claim to popularity in Brixton is most likely the wide open spaces that it can offer. But it also has a semi-secret miniature life. A hollow tree contains a tiny tableau that, after storm Eunice, lost Peppa Pig but gained a firefighter.

The remnants of what was once a larger model village outside the Walled garden have also acquired a new model of the Ritzy cinema.

Thanks to Brockwell Park Community

Partners for details of the village’s history …

The original model village was given to the park in 1947 by Edgar Wilson, a retired engineer who lived in West Norwood.

He made the Brockwell Village in 1943 – the houses are all signed on the inside with the date.

Lambeth council soon decided that Brockwell Park had rather a lot of village houses and used about half of them to establish another model village in Vauxhall Park,.

The Brockwell Village fell into disrepair and until recently, had only two houses.

The last village that Edgar Wilson made is part of an extraordinary story that was recorded by the South London Press in 1948.

He was so touched by food parcels sent to hungry Londoners from Melbourne in Australia during the war, that he wrote to show his personal gratitude by offering the city a model Tudor English village – his offer was accepted.

Drinks raffle raises £875 for Ukraine

Louisa Payne (above), founder of Brixton Wine Club (BWC), ran a week-long wine raffle to raise money for Ukraine.

Customers could purchase tickets for £5 through the BWC website.

The club specialises in wine in cans.

The raffle prize was a 24-can mega Juice Box (a mixed wine and cocktails selection) worth more than £110.

The total raised was £875 which was donated to Rescue UK. They are helping families who are fleeing the war .“As an idea of what the money can be used for – it translates to: 62 comfort kits for children or 19 emergency kits for families or temporary shelter for 86 families,” said Louisa.

A rescue-uk.org/topic/ukraine-crisis A brixtonwineclub.com

Petition to drop LTN in Atlantic Road Above: Not to scale …

The Ritzy Left: the tree with Peppa Right: the rhinoceros is still there … but Peppa has gone

A Railton Road that reflects its historic past Two organisation are looking for help with a project to create public spaces on Railton Road that reflect its central role in local life, history and culture.

Brixton-based Urban Growth is joining the InUse-ReUse team, who work from the Remakery on Lilford Road, to create the project commissioned by Lambeth council.

They want to work with the local community to capture the legacy of Railton Road in street furniture design.

Once “The Frontline” and a busy thoroughfare leading to Brixton’s Markets – the No 2 bus route used to run down it – Railton Road is now a quiet link between Brixton and Herne Hill because of a low

traffic neighbourhood.

It’s a far cry from being the centre of the Uprising/riots of 1981.

“We believe that public spaces should reflect the character of an area, but unfortunately, standardised street furniture, such as seating and bike racks, rarely do,” said InUse-ReUse and Urban Growth, “We are inviting residents of Railton Road and other local stakeholders to help us to bring to life the vibrant history of this landmark street and bring its unique character to the public space.

“The political and cultural significance of Railton Road is undeniable,” the two organisations said.

The InUse-ReUse team will design and build seating and cycle

parking stands for the street.

Last year they designed some wooden pavement for Atlantic Road, which runs into Railton Road.

Material will be sourced locally and integrate historical and cultural elements to ensure that the street furniture tells a story.

The project will consist of three stages – community outreach in spring, followed by design and then production.

Five co-design sessions with the community will produce the final street furniture design.

You can register an interest in participating in the co-design workshops in April and May 2022.

“This is an exciting opportunity to be part of the team that

will create the final design for the new street furniture,” said the organisers.

“You will be led through the design process by a skilled facilitator. You do not need to have any prior experience. You can register online.

You can also tell the project what Railton Road means to you by sending stories and memories about the street. These stories will be shared with the co-design team to help inspire them.

If you have questions about the project, you can contact the organisers at RailtonRoad@inuse-reuse. co.uk or message 07395 193772.

A The survey:

bit.ly/Railton-Design-Project

Dwayne Barrett, director of Atlantic Bakery on Atlantic Road, took advantage of a visit

by Lambeth council chief executive Andrew Travers to the annual general meeting of the Brixton Business Improvement District to present him with a petition.

Signed by traders on Atlantic Road, it called on the council to remove low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) restrictions from Atlantic Road.

“These changes have had a dire impact on our businesses,” the petition says.

“The change has affected people who would travel from Loughborough direction, they are now unable to turn into the road. Our customers who are elderly or have a disability can no longer park in the road and shop as before. At these difficult times it is indescribable the impact these changes have had on trading in this street. We urge you to consider our livelihood as we are struggling to keep afloat. It would be such a shame to lose the diversity of businesses in the road.”

It clear from exchanges at the meeting that not every Atlantic Road trader agrees with the petition.

E-bike battery alert after Brixton fire A flat fire in Lambert Road, Brixton, caused by an e-bike battery has led London Fire Brigade (LFB) to issue a safety alert. LFB fire investigators believe the fire was caused by the failure of an e-bike’s lithium-ion batteries.

A spokesperson said: “Many of the fires we are seeing involve batteries which have been sourced on the internet, which may not meet the correct safety standards. We know that lithium-ion batteries are susceptible to failure if incorrect chargers are used, so it’s important to always use the correct charger for the product and buy an official one from a reputable seller.”

LFB advised people not to charge lithium-ion batteries while people are asleep, nor to leave them unattended.

brixtonblog.com

6 RETROSPECT

2022 APRIL

Retrospective … while we were away This the first Brixton Bugle for two years – a lot has happened since we suspended publication because of concerns about safe distribution.

But our sister publication, the Brixton Blog has covered the issues, large and small.

This is a selection of them: Development and construction dominated coverage, with several crucial issued and stories coming up time and time again …

A Controversy over plans for the redevelopment of Pope’s Road and Brixton Station Road – which are looked at elsewhere in this issue – remains, as we wait for the outcome of the Mayor of London’s decision to take over the planning process after Lambeth council backed the scheme in November 2020. As we go to press, a date for the Mayor’s hearing had still not been set.

A Brixton also saw one of its longest running venues, the 414 Club at 414 Coldharbour Lane closed and Louise Baron and Tony Pommell who, almost single-handedly, kept Brixton alive as a place for clubbers during the difficult 1980s and 1990s, were unceremoniously ousted from their home and business.

A Residents of Cressingham Gardens and other Lambeth council estates kept up their political and legal

A Future plans that have been announced include the £3m rest o r at i o n o f B ro ck we l l H a l l i n Brockwell Park.

A There is now a memorial to Cherry Groce in Windrush Square. Her shooting by police in 1985 sparked a major riot in Brixton.

campaigns to stop their demolition, boosted by an increasing emphasis on the benefits of refurbishment and retrofitting of existing buildings, rather than demolition and rebuilding.

A News was not always bad. Brixton Wholefoods, badly hit by lockdowns like so many local businesses, achieved a life-saving fundraising target in hour after local celebrities joined supporters to back one of Brixton’s oldest “alternative” businesses.

A Plans for a “Rec Quarter” in Brixton will see the eventual closure of Pop Brixton, one of the iconic sites in Brixton’s transition from a wholesale and retail economy to one based on entertainment and hospitality.

A N o t a l l w e r e s o f o r t u n a t e.

Cornercopia, a trailblazer in Brixton Market, bowed out as costs increased and is now to be found on Streatham High Road.

A Lambeth council long-term “site allocation” plans for Brixton sites could see major changed at Tesco on Acre Lane, Halfords and Currys on Effra Road, and around the Esso garage on Brixton Road.

A The continuing effects of austerity policies on an area with significant levels of deprivation continue to concern local people. Demand on the Norwood and Brixton foodbank has continued to soar and parents who rely of nursery schools run by the council are increasingy worried about their future.

A The site of Lambeth hospital in Brixton is also set for redevelopment – including an 18-storey tower that would dwarf local housing.

A After development, low traffic neighbourhoods – LTNs, first mentioned in May 2020 – have caused great controversy. A High Court challenge to Lambeth council’s implementation of the neighbourhoods failed.

A New arrivals, that were about to happen two years ago, like the opening of the new Brixton House theatre on Coldharbour Lane, have only just happened.

One building that will be retrofitted is Brockwell Hall, where work on installing a ground source heat pump – part of a £3m refurbishment – has already begun

Obituary: Linda Quinn One of the losses that occurred while publication of the Bugle was suspended was the death of Linda Quinn, the editor of the Brixton Blog and Bugle.

Born in Glasgow, Linda moved to Brixton in 1975 and lived in and around the area for the rest of her life.

The daughter of a lorry driver and a cleaner, she chose to study at the newly opened Stirling University rather than the elite St Andrews – where she had been offered a place.

She became president of the student union and briefly front-page news around the world.

A visit by the Queen to Stirling university in 1972 saw a protest about conditions on the campus get out of hand, with the monarch encountering students face-to-face in a way that is inconceivable today.

An enraged establishment needed a scapegoat and chose Linda, who was expelled and had to battle for months to resume and complete her course.

Gifted with many physical and mental skills, Linda had learnt to touch type with a brief course at university and became a typesetter – one of the very few female members of the London National Graphical Association, the union of skilled printworkers.

She was also a leading light in leftwing and anti-racist activity in Brixton and South London, recalling how she and comrades took refuge from National Front members in the Angel pub (now Mamma Dough) opposite Southwyck House – the barrier block – where they had been leafletting.

Living a literal stone’s throw from the Railton Road Frontline when the 1981 Uprising/riot began, she put a note on her

car saying: “Take the petrol but please don’t torch it”. It survived unscathed.

Transitioning to journalism as new technology destroyed printers’ jobs, she worked on a variety of publications from AutoExpress to Robert Maxwell’s illfated London evening paper, the London Daily News.

For several years she worked as a journalist and PR for a trade union before becoming head of publicity at the New Opportunities Fund, one of the bodies set up to distribute funds from the National Lottery.

She oversaw a name change to the Big Lottery Fund, part of a drive she backed enthusiastically to get more funds to hardto-reach people and communities.

A Leaseholders of Lambeth council properties became increasingly concerned about the cost of repairs and maintenance – often long-delayed – with some questioning how the charges had been estimated or calculated.

There is, of course, more – all o f wh i ch c a n b e fo u n d o n t h e Brixton Blog.

10 YEARS AGO She retired as the fund’s director of marketing and communications. A planned life of leisure, gentle skiing, and professional-level knitting and clothesmaking was put on hold when she was asked to become editor of the Brixton Blog and Bugle when the founders moved on in 2015.

Linda led the revival of the printed Bugle and expansion of the Blog as well as making their parent organisation, Brixton Media, a community interest company.

In line with her passion for passing on her knowledge and wisdom to young people, especially those from backgrounds like her own, she made sure that one of the CIC’s aims is to provide opportunities for aspiring young journalists to work on important stories and obtain bylines in print and online.

Her recovery from the rare auto-immune disease vasculitis in 2018 after 10 days in intensive care with her lung function performed by a machine and daily total changes of blood at St Thomas’ hospital did not stop her.

This amazing recovery was not the first.

Combining a relentlessly positive attitude to life and immense physical resilience, she had already survived tuberculosis, a ruptured gall bladder and several lesser health issues.

After yet another health setback, the final eight months of her life were in bed at home, where she continued her lively communication with scores of friends and work for the Brixton Blog and Brixton Media.

She was determined to reach her 70th birthday in February 2021and did so, but passed away peacefully a few days later.

Linda is survived by a husband, Alan Slingsby, and a brother, Billy Quinn.

April 2012

Vandalism of road furniture in Brixton did not begin with low traffic neighbourhoods … in April 2012 a speed camera at the Brixton end of Tulse Hill was wrecked in an arson attack

5 YEARS AGO April 2017

The death of activist and broadcaster Darcus Howe gave rise to one of the most moving and inspiring local events of recent years when hundreds of people gathered in and outside the Black Cultural Archives on Windrush Square to pay their own tributes to his life

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

COMMUNITY 7

Brixton illustrator raises funds to make A ticket to his books accessible to blind children the lottery

Dapo Adeola

Brixton resident Dapo Adeola has launched a campaign to make picture books accessible for blind children The children’s illustrator and writer, who co-created and illustrated the Waterstones children’s book of 2020 Look Up!, which explored space science, is raising funds to adapt this book and We’re Going to Find the Monster into accessible versions for blind children.

He has joined forces with Living Paintings, a national charity that adapts picture books into tactile, braille and audio experiences for blind children.

T h e ch a r i t y h a s c o m m i t t e d to adapting Look Up! written by

Free programme to help local business recover from Covid Impact Brixton, the community-led events and co-working space on Electric Lane in the heart of Brixton, has secured funding from Lambeth council to deliver a six-month programme for local business owners to support the resilience and recovery of enterprises in the borough.

IB Thrive is a free programme to help business owners, with a masterclass series on the key challenges faced by small businesses, including building financial resilience, understanding digital marketing, and preserving wellbeing as a business owner.

Masterclasses are designed to support businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors, since these have taken a significant hit as a result of Covid.

Three-quarters of the masterclasses will be delivered by IB members, showcasing the diversity in knowledge and skills that their community has.

Impact Brixton has also launched mentoring and free membership initiatives for local businesses.

Nathan Byron, and We’re Going to Find the Monster written by Malorie Blackman. Dapo hopes to raise at least £7,000 to create 70 accessible books and make them available to borrow free from Living Painting’s postal library.

“A huge part of my career has been dedicated to producing books that allow as many children from various backgrounds to see themselves reflected in the wonderful and imaginative pages within,” said Dapo.

“But diversity goes beyond who is featured in a book – it’s important that all children are able to access and enjoy them.”

Liz Davies, publishing manager at

Living Paintings said: “We’re huge fans of Dapo’s books and are so excited about the prospect of bringing his wonderful work to life for blind children. His picture books are staples in school reading nooks and bedroom bookshelves, with sighted children loving with his unique style.

“The publishers have now given us permission to adapt two titles and we’re thrilled to be working with Dapo to help blind children experience something so many of their sighted peers enjoy.”

You can find out more about and support Dapo’s campaign on his Just Giving page: justgiving.com/ campaign/dapo.

New Lambeth disability learning centre now open The new Crescent learning disability resource centre is now open at Coburg Crescent, on the South Circular between Tulse Hill and Streatham.

Created and run by Lambeth council and partners, the centre includes: ● A new home for Lambeth Walk day service. ● Independent supported living flats for 14 adults with learning disabilities. ● A residential respite and short-term accommodation service. ● A café and community space, providing paid, supported employment for adults with learning disabilities. ● A shop to replace the one on the site before works started.

Opening the centre, council leader Claire Holland said: “Delivering this vital new facility for our residents was a key commitment made back in 2018 and I am proud that we have been able to deliver this.

“A dedicated respite space where residents will be able to receive personalised care is something that hasn’t existed for over 10 years.

“This new location offers much more space, improved facilities, ensuring that the service can

meet the needs of Lambeth residents as demand grows in the coming years.

“In Lambeth we are determined that no-one gets left behind, that everyone has equal opportunities to live their best life – and this centre is a way of making that happen for some of our most vulnerable residents.”

Services at the centre will be delivered in partnership by Lambeth council, two local voluntary sector organisations, Certitude and Rathbone, and local NHS organisations.

The Crescent is designed to develop stronger links with the local community which will be served by the shop, café and community space.

The café will create employment for students from Michael Tippett College in Clapham Park, which caters for students with severe learning needs, on their way to careers in the catering sector” Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Streatham, said: “It’s amazing to know that a facility for people with disabilities like this exists in my constituency, especially following a period when they have seen so many cuts. We want everyone to share the news that this is an essential place that’s here for people in Lambeth.”

of life …

The seventh Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation (TMBDLF) scholarship application process is now open.

The mission of the charity is to eliminate the diversity, equity and inclusion gaps in professional workplaces by educating, empowering and inspiring our next generation of diverse student leaders.

It is led by Miranda Brawn, a former Lambeth equality commissioner. The scholarships were established in 2016.

“The aim is to make a real difference in the lives of our next generation by giving them a ticket to the lottery of life,” she said.

The closing date for applications is 5pm, 30 June.

At least 12 scholarships are available to young people up to ages of 30 years from diverse backgrounds.

Applicants must be at school, college or university on a full-time basis and achieving good grades with an interest in diversity.

The scholarship award includes £500 to £1,000 in funding, mentoring and reverse mentoring with leaders in their field, work experience (if available and pending Covid restrictions) with leading UK organisations, etiquette educational training, networking, a graduation group mentoring lunch and a VIP ticket to the annual Miranda Brawn diversity leadership lectures.

Categories include Finance and Business, Hogan Lovells ‘Law’, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), Multi-Sector, Medical, Automotive (for women), Charity, BWOB (Black Women on Boards), LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer etc), Disability and Neurodiversity, From Care (foster and government care systems), ESG (Environment).

A More information on the programme is available at bit.ly/TMBDLF-22

Meet Brixton Calling teens Umbrella Circle with big ideas Brixton Umbrella Circle is an independent, peerled, self-help group for older (50+) LGBTQs. It offers a forum for mutual support, socialising and addressing individual and collective experiences (past and current) in a social, cultural and political context.

The circle meets in person for regular cafe and pub outings in and around Brixton. Since the beginning of the pandemic it has met and continues to meet for a virtual chat via Zoom every Wednesday morning.

Why the name? “Umbrella is a term for covering all and because our hearts and minds can be like umbrellas – useless if we do not open them.

For more details and to receive invitations and links, email brixtonumbrellacircle@gmail.com A facebook.com/brixtonumbrellacircle/

Want to trade or exhibit as a charity of community group at the Lambeth Country show, back in Brockwell Park on 16 and 17 July this year? The deadline for applications is Friday 8 April. Visit bit.ly/LCS-trade-22

Teenagers with big ideas about how to make a difference to communities they care about are being encouraged to put them forward to the Bright Future Prize which has £40,000 to distribute.

The closing date is Friday 29 April.

The prize, now in its second year, is hosted by the Ardonagh Community Trust (ACT), the charity of the insurance broker The Ardonagh Group.

Winners of this year’s four prize categories will each receive a share of the £40,000 fund, and opportunities for mentoring, to help turn their dreams into reality.

The charity wants to hear from 13–19-year-olds about projects and causes they are passionate about.

Last year winning projects ranged from promoting anti-bullying messages and supporting teenagers to pursue musical ambitions, to encouraging young people living in areas of deprivation to apply to top universities.

The prize is open to young people aged 13-19. To apply visit: ardonaghtrust.org/ bright-future-prize

Brixton-based charity School Ground Sounds has launched recruitment for its latest annual Grit School.

The school is a seven-week music industry and ­artistdevelopment programme funded by the national charity Youth Music.

Grit School 2022 is aimed at aspiring creatives, musicians,

artists and producers, aged 16 to 24, from South London who are not in education, employment or training.

The programme will host workshops led by industry professionals providing insights into an ever-changing industry.

From label managers to radio pluggers, these workshops will help participants grow their

professional network. They will also improve their performance skills, grow in confidence and collaborate with like-minded creatives.

The school runs from 27 April to 10 June. The deadline to apply is Thursday 7 April.

A You can sign up online or refer a young person at bit.ly/Grit-School-22

brixtonblog.com

8 CREATIVE BRIXTON

2022 APRIL

ARTS ENTER NOW FOR THE BRIXTON BLOG & BUGLE ART SHOW

Last year’s winner Cherise Hewett

two works. Each work must be no larger than one metre square.

To enter, all you have to do is send up to three digital photos of each work to arts@brixtonblog.com Please entitle the email “Summer Art Show 2022” and include your name, address, email, contact phone number, social media, the title and a brief description of the work, including dimensions.

The closing date for entries is Friday 20 May 2022.

All selected works will be exhibited in the Summer Art Show in the Brixton Tate Library on Windrush Square from 4 to 26 July.

You can offer your work for sale if you choose – about a third of all entries were sold last year.

The winner will be decided by a people’s vote and will receive a unique custom designed award; a voucher from Brockwell Art Services worth £250; and an exhibition in the popular Lounge on Atlantic Road.

Cherise Hewett, who won last year’s popular vote, saw her work shown in The Lounge as a result.

FOR FULL RULES AND HOW TO ENTER, VISIT bit.ly/BBB-ART22

Groundbreaking works ALICK COTTERILL

Are you an artist living in or around Brixton?

Do you want to exhibit your work to the local community?

Entry is now open for the Brixton Blog and Bugle Summer Art Show The show is open to any artist – professional or self-taught – who is at least 16 years old and is based in or around (a short bus ride away from) Brixton.

You can submit up to

RADICAL BEAUT Y: DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY

By Leslie Manasseh The first major UK exhibition of woodcuts by the leading abstract expressionist, Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) in Dulwich Picture Gallery closes in just over a fortnight. It’s worth making an effort to see it.

Abstract expressionism was a broad artistic movement born in America in the 1940s and refers to abstract works where the technique aims to give an impression of spontaneity.

Helen Frankenthaler’s use of woodcuts to make prints of abstract works was truly groundbreaking.

She pushed this somewhat narrow technique to produce the type of work more often associated with paint and canvas.

Ranging from Frankenthaler’s first ever woodcut in 1973, to her last work published in 2009, the exhibition brings together 30 works to reveal the enormous diversity that flowed from her “no rules”, experimental approach.

Unlike any other woodcuts I’ve seen, these works are sometimes bold, sometimes delicate, energetic or reflective, but always compelling. They consist of fluid shapes and fields of colour and are of a scale not normally associated with the medium.

Freefall, one of her early works, clearly marks her innovative approach. It is a work of still, calm beauty and a very confident sense of space and perspective. Alongside it are

two works – Radius – one of which is a template or model for the other. The first demonstrates her print-making skill and creativity; the second demonstrates a technique known as “guzzying” whereby she used various implements to work paint to produce layers and texture to produce a fine example of abstract expressionism.

Two of the rooms are devoted to

explaining and exemplifying the printing process she used. Essence Mulberry and Tales of Genji appear in many different versions which reveal the versatility of print-making and the use of colour to create contrasting ways of seeing and reproducing images.

Individually, the works stand on their merits as dynamic,

expressionist pieces. Together they give a fascinating insight into her creative process and desire to break boundaries.

The exhibition ends with what is regarded as her masterpiece Madame Butterfly. This monumental work – which defies the limitations of the medium – involved a complex and lengthy process based on 42 separate blocks and 102 colours, but appears as momentary, ethereal, shifting shapes.

Jane Findlay, exhibition curator and head of programme and engagement at Dulwich Picture Gallery, said: “This is a truly special opportunity for visitors to get up close to Frankenthaler’s phenomenal works”. in the intimate spaces of Dulwich Picture Gallery.

“There is something magical about how she breathes life into such a rigid medium, retaining the energy and dynamism – that born at once feeling – that you see in her painting. And with her proofs and process explored alongside we’ll show the painstaking work behind these beguiling works – revealing just how accomplished Frankenthaler was in modulating control and spontaneity in her art.

Until 18 April in Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, SE21 7AD 020 8693 5254 dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk Open Wednesday – Friday, 10am–5pm Adults £16.50, Concessions £8 Under 30s: £5 – sign up at dpg.art/under30

198 CONTEMPORARY ARTS & LEARNING: BRING ME TO HEAL

BLOCK 336: SPEKYNG RYBAWDY

Freighted with meaning

Rude, lewd and wildly libidinous

Bring Me To Heal is the clever and thought-provoking title of a new exhibition by Amartey Golding which explores the legacy and trauma of colonialism and slavery, writes Leslie Manasseh.

The show consists principally of two short films and a garment fashioned out of literally millions of human hairs.

Hair is an important signifier of African heritage and is used in this work to embody the past, present and future of African people.

The first film tells the fable of the horse and goose. Related by men sitting around a fire in the countryside, the story is a metaphor for the trade in enslaved humans.

A horse rampages through the countryside and traps a goose in its mane.

Unable to escape, the goose is torn from its family and home and is forced to go wherever the horse chooses as it carves a trail of destruction in its wake.

But ultimately it is a story of hope and redemption. With a nod towards Marxist thinking, it becomes clear that the horse’s journey contains the seeds of its own

destruction. The horse exhausts itself and finally lays dying, only to be rescued and healed by the goose – the oppressed save the oppressor and finally triumph and repair the world.

At the end of the film the garment, worn by the artist’s brother, comes to life and, in the second film, wanders among the exhibits in the Victoria & Albert Museum. As it moves among increasingly gruesome examples and representations of man’s inhumanity, the suit stands as the only living thing amongst the dead.

The suit itself (left) is an extraordinary creation – fascinating, mysterious, elaborate and freighted with meaning and history.

It’s worth watching the introductory film which explains how it was made and what it represents.

Bring Me To Heal runs until 1 May in 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, 198 Railton Road, SE24 0JT.

Monday – Friday 11am-5pm Sundays 12–4pm on Further information: 020 7978 8309 www.198.org.uk

Bad taste and a desire to shock while travelling are not new British traits.

Medieval pilgrims heading towards Canterbury up Croxted Road from what is now Brockwell Park may well have been wearing bawdy badges.

You can find out more at Spekyng Rybawdy in Brixton’s Block 336, a new solo installation by Melanie Jackson which opens on 22 April.

Bawdy badges, secular badges, sexual badges or erotic pins from the 12th to the 16th century have been discovered across much of northern Europe, often along the pilgrim routes that criss-crossed the continent.

The badges typically depict obscene sexual encounters or wandering oversized genitalia, often hybridised, held aloft, or legged and running rogue.

While the rude, lewd and wildly libidinous

iconography of the badges is a likely cause for their omission from the historical canon, their sophisticated satirical humour has since troubled art historians.

The badges’ true power to shock and offend lies in their complex dialogue with – and profane subversion of – state politics, orthodox religion, and conventional sexual practices.

Jackson’s installation is a procession of pilgrims, a carnival of conceptual nomads “that jostle and jive, fight, fuck and take flight across a trans-­historical plane of existence,” says Block 336.

Spekyng Rybawdy brings subversive characters from medieval obscurity and into the light of 21st century gender politics, power and state.

Block 336, 336 Brixton Road SW9 7AA 22 April – 21 May Thurs – Sat, 11 am – 5pm

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

CREATIVE BRIXTON 9

MUSIC The Windmill: Brixton’s legendary indie venue

Dynamic duo host reggae at the Ritzy Lockdown may have seen the end of The Sisters of Reggae DJ collective, but two of them – Shirley Slattery and Debbie Golt – are sticking together with gigs including Upstairs at the Ritzy in Brixton. Simone Richardson finds out more

Don’t miss out … this is Brixton!

Music editor Dave Randall has some advice for you on a proper Brixton night out …

When the Brixton Bugle last had a print issue, Grammy award winning artist Thundercat had just dropped into a jam session at Pure Vinyl and American guitar star Joe Bonamassa joined local blues artist Errol Linton at the Effra Hall Tavern.

“What other neighbourhood offers such a smorgasbord of musical delights?”

I asked excitedly. “Where else does a plethora of bustling independent venues bring such pleasure to so many?”

The very next month the pandemic stopped it all. It’s been a hard couple of years for musicians, venues and events staff, but thanks to generously supported fundraisers, Arts Council grants and sheer determination, our music scene has survived mostly intact and is booming once again.

So for those who are new to Brixton’s musical delights, or who haven’t ventured out for a while, here are five tips to make sure you’re not missing out …

1. Thursdays at the Effra Hall Tavern

Jamaica Jazz’s uplifting sets of jazz classics and reggae floor-fillers have been a firm local favourite for more than two decades. The all-star ensemble is led by guitarist Alan Weekes and typically features Lance Rose on bass, Michael

‘Bammie’ Rose and Bukky Leo on saxophones, Eddie ‘Tan Tan’ Thornton on trumpet, Gary Williams on drums and George Kelly on vocals. The night serves up a delicious slice of old-school Brixton, where a diverse crowd comes together to get down. If, after last orders, you decide to continue on to the Hootananny for Cecil Reuben’s reggae session, then you’ve got yourself a proper Brixton night out.

2. Tuesdays at Cable Cafe

OK, so strictly speaking Cable Cafe at 8 Brixton Road is a couple of bus stops north of Brixton, but it’s well worth the ride. The atmospheric décor of the bijou bar suggests the romance of a bygone era, perhaps Paris in the 1920s, and sure enough authentic sounding swing is sometimes on the menu. So too is the future of jazz. The night is expertly curated by Tom Sankey who showcases London’s finest young musicians in this wonderfully intimate setting. Arrive early – the place is usually packed by the time the music begins at 8.30pm.

3. The Windmill Brixton

How could we not mention Brixton’s legendary indie venue located on Blenheim Gardens just off Brixton Hill. It has the appearance of a regular spit-andsawdust estate boozer, but booker Tim Perry has brilliantly maintained The Windmill’s reputation as one of London’s coolest venues. Recent alumni include black midi, Goat Girl, Kae Tempest and just about the whole roster of producer Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground

label. So pick a night and take a punt – you may well witness a soon-to-be-legendary formative gig of a future festival headliner. Or, if shanties, reels and fiddles are more your bag than loud guitars, try the fabulous “No Frills Folk Club” on the second Sunday of each month.

4. Weekends at the Hootananny

For 15 years now, this big hearted venue has delivered a wonderfully eclectic mix of live music several nights a week.

Fridays and Saturdays find the place in full party mode. The Dynamite Disco, Big Balkan Bash, Tropical Tea Party and Out The Box nights are all well worth a look, but our top pick goes to Movimentos who bring the best in new Latin American talent to the stage and DJ Cal Jader’s sizzling selection to the decks.

5. Follow the Brixton Chamber Orchestra

It’s worth remembering that for various reasons – financial, cultural or otherwise – many of Lambeth’s residents never set foot inside a live music venue. For that reason the work of the Brixton Chamber Orchestra is all the more important and laudable. Run by Matthew O’Keeffe, the orchestra brings repertoire ranging from classical and jazz to disco and grime direct to Brixton’s estates, streets, parks and other public places. Follow them on social media to find their roving performances – they have a busy summer planned…

A Dave Randall is a musician and author

of Sound System: The Political Power of Music

Grime Orchestrated album awarded free studio time

Grime artists and BCO members at Brixton Rec before a rehearsal for an appearance at the Prince of Wales in March 2019 (l-r) Beka Reid, Matthew O’Keeffe (BCO director) , Alex Shad, James Howell, Michael Ruddlesden, Joshua Brook and Yizzy

Brixton Chamber Orchestra are one of only three applicants chosen from 2,750 worldwide to get free access to Pirate’s worldwide studio network throughout 2022.

Pirate is the UK’s largest network of self-service recording studios and launched in the USA last year.

Its Project Fund is an initiative to support diverse work that will make a positive community impact. From 2,750 applicants, 21 judges selected three to get free access to Pirate studios.

Brixton Chamber Orchestra (BCO) will record Grime Orchestrated, an

album to bridge the gap between grime and classical music, breaking musical and social barriers.

The Grime Orchestrated project has been running for four years with live performances around Brixton and South London.

The project will be the first time BCO records and releases material.

Brixton Chamber Orchestra will use Pirate’s London studios to collaborate with grime artists, recording instrumentals, mixing, mastering and releasing 10 to 12 tracks of original music.

Dynamic duo Miss Feelgood “We are on hand to help (Shirley Slattery) and anyone who needs that – Debbie Golt now DJ as the and find that even novices Vinyl Sisters with a regular find their way very soon,” Ritzy gig that showcases says Shirley. and encourages other Vinyl Sisters take over female DJs. for two and a bit hours “Debbie Golt and I until midnight – with MC decided it was important mighty MAD-X. to keep the female DJ Debbie began playing out relay that had been run with Rock Against Racism by the Sisters going as it in the late 70s and has had been very successful weekly and monthly radio and we loved doing it,” shows on Resonance FM says Shirley. and Threads Radio.

Debbie started the relay Lockdown had less effect before Sisters of Reggae on her than many. However, got together.

“Not being able to go out “We had a monthly residency at the Ritzy.

Four (female) guests would be invited to play their favourite reggae tunes on vinyl for 30 minutes – experience wasn’t needed, just a passion for the music as help was at hand from us.

“We play mostly reggae, a little bit of soul and Shirley Slattery (left) and Debbie plays some Debbie Golt African music, the female DJ relay is mostly reggae.”

Appearances will to anything, DJ out or continue every third socialise was a big change, Sunday throughout as was having to make my the year. radio shows from home.

“We don’t plan what “Resonance FM, where we will play beforehand.

I have a weekly show The It depends on the crowd, Outerglobe, with African we go with the flow,” diaspora music, including Shirley says. reggae, shut the studios, so A recent Vinyl Sisters gig I made and make my shows Upstairs at the Ritzy saw from home with Zoom sessions from guests Zeena, interviews, digital music I DJ Sherinne , DJ Ezzy have been sent, and digital Rascal and Sistren Shirley. home recording, which kept They kick off around me engaged and mentally 7pm with a warm-up active and takes a couple of welcome set from Debbie days a week.” and Shirley.

Debbie also joined a daily Four 30-minute sets make “airy matters” Zoom chat up the Outerglobe Femxle that someone she met at a DJ Relay. festival started.“It went on Guests are “womxn with for nearly a year and was fabulous reggae vinyl a brilliant anchor for the collections who may not day,” she says. play out that often, may Shirley also plays on never have played before the third Friday of every and/or do play out and month at The Railway want to try out new sets”.

Tavern in Tulse Hill.

brixtonblog.com

10 NEWS FOCUS

2022 APRIL

Domino Club and Soup Kitchen voice concern over future of their home of many years Two of Brixton’s most important community organisations are becoming increasingly concerned about their future.

Both Brixton Immortals domino club and Brixton Soup Kitchen have been warned by Lambeth council to vacate their Coldharbour Lane home.

Known locally as the domino club, the Lloyd Leon Community Centre building – named after Lambeth’s first Black mayor – has housed the Immortals and their club bar since the aftermath of the 1981 Brixton Uprising/Riot.

It was established by Lloyd Leon and others as a direct result of recommendations in the Scarman report.

Lord Scarman author of the official report on the 1981 events in Brixton, whose portrait hangs on the walls of the domino club, took a personal interest in its establishment in the Coldharbour Lane building.

His report concluded that it is essential that “people are encouraged to secure a stake in, feel a pride in, and have a sense of responsibility for their own area”.

More recently, the Brixton Soup

Kitchen has provided meals and a great deal more – from school uniforms to legal advice – to communities and individuals in Brixton and across London.

Refurbishment of the building so that it can become a “community hub” has been planned for some time and was welcomed by both organisations.

However, recent events have led to concern about what is happening to the building which stands at the corner of Coldharbour Lane and Moorland Road, next to the “Barrier Block”, Southwyck House.

With no notice, the club and soup kitchen were warned that they should not use the building because it is structurally unsound.

Leading figures in both organisations were shocked by the suddenness of this warning, the apparently casual way it came about, and its timing – two days before Christmas.

Their fears were deepened when a structural engineer they commissioned themselves did not agree with the need for immediate closure of the building.

Their engineer’s re por t does

Brixton’s unique economy under the microscope “Brixton is younger, more polarised in terms of spend profile, more dependent on the night-time economy and recovering quicker over the last few months than any other area we work with.”

That was how Andy Nuttall of Movement Strategies introduced his presentation at the annual general meeting of the Brixton Business Improvement District (BID) in March.

He and Movement Strategies report to the BID using the latest technology available, including data on spending using plastic cards.

In a couple of years plastic payment for small sums has gone from novelty to norm as Covid has made contactless payments both desirable

Lloyd Leon, one of the founders of the Brixton Immortals domino club and the first Black mayor of Lambeth, speaking at a club event in the Coldharbour Lane premises (below) in 2018 recommend immediate “remediation works” to one of the walls of the club building, but says: “it is likely that the remedial works can be completed externally without the need for the existing tenants to vacate”.

Council officers stress that their concerns are based not only on the council’s financial liability for any long-term damage to the building, but also their moral liability and genuine concern about possible injury to anyone using the building.

Attempts by the police to effectively close down the domino club by restricting its licence, which were not opposed by the council, came as recently as November 2017.

The domino club and soup kitchen have been discussing alternative locations with the council since the warning to quit, but both are concerned that their needs are not fully understood and fear that the council is dragging its feet and that “the goalposts are being moved”.

There are also fears that, once they have left the Coldharbour Lane

building, they may never be able to return.

Council officers have assured the Bugle that this is not the case, saying that such a move would be “political suicide”.

For the soup kitchen, the main issue is the very large amounts of food that is delivered, prepared and distributed from it.

For the domino club, hard hit both financially and socially by Covid, the issue is loss of revenue from its bar and the danger that, with no competitive matches being played, supporters might drift away.

“Brixton domino club is not just about dominoes,” said one Immortals committee member.

“It is a community hub a place for elderly to young people of all cultures to interact.

“Its aim is to promote the health and wellbeing of residents in the area.

“We work together, regardless of age, ethnicity sexuality, or political affiliation.

“We reco gnise the residents’

differences and celebrate the community’s variety and diversity.

“Our club is where members spend quality time, for children and family and where those who are isolated can see friendly faces.

“In 2022 we have huge plans to promote and revamp our community hub to include various activities to suit all ages.”

“The soup kitchen is an important service that the community cannot afford to lose,” said one of its organisers.

“So many are reliant on its service.

It is an essential lifeline that is provided to families who would starve without the weekly provision it offers.

We really help alleviate poverty in the borough.”

Both organisations stress that they support plans to refurbish the building, but are concerned by how the work is – or is not – proceeding.

“Every week there is something new – and all against us being in that building,” said one of the people most closely involved.

TOTAL VISA SPEND WITH MERCHANTS IN BRIXTON Motoring Wholesale Financial services Building materials & service Personal services Health Retail & High Street Food & Drink Supermarkets Restaurants 2019–Q4

2020–Q1

2020–Q2

2020–Q3

and increasingly common.

Nuttall agreed with one person who pointed out cash is still very much in use the markets of central Brixton, saying that his methodology attempts to recognise this.

But cards spending alone showed a 30% yearon-year increase in Brixton between the fourth quarter (October to December) of 2021 compared to 2020. In Croydon, there was no change over this period. In Lambeth as a while, the change was just over 15% – half as much.

And, in economic terms, the night time is the right time for Brixton.

The night time economy has driven the local

2020–Q4

2021–Q1

2021–Q2

2021–Q3

recovery from the Covid-induced slump.

Night time spend in Brixton over the latest period for which figured are available is running at nearly 150% of pre-Covid levels.

In Croydon it is about 10% of pre-Covid levels and in Lambeth as a whole it is still well below 100%.

Nuttall said that Brixton’s night time economy is the largest in the country as a proportion of the total local economy.

It represents more than 40% of the total, compared to less than 20% in Croydon and less than 30% in London as whole.

He showed the BID members charts (above)

2021–Q4

illustrating the huge effect of Covid on night time and overall spending in Brixton in 2020 and early 2021 as well as how it dominated the economy in the final quarter of 2021.

Where does the money spent in Brixton come from? Four-fifiths – 80% – is from cards registered within 10 kilometres (just over six miles) from the centre of Brixton.

But, said Nuttall, it is also returning from the rest of Britain.

What he found about how people feel about Brixton is that they are “generally passionate and positive”. Much of that opinion, for visitors, is driven by attending an event at the Academy.

APRIL 2022

BRIXTON BUGLE

COMMENT Do you want to know a secret?

We all knew that Brixton is unique. But the figures on credit card spending produced for the local business improvement district show just how different Brixton is.

One phrase stands out: “more polarised in terms of spend profile”. That sounds like the old story of rich and poor.

There has been talk of “building back better” after we have escaped the clutches of Covid, but there is precious little evidence of this happening.

And, as we report elsewhere in this issue, there’s a lot of building planned for Brixton that will benefit people who wish to remain anonymous.

Why should they? The obvious conclusion must be that they have something to hide – their identity, their money – probably both.

While the rich can hide their money and how they make it and “shelter” it from tax – in one of the absurd euphemisms for antisocial behaviour that are now everywhere – the poor are paying a greater and greater proportion of their small incomes in tax.

Every time there is a scandal about secrecy, there is comforting waffle about reform and transparency, but nothing ever happens.

Transparency, of course, is not the solution to anything, but, without it, nothing much is going to happen.

We publish the Brixton Bugle for all sorts of reasons, to celebrate our amazingly diverse and rich local culture, to give recognition to the many, many people who work selflessly for the good of our society, for instance.

But we also believe that someone has to ask questions about who benefits from the massive changes that are taking place in Brixton. As the law stands, we can ask all we like, but won’t get or find an answer.

There’s an old journalist’s definition of news: it’s something that somebody doesn’t want you to know about.

The way things are now, there is plenty of that to investigate in Brixton.

If you have a complaint about the Brixton Bugle, see bit.ly/BBB_complain for how to pursue it Regulated by IMPRESS: The independent monitor for the press 16–18 New Bridge Street EC4V 6AG 020 3325 4288 complaints@impress.press www.impress.press

brixtonblog.com

OPINION 11

Remembering Darcus Howe People from all over the world online joined local residents and distinguished visitors to see the unveiling of a plaque on Railton Road honouring Darcus Howe, who was one of Brixton’s most distinguished residents The plaque honouring Darcus Howe joins one marking the life and death of C L R James, the great writer and revolutionary who was Darcus Howe’s great uncle, on the side of the building on Railton Road that housed the Race Today collective.

It is the 68th plaque honouring a person of colour to have been installed by the Nubian Jak Community Trust.

Dawn Hill CBE, former chair of the Black Cultural Archives on Brixton’s Windrush Square, said: “people just came and came and came” to the building on Railton Road that was at the centre of so many crucial struggles.

“I’m standing on sacred ground,” said the founder of Black History Month in the UK, Akyaaba Addai-Sebo. “I have been touched because of the significance of this building to me and our history.

“I came here as a refugee and Darcus and Leila took me in and gave me a refuge. It was through them that I managed to get a position at the Greater London Council that enabled me to come up with the Black History Month concept.”

Henry Bonsu, a broadcaster like Darcus Howe, who lives on nearby Dulwich Road, spoke

The two plaques

of the “17-year-old firebrand legal scholar,” who arrived in Britain in the 60s and, in the early seventies, put that legal training to use in the famous Mangrove 9 trial that was dramatised in the Small Axe TV series.

As a broadcaster with his show Devil’s Advocate, “He was fearless. He was always the most relaxed, but most fearsome and most incisive commentator. And that’s what I remember him for.

“The confidence I have whenever I go on radio and TV today, is in large measure due to him and the energy and the vibe he brought.”

Local MP Helen Hayes spoke at the last minute when Linton Kwesi Johnson, who was isolating, could not attend.

She hoped that people walking along Railton Road, particularly those with young children, will point to the plaque and tell them about the role that Darcus Howe played in the struggle for equality and in the struggle against racism and discrimination in our society. “You’ll equip them and prepare them to take on that mantle for future generations,” the MP said.

Patrick Torsney, who was a friend of Darcus and now runs Brixton Advice Centre, remembered consulting him when he was

The scene on Railton Road at the unveiling

about to make a speech. He tore up his prepared speech and followed Darcus’ advice to “speak from your heart and tell the truth, and people will listen to you”.

Leila Howe, who was Darcus’ wife, said that despite his huge success in broadcasting and national media, he considered his greatest achievements in public life to be the Mangrove 9 trial and building the collective that produced Race Today magazine.

He wanted working class people and intellectuals to come together in an organisation so that they could learn from each other. “He was very much against the idea of intellectuals’ academic understanding leading ordinary people. He believed that we had experiences and understanding where we could govern and decide for ourselves what we wanted to do with our lives.”

She recalled how Darcus Howe “was a thorn in the side of the establishment.

“They didn’t want to hear this radical and revolutionary idea that we were not going to put up with the racism in this society.

“So now while I hear the way he’s venerated – which I must say, I’m very pleased about – there were times when he was in the wilderness and it wasn’t always easy.”

She recalled how he had been arrested five time, jailed, and followed by Special Branch police – even to cricket matches.

Leila Howe also spoke of the cultural side of work in the Railton Road building, ranging from fighting to save Carnival to inviting Maya Angelou to a Lambeth town hall event in Brixton to mark the death of James Baldwin.

“He would really, really be pleased today,” she said. “I think his real pleasure would be the fact that he is side by side with his great uncle.”

Leila Howe

Homes for Lambeth is part of the problem Georgina Schueller of the Save Central Hill campaign against plans to demolish the estate near Crystal Palace, spoke at a recent Lambeth council cabinet meeting. This is an edited version of her speech I am a local council resident extremely concerned about what Homes For Lambeth [HFL, the council’s wholly owned property development company] appear to be doing.

I spoke at a cabinet meeting looking at the HFL Delivery Plan, to point out the glaring omission in all the calculations of housing numbers to be built – demolition figures are never factored in.

Six estates are to be demolished. According to a recent freedom of information request, 1,377 homes in total will be flattened – this includes 463 privately owned/ leaseholders and 914 council homes. Some 884 council level

rent new homes are planned, meaning that these are replacements, not extra homes as the council so often implies.

It also means that there will be 30 fewer council level rent homes than currently exist on those estates.

Sub-market rentals, especially council rents, are the most under-supplied and needed according to a Savills report [The property company Savills is advising the council].

HFL was set up, with Savills’ help, to “meet the demands of the housing crisis” and “with a focus on homes at council rent”.

Meanwhile, nearly 2,500 EXTRA open market sales

properties are planned. This will change the demographic of the estates dramatically, to 60% homeowners, or 75% if the shared ownership and rent to buy options are factored in.

Such a change will push up property values and rents on the estate and surrounding area, thus stoking the housing market. The likes of Savills are well aware of this.

Demolition of buildings also flies in the face of expert guidance regarding the climate emergency, because of the problem with embodied carbon.

The greenest building is the one that already exists, so structurally sound, retrofitting to EnerPHit standard should be the preferred option.

This would also remedy the hellish uncertainty created for the residents, on top of the exceptional hardship being felt by so many as a consequence of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, fuel poverty, and a surge

in mental health problems.

Pulling out of demolition plans, would instantly create more available council housing, as Lambeth have borrowed £170 million to buy back leaseholder properties, and spent £94 million already.

Some of these, HFL are managing, and currently renting out at full market rent on short tenancies.

With sensitive infill, and adding extra levels onto what already exists where possible, and with residents being properly consulted, better solutions could be achieved.

Community land trusts should also feature more prominently, especially on small sites, to lock in sub-market affordability.

It is clear to me that Homes For Lambeth is not fit for purpose. Homes for Lambeth is not the solution to the housing crisis.

It is part of the problem.

brixtonblog.com

12

2022 A

WHO OWNS BRIXTON?

Simple questions like ‘Who owns Brixton?’ can have complicated answers as Alan Slingsby discovers when looking at the complex and sometimes unknown ownership of some of our important local sites

Registered in the Isle of Man …

Exploring who owns what land in England is, in theory, a straightforward task.

Log on to the official government website of Her Majesty’s Land Registry, key in a postcode, pay a £3 fee, and download the information you want.

That’s the theory. Practice is a different matter.

The Brixton Bugle checked up on some controversial local sites to see who stands to benefit from the massive changes planned for Brixton.

Two large hotels are currently planned for central Brixton.

One will stand next to Marks & Spencer and over the existing site of the Superdrug store on the Brixton Road opposite the Tube station. The Superdrug will continue in the rebuilt structure.

Another, even larger, development, slated to include office and retail space as well as a hotel will take over a whole block a little further north up Brixton Road.

The land on which the Superdrug hotel will stand is owned in two sections. The vast majority of the site is one section; the bar and café that was once the popular café and meeting place – SW9 – at 11 Dorrell Place (which run down the side of Marks & Spencer) is the other.

The owner of 11 Dorrell Place is a company called Yelloway. It is registered in the Isle of Man. That means we have no way of knowing anything about the company, nor about its profits or losses, nor about the people behind it.

Many people think the Isle of Man is part of

the United Kingdom. It isn’t. It is “a self-governing British Crown dependency” which means it makes its own laws and can ignore many of those of the UK. Thousands of companies that trade and own land in England are based there.

What about the lion’s share of the Superdrug site? At first sight, its owner appears to be based in the UK. It’s a company that appears on the official government Companies House register and is based down the road from Brixton in Colliers Wood.

But closer inspection reveals that when the company, Miraj Investments, was set up in 2014, all its shares were owned by an Isle of Man registered company, Goodart. Miraj also recently mortgaged itself to another company based in the Isle of Man, True Phoenix.

The 21 December 2021 document detailing the mortgage transaction states unequivocally that Miraj is “a company registered in the Isle of Man”.

Ownership of the site to be developed at 414 to 426 Brixton Road is more straightforward.

The UK Land Registry says that the owner is “Governside Ltd (incorporated in the Isle of Man)” – and “care of” a Wimbledon-based company, Crown Properties.

Two huge new additions to Brixton that may be required and welcome, but who are the beneficiaries?

Computer generated image of the planned hotel in Dorrell Place

brixtonblog.com

APRIL

13

Carlton Mansions: ‘Sacred in a way’

S

Local architect Zac Monro tells the Bugle why Carlton Mansions on Coldharbour Lane is so significant a building for Brixton and how his practice set about saving as much of its spirit as possible

… and Amsterdam While Brixton’s planned new hotels do not make many headlines, its two large covered markets and plans to place a development including a 20-story tower alongside Pope’s Road and Brixton Station Road, get plenty.

One man, Texan Taylor McWilliams, the sole director of Hondo Enterprises, apparently owns the lot.

But things are not so straightforward.

In fact, the covered markets are controlled by a group of companies registered in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, all of which have a majority of directors from the New York based finance company Angelo Gordon.

They include ● AG Brixton Lender BV ● AG Hondo Market Row BV ● AG UK Market Row Coöperatieve U.A. ● AG UK Brixton Village Coöperatieve U.A. ● AG Hondo Brixton Village BV I n a “ j o i n t v e n t u r e ”, H o n d o Enterprises and Angelo Gordon bought the markets in April 2018 from London and Associated Properties.

In December that year, the two companies “refinanced” the purchase with a five-year loan from the Mayfair, London, based company, Starz Real Estate.

Hondo Enterprises has twice announced the purchase of sites in Brixton that, when examined closely, appear not have been purchased by the company.

Pope’s Road

The most puzzling example is that of the Pope’s Road site where Hondo is hoping to build a 20-storey tower.

Several tens of thousands of pounds have likely already been spent on this project for architects, lawyers, and public relations and other consultants.

Yet the official Land Registry continues to record another company as the owner of the site – Sports Direct, which bought it in 2018 and still has a store based there.

Consultants acting for Hondo Enterprises have more than once refused to explain this anomaly to us, saying it is a “private” matter.

If one building can bear witness to how Brixton has changed and is changing, it’s Carlton Mansions, near the junction of Atlantic Road and Coldharbour Lane.

Once an elegant home for South London commuters right next to Brixton station, later a famous ­housing co-op, it now contains 26 high-end workspaces.

Built in 1891 – “a mansion block in Queen Anne style” – the building escaped the Second World War Blitz and has had at least two more escapes – both thanks to local people.

From 1979 to 2014, it was saved from dereliction and demolition by a housing co-operative, giving a roof to homeless people “and many cats”, according to one of several unofficial plaques on its walls.

Emptied of its inhabitants by Lambeth council in 2014, planning permission for development of the area was granted just over five years ago on 23 March, 2017.

Now, with help from the practice of Brixtonbased architect Zac Monro, who is also a local resident, its elegant form is still a presence opposite Brixton Village’s Granville Arcade.

And Brian Barnes’ Nuclear Dawn mural on the side of Carlton Mansions has regained its full chilling impact, thanks as much to its complete restoration as to Vladimir Putin.

Carlton Mansions “ is a significant part of our history,” says Monro.

With his brief to “save the spirit of the building”, Nuclear Dawn was one of the things that Monro made sure remained, despite challenges.

Some members of the construction team were not fans. One described it as “just a big skull” and “not very pleasant”.

But not only did it stay, it has been restored to its former glory despite the top tiers of the building having to be totally rebuilt.

There have been compromises. Where once there were three staircases, there is now a single one. “Stuff had to be engineered out to save the building,” says

Monro. There was discussion of complete demolition and rebuilding, because it was in such a bad state. There were no arguments, but there were “strong discussions with the money people”.

The building was saved and the original room sizes have been retained along with features like now-redundant chimneys.

It required extra structural stabilisation because the theatre next door sits above an underground siding for the Brixton terminus of the Victoria Underground line.

While he has been “proposing things for Brixton for years,” including plans for the Windrush Square toilets, “It’s the first time we’ve had a hand in a bit of Brixton,” Monro says of the commission.

He’s hardly unknown locally though. The Brixton Blog’s post about his conversion of “The Brockwell Park house” is its all-time most viewed, thanks to the appearance of the house on TV’s Grand Designs.

Carlton Mansions is “a significant bit of architecture,” Monro says. “It’s kind of sacred in a way. Part of all the events that have happened in Brixton.” He suspects, from reading the deeds of the building, that it played a part in the most significant part of Brixton’s recent history – housing the newly arrived Windrush Generation.

Deborah Bestwick, director of Ovalhouse, the predecessor of Brixton House, was keen to document the interior of Carlton Mansions before work on it began.

“There were still rooms where we found the beans people had left on the cooker,” says Monro. But, he adds, “people were coming in and taking stuff” and Carlton Mansions held some culturally valuable surprises.

Among them are two decorated keystones from St Agnes Place in Kennington, probably London’s longest running squat and one of its most famous. “They’re one of things we’ve got to put back,” Monro says.

“We would have liked to get our own space in Carlton Mansions,” he adds. “But it’s already all taken.”

Club 414

Hondo also announced that it had bought the building housing Brixton’s long-running 414 Club – at 414-416 Coldharbour Lane.

But Land Registry and Companies House records show that, in fact, it is owned by a company which has four directors, two Dutch and two from the US, all working for Angelo Gordon.

The former owners, London and Associated Properties, created the company that owns the 414 site, Coldharbour APL. It was then transferred to the Angelo Gordon directors.

A spokesperson for Hondo told us that: “the ownership [of 414] is organised in a similar joint venture relationship to Brixton Markets”.

Zac Monro with Nuclear Dawn

brixtonblog.com

14 BRIXTON PEOPLE

2022 APRIL

Bucket bomber, anti-racist and gardener David Horsley recalls the life of Brixton resident Gordon Hutchins, who has died at the age of 87 Gordon Hutchins was born on 13 December 1933. “On graduating from an ‘approved’ school, BTS Formidable, Portishead, Somerset, I joined the Merchant Navy,” he wrote of himself.

He sailed to many countries and ended up in New Zealand where he became a citizen and lived for several years.

As a young working class man, he was aware of the exploitation of working people and joined the Communist Party. He became very involved in solidarity action with the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori.

By the early 1960s, he had returned to Britain. In a demonstration outside the London embassy of the then fascist regime in Spain, he was arrested and served 30 days in Brixton prison.

In mid 1960s, the leaders of the liberation movement in South Africa were either in prison or in exile and the remnants of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party were underground.

The ANC approached white radicals in London to travel to South Africa as tourists and then distribute leaflets by means of harmless “bucket bombs”.

Later known as the London Recruits, these extremely brave people were warned that if they were caught, as two were, they would be tortured and imprisoned. Nonetheless, all those approached to volunteer did so, and Gordon was one of those.

In 1971, he travelled to Port Elizabeth with a friend and comrade Bob Condon.

“Our mission came together when we visited the Ford Motor Works and felt we just had to set up a bucket bomb near the main workers’ entrance,” he wrote in London Recruits, a book about the volunteers.

“In all we set up six bucket bombs in various places. We heard one go off at a memorial in the centre of Port Elizabeth. It gave us a certain satisfaction, but not as much as a front page photograph in the following day’s paper.

It depicted a policeman chasing a floating leaflet. The leaflets were written in Xhosa and addressed to Black South Africans.”

Gordon continued working in small factories in London, always an active trade unionist and

anti-racist. Gordon later became a campaigning pensioner in the Lambeth Pensioners Action Group.

He was a keen supporter of women’s rights and remained, as ever, a firm anti-racist.

The Veterans League of the ANC in South Africa said in a message: “Our people owe a great deal to internationalists such as Comrade Gordon Hutchins and their courageous solidarity in action which played a significant role in assisting our people in overthrowing the brutal apartheid regime.”

Gordon was a member of the gardening group at the Jennie Lee garden at King’s College Hospital.

“I have many photos of Gordon, my favourite being him poring over the NHS wormery at Jennie Lee of which he was the proud keeper,” wrote Ed Rosen, project director of Lambeth GP food co-op which builds gardens in local GP surgeries and NHS hospitals.

“We all have personal histories and Gordon, although reluctant to share his with us, will always be remembered as someone who was much, much more than a ‘patient’. His life will be celebrated by his friends, comrades and fellow gardeners in the Jennie Lee garden.”

Gordon Hutchins at a launch event for London Recruits in Brixton in 2015

‘Everything I need is on my doorstep’ “Think Big and support each other” is Dionne Gooding’s advice to women who would like to follow in her fashion footsteps, writes Simone Richardson.

Her own journey to success, which included a “Project Earth” collection for Selfridges last year, has not been a walk in the park.

She was almost ready to quit fashion when Selfridges came calling.

Starting out in 2012 as a women’s footwear designer, she was hit, like so many others, by Covid and lockdowns.

They forced the closure of the shoe factory in Italy she was using. But, rather than give up, she switched to creating sustainable fashion.

Her own clothing brand – Dionne Gooding – sees her design and make “hand-crafted apparel using pre-loved clothes and scrap African fabrics”. She has also moved into making masks.

The change of direction in her work coincided not only with lockdowns but also the birth of a son.

“During lockdown I challenged myself to creativity months on social

media,” Dionne says. “I got on to my sewing machine and made accessories, masks and clothing. This was fun as I was able to explore, and my followers would let me know what they thought of my designs. It was during lockdown that I changed my business from footwear to clothing.”

Her daily routine is still busy now. “I wake up at 5am most days, so I can get a few hours work done before my baby wakes up.

“Our days vary, so he is either at a childminder, with my mum, or with me. The days when he’s with me, we go swimming or to Clapham Common – this tires him out. When he sleeps, I’m able to get more work done and prepare food.

“Other days I’m able to go to the gym, complete orders throughout the day, post orders, and purchase sewing equipment when necessary.”

As well as her social media followers, Dionne also gets and offers support through REALWORK, an online group for women in business.

She also plans to organise workshops to teach women and families how to extend the life cycle of their clothes.

Dionne has lived in Brixton since 2009. “I enjoy living and working here as everything I need is on my doorstep,” she says. “Simply Fabrics for all my sewing supplies, hair shops, Superdrug for eyebrow threading, the Underground if I need to get to Oxford Street, and all the delicious restaurants.

“I love the food in Brixton! My favourite places are Bushman’s Kitchen for jerk chicken roti, Healthy Eaters for all Caribbean food, Eat of Eden for vegan meals and Satay Bar for cocktails!

“I also love the Ritzy cinema and the cute messages they put on their noticeboard. They always put a smile on my face.

“I used to enjoy going to the Lambeth Country Show. I plan to go to City Splash in Brockwell Park this year, the line-up looks really good!”

‘Quite often, something wonderful finds its way to us’ Brixton has more than one magical place, but Book Mongers on Coldharbour Lane, with its succession of canine assistants and its crazy cat Popeye, draws you into its mysterious and enchanting interior like a Harry Potter creation, says Simone Richardson It’s almost 30 years since Patrick Kelly opened Book Mongers on Coldharbour Lane in May 1992 and Robert Coyne has worked there with him for 20 years.

Patrick has travelled a long way from his Boston, USA roots. After finishing a degree in political science he visited London for a break and travelled back and forth in the early eighties.

He was living in Brixton before he opened Book Mongers and today still lives on the same street – Brailsford

Road near Brockwell Park’s Brixton Water Lane entrance.

Robert Coyne is also a Brixtonian, arriving here when he was a few months old, and staying.

Book Mongers draws you in – not just for its books – but also its magical, atmospheric feeling – as if it was something that existed in the Harry Potter Dragon Alley.

Lockdown changed things. “A lot of reading and walking kept me sane,” Patrick says. “Rob and I took turns to come in to feed Popeye” – Book Mongers’ formerly stray cat – “I came in the morning and Rob the afternoon. We had a routine.

Before Popeye, Book Mongers was known for Patrick’s canine friends.

“A few months before lockdown,” he says, “I rescued another dog, but he can’t come to the shop because Popeye is crazy and would rip his

eyes out! “The entire time I have lived here I have had dogs, so I have been in Brockwell Park twice a day for over 30 years.

Patrick explains how the business is managed: “We buy from the public; we get donations; I buy from auctions and warehouses.”

His love of books goes deep. He can instantly recall his childhood favourite, Orr on Ice by a hockey player Bobby Orr, that he read at about eight or nine years old Robert Coyne says not much initial training was required to work at Book Mongers – “You learn on the job – but a love of books has certainly been helpful.

“My working day begins with greeting and feeding Popeye when we open at 10.30, which is always a great pleasure “He has a fairly well-deserved reputation for grumpiness, but is

actually very soppy and cuddly in the morning.

“After that, I’ll price and put out books as they come in – a steady stream of second hand books and regular large consignments of remaindered titles – researching them if necessary.

“Quite often something wonderful finds its way to us, valuable or not.

“I replace books on the shelves as they’re sold, talk with customers and friends that drop by, give Popeye his lunch and an evening meal – he eats quite a lot, but he is a very big cat! I finally close up at 6.30.

“It’s a lovely job, and I’m grateful to still be doing it after 20 years.”

Robert and Popeye in Book Mongers

Book Mongers 439 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8LN Sunday: 10:30am–5pm Monday–Saturday 10:30am–6:30pm

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

BRIXTON PEOPLE 15

‘I spent my student loan on a pair of turntables and away we went …’

Robert Evans’ grave in Oslo

Tragic story of a Brixton war hero

More than 75 years ago a letter arrived at 33 Foxley Road in the Vassal district of Brixton.

It told Ralph Evans, father of Able Seaman Robert Evans that, more than two years after he had been reported “missing on war service” in 1942, the grave of his son had been discovered in Norway.

Author Glyn Evans, no relation, who has discovered and written about the tragic fate of Robert Evans, would be interested to hear from anybody who may have information about the family.

Please contact the Brixton Bugle if you can help.

Robert Paul Evans was part of the secret operation TITLE to try to sink the German battleship Tirpitz, which threatened British and Allied shipping.

Tirpitz itself has a roundabout link with Brixton. Its supply ship, captured by the British, later became the Empire Windrush.

Operation TITLE would have seen an attack on the Tirpitz by “human torpedoes” – 22-foot mini-submarines controlled by two men in special diving suits riding astride them. They could dive to depths of 27 feet.

Two of the torpedoes were secured to the fishing boat Arthur, which set off for Norway where the Tirpitz lay at anchor, but a violent storm dislodged them and they sank.

Robert Evans was one the Arthur’s crew who, after the boat was scuttled off Norway, tried to make their way to the relative safety of Sweden – a neutral country.

But in an encounter with Norwegian police, he was shot and, following standing orders for such situations, he was abandoned to become a prisoner of war.

It was not known then that Hitler himself, infuriated by Allied “commando” raids, had ordered that anyone taking part in one and captured should be killed.

So it was that Robert Evans, after being interrogated by the Gestapo, was shot with a bullet in the back of the head on 19 January 1943. He was 21.

He was buried in an unmarked forest grave that was not discovered until September 1945.

Evans now lies in a civilian cemetery just outside the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

It’s worth meeting Richie Littler just for his wonderful Scouse accent – but, despite being born in Wallasey on the Wirral, he has lived in South London for most of his life, writes Simone Richardson.

Grooveschool, the charity he founded, runs projects to nurture young people’s engagement and creativity. The aim is to make accessible something from which enjoyment and creativity can flow.

Groveschool’s website is full of testimonials from teachers and others to how it has changed the lives of young people.

Richie’s father introduced music to him through his record player. “I would spend time in the back room playing records, looking at the covers and reading the lyrics,” he says.

“I used to listen to mixtapes after going to clubs and then I started to buy 12-inch dance records around 1992. My collection then moved into US imports, European and UK House.

“Once I came to study for a degree in culture and belief systems at Thames Polytechnic, I met a few like-minded music lovers, record collectors and partygoers.

“Within a year or so, we had started our own student union nights. I spent my student loan on a pair of Technics turntables and away we went.”

Music probably helped us all through the lockdown and Richie explains how he coped not teaching or doing the DJing.

“Lockdown was tough. We weren’t granted access to the space for Grooveschool that we’d just moved to and, although we kept going with

an online provision, it really wasn’t ideal. But since everything lifted again last July we’ve regained our mojo.”

Grooveschool runs workshops on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and members’ sessions on Fridays and Saturdays.

“We have a number of volunteer tutors and two senior members who assist,” says Richie.

Pupils can gain Rockschool Level One in music production.

“Mondays at Lavender Hope at the Deronda community hall in Tulse Hill is for the younger members, eight-12 years. On Tuesday we focus on DJ and live electronic instrument performance in our Brixton space; Wednesdays we go into more detail with music production.

“These sessions run throughout term-time.

Any beginners – or at whatever level you come to us – we will take the time to work out how best we can support you through your journey and provide a pathway.

“Pupils return again and again, benefitting from that consistency.

“Adult sessions are mainly private and we run one-to-one, pairs or small group.

“Our parent/child time slots are well received. They are mainly on Saturdays. So a birthday present or gift, for instance, may be four introductory sessions for £100.

“You’d learn how to put a track together and come away with an arrangement and quick mixdown of your creation.

“If you were concentrating on the DJ element, the goal would be a DJ mix.

“We get all levels coming for coaching, from beginners to Radio 1 breakthrough DJ artists or Beatport Number One producers.”

Grooveschool offers DJ lessons to all ages and abilities. “We do one-to-one, paired and small group sessions. We have some spaces and workshops that are free for those on low incomes,” says Richie.

“For those who can afford it, we ask for a reasonable contribution to the charity each term.

“For the older participants we do charge, It’s all reasonable, so please enquire.”

Grooveschool, Youth Innovation Hub, 3Space International House, Canterbury Crescent, SW9 7QD. grooveschool.org

When style is more important than coordination Sonia Abdallaoui has danced her way from Paris to Brixton to the rhythm of street moves.

Simone Richardson hears about some of the steps Sonia Abdallaoui grew up near the Paris landmarks of Notre Dame cathedral and the Louvre museum, brought up by her mum Khauja from Oran in Algeria and her dad Khafilia who hails from the Saharan region of Algeria.

“I started dancing when I was really young,” she says. “When I was mixing with different gangs, my mum decided to pay for me to do proper street dance classes

for me to stop mixing up with the street gangs.

“I started professional street dance classes with the pioneer of the macarena, Mia Frye.

“I love street dance because the style is more important than the coordination.”

Also a fan of classical and ballet styles, Sonia has used dancing to cope. In many different ways it has helped her progress to where she is today.

She danced through lockdown, practising in her living room and organising dance challenges for grime and reggae artists from all around the world.

“I also featured on Instagram

Sonia Abdallaoui (inset) and one of her classes

doing a dance freestyle on a famous reggae artist Bounty Killer which had 22,000 views.”

Sonia has worked with many other music artists and dancers.

Her lessons for children are every Saturday in Brixton, with others for adults throughout the week.

“I’m happy to have opened Brixton Dance School 10 years ago and teach ballet induction and street dance from four-year-olds to 15-year-olds.

“The kids are so talented in Brixton and the parents

are so wonderful too.

“They always spoil me every Christmas with presents and cards.

“My dance classes are every Saturday and are only £2. I make them available for everyone in my community. They don’t have to book – they can just turn up.

“I’m also open every half term holiday.

“I love Brixton and the mixture of ethnicity. I love Brixton market and Brixton Village.

“I love the Jamaican people – they are so nice and they love foreigners and they are the most talented dance people to me in the world!

“The food is amazing, and the fact that Bob Marley was here many times and also David Bowie and Vincent Van Gogh – it’s full of history.

“Brixton academy – we have been there so many times to see many superstars perform.

“I also performed there twice in the past with my dance group called Ghetto Posh.

“I just love Brixton and I love the Lambeth Country Show. Every year Lambeth gives me the chance to perform.”

Ferndale Community Sports Centre, Nursery Road, SW9 8PB 020 7738 6834 For children aged 4–15 Ballet induction 3–3.30pm Street Dance 3.30– 4.30pm 5–8yrs Street dance 4.30–5.30pm 9-15yrs £2 per session

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16 BRIXTON PEOPLE

2022 APRIL

‘I’ve reached my destination’

Nelly Roberts at work

Nelly Roberts’ grave to be marked at last On Saturday 2 April lifelong Brixton resident and orchid artist Nelly Roberts will be remembered by the placing of a plaque on her unmarked grave in Lambeth cemetery near St George’s hospital in Tooting.

She lived all her life – from 1872 to 29 March 1959 – at 72 Lough­borough Road.

For 56 years she was the official orchid artist of the Royal Horticultural Society, painting up to 5,000 award-winning orchids and private commissions.

Some of her work is in the collection of the South London Botanical Institute in West Norwood.

She was discovered as a teenager when a passing orchid-fancier saw one of her paintings in the window of her father’s jewellery shop on Loughborough Road.

She never moved and never married – a possible reason may be her younger sister, cruelly described as an “imbecile” in the 1939 census.

The ceremony is talking place two years later than planned because of Covid and lockdowns.

It is one result of a Heritage Lottery funded project organised by a local tenants and residents association – LEAF, standing for Loughborough, Evandale, Akerman, Fiveways, four local roads.

Details at bit.ly/LR-histories

Margie Campbell, who uses the name Martias for her work, is a fully trained holistic therapist and reiki master and shares her skills with many around the Brixton area, writes Simone Richardson.

Born and bred in Sheffield with parents of Jamaican heritage, she moved to London and, after living in many places, says: “I was never really settled in until I came to live in Kennington”.

Her career, too, has been a journey with many stopping points.

“I enjoyed cooking at school and when I left I went into catering but realised very quickly it wasn’t for me!” Margie says.

“I kinda stumbled into various different jobs thereafter from childcare to hairdressing. Then I trained to be a holistic therapist.

I now know I’ve reached my final

destination.” She explains: “l love my work. I enjoy the physical aspect of it, and l enjoy helping people, physically and emotionally, and spiritually. I went into holistic therapy, because l wanted to treat the whole body.”

Margie did not cope well with Covid and lockdown. “l became terribly depressed and the lack of contact and interaction really affected me. From being very sociable to being a recluse was very hard.

“If it wasn’t for my kids, I don’t know what would have become of me. Marcus, 16, and Mattia, nine, kept me going.”

Margie’s regular day now is taking Mattia to and from school, seeing two clients a day – morning and afternoon –using her cooking skills for her children’s

meals and relaxing herself through meditation.

Since lockdown, Maggie’s own therapy for herself has been regular visits to Brixton.

Her love of it has helped her manage her own inner tranquillity.

“I love my life again,” she says. “I enjoy the multicultural vibe of Brixton and the sense of community, where I go regularly to the market, and enjoy looking around at different styles and genres of music and cultures.

“I have always been into arts and crafts,and often go to Brixton market, where l love finding interesting objects and prints.

“I like interior design also, mixing the old with the new “I really feel like I’m back on my feet and just love life.’’

Martias: 07525 080927

Margie Campbell – ‘I love my work’

The importance of being organised Do you have a to-do list that is never completed and clutter that just won’t go away? You should talk to Rachel Mitchell – which is what Simone Richardson did

Rachel Mitchell – organised

“If you want anything done fast, efficiently and thoroughly and needed it yesterday … it’s Rachel to the rescue!”

That’s one of many testimonials to the work of Herne Hill based professional organiser Rachel Mitchell. She’s the driving force behind Please Organise Me which she founded nine years ago.

Having a young family, “I understand just how stressful life can be and the importance of being organised,” she says.

“Often in a small business, or a family, you don’t have the support to deal with the constant stream of seemingly small jobs that crop up.”

When friends, who were struggling with their own work and family commitments, started asking her advice, she thought “I could do

that!” and the idea for Please Organise Me and becoming a professional organiser was born.

She explains: “After having two children and on my third house renovation, I decided to take a break.

“I became pretty bored after about six weeks and started to consider what I could do that would fit around the kids.

“At this time I became friends with a rather lovely and rather disorganised lady.

“It was after organising her bedroom as a trial that I realised that this was my passion and I was rather good at not only decluttering but also styling spaces.

“I established Please Organise Me and, to date, I still have the same enthusiasm.”

Rachel has lived in South London since, moving to Herne Hill around 20 years ago.

“I don’t really have a typical day, and that’s what I really love about the business,” she says.

“Each week I will be helping clients declutter and style their homes and also create effective organisational systems that will

make life easier. The majority of clients are based in London and it’s great when we have local clients.

“Many come through word of mouth. I seem to have been particularly successful on Fawnbrake Avenue in Herne Hill where I have helped more than five households!’

Rachel loves living, working and socialising in Brixton. “I’ve been here for around 20 years and love the culture, food, nightlife and the people. I feel very privileged to have everything that Brixton has to offer on my doorstep.

“Brixton has so many aspects that I use in different parts of my life. Canova Hall and its beautiful space to be able to work from. Morleys for its old school department store vibe that never lets you down. The Ritzy for showing independent films. Brixton Village for such a wide range of restaurants and shops. Prince of Wales for its wicked sound system and great line-up of DJs. Brixton Art Club for it’s showcase of amazing contemporary art and its lovely bar.”

APRIL 2022

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FOOD & DRINK 17

FOOD & DRINK Rabah Ali Younes – who works in Brixton’s San Marino café and bar – makes the best decaff skinny latte that Simone Richardson has ever tasted. She finds out more about its creator and where he works Rabah Alli Younes has travelled a long way from Algeria to Brixton, which he now calls home and where he works every day at San Marino – set up by Mario Schifano – where he creates the best decaff latte ever.

“I left Algeria when I was 19 and went to Spain.” he says. “I lived there one year and then I came to Brixton. I met the Schifano family through a friend when I was looking for a job.”

That was 28 years ago. Since then Rabah has become part of the family.

San Marino cafe opened in 1993 and Rabah joined in 1995, learning coffee with family head and manager Mario Schifano.

Creating many coffees all day for seven days a week – unless Rabah feels like a day off – ensures he is an expert in all of the coffees on San Marino’s long list.

“There is a lot of choice including decaff latte, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, double expresso,” he says. “All the Thai coffees including the Thai caramel, iced coffees and spiced Thai. Plus different teas and lots of different milks as well! My personal favourite coffee is double macchiato.”

Like so many people, Younes had a difficult lockdown. San Marino was closed.

“I nearly lost my head because I found it hard – really hard. When you are active and you stop suddenly – ‘bup’ – it stops.

“I just kept myself busy doing a lot of walking round Brixton, up to Streatham and Clapham and coming back.

“I always kept in touch with my Mum visually every day and I still do it now – every morning before I start working.”

Born and bred in Algeria, Rabah grew up with his mum Yasmina and dad Said – who passed away 18 years ago – his brother – Mandi and three sisters. Two – Karima and Ouarda – are still in Algeria; Ghania lives in Canada.

“For me, it is not just making coffee. It is talking to people and making friends,” he says.

His loves working and living in central Brixton: “Brixton is like a little bit of everything – all religions and different cultures and all living together and it doesn’t matter what you believe – it is all about respect. I love that it is multicultural.

“I love The Jamm and the Hootananny still.

My favourite music is house, but I like all kinds of music and love the ambience.

“I could be here for another 20 years, even though I have been here for 28 already!” he says.

Rabah Ali Younes (left) with Mario Schifano

It’s not just serving coffee. It’s talking and making friends

San Marino

413 Brixton Road, SW9 7DG 020 7978 8417 Café hours Monday–Saturday: 6.30am–7.30pm Sunday: 7am–7pm

Mar-Ka Peake prepares herbs for Bar Marino cocktails

Coffee is not the only drink for San Marino. Mario Schifano launched Bar Marino last autumn with partners, Mar-Ka Peake and Razib Sammy, from Thailand and Bangladesh.

“Running San Marino since 1993,” says Mario, “I was always looking for something to add to it, but I never got round to it.

“Then Covid came and that threw a spanner in the works because everyone was not working “As you know, everyone lost a lot of money. Everyone was locked up for a year and a half, so at that point I thought – well, I’m not going to put all my eggs in one basket.

“So I started looking for something to add and I was thinking about it, and a bar was always number one on my list.

“I didn’t know anything about bars, so I got a couple of guys who know the business really well.

As well as the new bar next to the café which opens in the evening, there is a 1920/30s Art Deco bar downstairs where private parties can be arranged.

Mar-Ka Peake’s his first name is from Thailand. He moved from London and lived there for seven years from the age of two.

Razib Sammy Khan is Bar Marino’s “resident mixology expert” who perfected his skills at some of London’s most exclusive venues.

“My full name is Moniruzzaman Khan Razib,” he says. “But I prefer Razib Sammy. I born in Bangladesh. I moved to London in 2010. I live in Brixton Hill.”

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18 FOOD & DRINK

LOUGHBOROUGH JUNCTION’S CAMBRIA REOPENS AFTER TWO YEARS In a welcome reversal of the usual fate of local pubs, The Cambria on Kemerton Road in Loughborough Junction was reopening as the Bugle went to press.

It has a new look and a new menu following a £600,000-plus upgrade by its new operators, Prospect Pubs & Bars.

It has been closed for more than two

years. A soft launch got an enthusiastic response and the operators say they already have strong forward bookings.

The pub’s main bar has been enlarged and it now has a new, 70-cover garden room with a retractable roof and sides.

Outside, a 40-seat enclosed garden features a mural from Brixton Brewery,

along with blankets and cushions.

The private dining room upstairs has been upgraded to seat 40 with a private bar.

The menu features pub classics including burgers, steaks, fish and chips, and internationally themed small plates.

Roasts will be served on Sundays.

Open all day, every day, The Cambria will also feature Fairtrade coffees and teas.

Its drinks offering will centre on beer brewed nearby at Brixton Brewery’s Milkwood Road site.

General manager Nadine Prankard heads the new team at The Cambria.

She said: “We’re really looking forward to getting The Cambria up and running, and to welcoming back our local community.” Many of the new team are locals.

A thecambrialondon.co.uk

Brixton launch for bid to break down drinks industry barriers Brixton was chosen to launch a groundbreaking programme designed to break down barriers facing people from marginalised backgrounds who want to work in hospitality.

Johnnie Walker, the world’s best-selling Scotch brand, announced a year-long partnership with Equal Measures, a charity committed to greater equality in the drinks industry, and its first ever “community day.” It will drive participation in the charity’s education and mentorship programme.

Johnnie Walker says it will support Equal Measures students who are over 18 with engaging social events knowledge from a key industry player, and ensure that students who may have faced entry barriers into the bartending and cocktail industries are helped into rewarding careers.

Its first community day was launched last month at Hacha Bar in Brixton Village.

It celebrates the achievements of current and future students of Equal Measures’ education and mentorship programmes.

Local communities and young adults considering careers in the hospitality sector came together to enjoy a friendly competition to create a Johnnie Walker highball. The idea was to embody the

Equal Measures student Michael Yishak atmosphere and energy of Brixton.

The contest took place under the watchful eye of Tim Philips-Johansson, global ambassador for Johnnie Walker, who was there to give students an understanding of the nuance of the drink and its brand.

Each entrant was given cash to buy ingredients for their creation from the Brixton market. Winners got vouchers to spend at Hacha Bar and other IMAGES © KAT VOLKOVA STUDIO

Sana Barclay (left) and Rachel Blake (right) who were presented with bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label as part of their prize, with Tim Philips-Johansson

local restaurants.

Johansson explained: “We are proud to support Equal Measures as part of a long-term initiative that will help marginalised groups into the on-trade.

“We hope to impart knowledge and encourage growth within the students of Equal Measures programmes and build long-lasting and sustainable careers for all those enrolled.”

Following the launch, Johnnie Walker will collaborate with Equal Measures on a community day every month at Brixton’s Hacha Bar, as a chance for all to come together to learn from experts in the field.

Themes this year include food pairing masterclasses, panel discussions and management coaching to provide insight and training for students of the education and mentorship programmes, and members of the public, while also shining a light on the importance of supporting diverse local businesses.

Deano Moncrieff, founder of Equal Measures and owner of Hacha, said: “We are grateful for the support of a major player, Johnnie Walker, to help lift the first of these community days off the ground.

“Equal Measures is founded to support anyone who feels marginalised and faces entry barriers into the wider world of hospitality.

“Our intention is to create a regular, open for all, series of events where we can celebrate the local community.”

The Equal Measures programme is available to anyone who works in the drinks industry from marginalised backgrounds and over the age of 18.

Applicants are encouraged to apply through the Equal Measures website (equalmeasuresuk.org). Successful applicants will be paired with a leading industry figure from Johnnie Walker or other brand sponsor, who will take an interest in their professional development and offer mentorship for a minimum of three months.

Equal Measures was founded to support marginalised groups and individuals and enrich possibilities for people from Black, Asian, and other minority ethnicities, as well as other marginalised groups, such as queer and gender queer persons, those who are neurodivergent, or who face systemic barriers to their progression.

2022 APRIL

Another prize for Market Row rum Market Row Botanical Rum, created in Brixton, has won its second worldwide award in less than 18 months.

Launched in October 2020, it was awarded a silver medal in this year’s International Wine & Spirits Competition. (IWSC).

“IWSC medals are globally recognised as a mark of outstanding quality, signalling winning spirits as one of the best in the world,” said Christelle Guibert, CEO Fine Wines & Spirits at the IWSC. Awarded 90 points, Market Row botanical rum was described by the judging panel as: “Funky, round and complex nose. On the palate, there is some heat.

Well-integrated with a meaty taste, and subtle on the botanicals. Unique.”

Hand-crafted above Market Row, the rum is a blend of pot still rums from five historic and award-winning distilleries in Jamaica, The Dominican Republic and Barbados.

It is then infused with Kenyan black tea, Nigerian hibiscus and South Asian red rose petals – interesting and unique botanicals inspired by Brixton Market and Market Row. “This award comes on the back of a successful year for Market Row Botanical Rum, which has also seen us secure a listing with Fortnum & Mason [Grocers to the

Market Row co-founder Patrick Venning (left) and Brand Ambassador Mikey Hirsch in Brixton market royal family, founded in 1707] and launch for the first time abroad,” said Patrick Venning, co-founder of the Brixton Distillery Company.

“We’re thrilled to now have two silver international competition medals under our belt, which we figure isn’t bad going for a nearly 18-month-old micro distillery.”

Only seven months after launching, Market Row Botanical Rum was awarded a silver medal in another global competition – the International Spirits Challenge 2021, which receives 1,800 entries from nearly 70 countries worldwide.

Market Row says its botanical rum’s handpicked botanicals are subtle on the nose and palate and become much more prominent in a mixed drink or cocktail, “adding a completely unique flavour”.

The botanicals provide “subtle, floral and grassy notes that support and enhance the natural flavours of the rum and allow the more subtle, woody notes of the base rums to shine through.”

The rum has less sugar than most, offers aromas of dark chocolate and oak, and is “smooth and warming, with a caramelised banana sweetness and a dry, vanilla finish”.

It costs £34 a bottle and can be obtained online (brixtondistillery.com) and in select London bars and restaurants.

The Market Row distillery houses a 100-litre bespoke copper and steel pot still. Its product is hand-bottled under the guidance of master distiller Matt Servini.

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

WHAT’S ON 19

WHAT’S ON

N D L h t u o S festival c h ec k l i s t

Brixton Windmill’s beer & bread festival is back!

A full season of special events in Windmill Gardens, and tours of the historic Brixton Windmill is back to enjoy throughout 2022.

The first family fun event is on Easter Sunday, 17 April, with an egg hunt and craft workshop for children. The windmill is open that afternoon for guided tours.

Then, after a two-year gap, the annual Beer & Bread Festival returns on Bank Holiday Monday, 2 May. This fifth B&B Festival in Windmill Gardens will be bigger and better than ever.

Organised in partnership with Brixton Brewery, it promises a great afternoon of entertainment. Four local craft beer stalls will provide the beer. Three artisan bakery stalls, a fresh fruit stall, Indian street food and ice cream on sale throughout the event provide the food. Brixton Windmill’s volunteer millers will sell Windmill flour and explain the milling process.

Local bands and musicians will perform throughout the afternoon, with the Windmill welcoming back favourites Los Domingos and B2B the Band – plus, new to the festival, Casino Moon, and other acts.

May Day traditions will be upheld by the Tatterjacks Morris dancers and a special family

Cross The Tracks in Brockwell Park

©Luke-Dyson

Planning a local summer of festivals?

Medya Gungor has some options …

Although festival season may feel like a while away, it’s only a few short weeks before the UK festival scene gears up for what may be the biggest comeback over the past few years.

While many organisers were lucky to be given the go-ahead last summer, there were still plenty of push-backs for the likes of Glastonbury, Gottwood, El Dorado and Westival … which is why this summer means making up for any lost time on the dancefloor!

To aid your decision-making before you start blowing up your mates’ phones with a new WhatsApp group, here’s a round-up of South London’s rudest go-to festivals that are featuring on our radar this year.

GALA

Promising plenty of icons, originators and future favourites for their stages, GALA returns to party hard over the new bank holiday in June for its sixth year.

Welcoming the likes of Goldie, Gilles Peterson and Jeremy Underground, this is not

acclaimed line-up for this year.

Making their 2021 debut as environmentally conscious and socially aware, we expect their impact this year to be a big one.

one to be missed for lovers of sweaty, energetic dancefloors and eccentric DJ sets.

A When? 2-4 June A Where? Peckham Rye Park A Instagram? @thisisgala

Cross The Tracks

After setting the tone last summer with one of the hottest Sundays that brought serious vibes all round, Cross The Tracks is back to deliver an unrivalled British summertime festival experience. Picture yourself sipping on a craft beer while enjoying some soulful melodies from Roy Ayers, Joy Crookes and Khruangbin in a laid-back, inclusive atmosphere.

A When? 5 June A Where? Brockwell Park A Instagram? @xthetracks

Wide Awake

Dubbed a mixed bag of leftfield indie, post-punk, electronica and techno, Wide Awake have announced Bicep, Caribou, Primal Scream and Floating Points as part of their critically

A When? Fri 27 – Sat 28 May A Where? Brockwell Park A Instagram? @wideawakeldn

Mighty Hoopla

For those with a true love of glitter, drag and cross-generational pop music … this is the one-dayer for you. Expect LGBQT+ friendly crowds, nostalgic anthems and dazzling performances from Sugababes, Katy B, Bassment Jaxx and more.

A When? 3-4 June A Where? Brockwell Park A Instagram? @mightyhoopla

City Splash

In true carnival style, City Splash will be hosting the hottest reggae, dancehall and Afrobeats acts to celebrate the importance of African and Caribbean music on British culture.

With riddims from Barrington Levy, Sister Nancy and Protoje, featuring a rum cocktail in hand, we expect this one to bring the fayah!

A When? Sunday 29 May A Where? Brockwell Park A Instagram? @citysplashfest

Pegasus Opera Company to premier new work Brixton based Pegasus Opera Company will perform a new opera by the American composer Philip Hagemann at the Royal Academy of Music in central London.

It is inspired by The Aspern Papers, a novella by American writer Henry James based on letters the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to Claire Clairmont, the stepsister of his wife Mary

Shelley (who wrote Frankenstein).

Performances are at the Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5HT on Friday 22 April at 7.30pm; Saturday 23 April at 7.30pm and Sunday 24 April at 2:30pm.

Alison Buchanan, the artistic director of Pegasus and a renowned soprano, plays a central charcter, Tina.

Pegasus is a professional company with a widespread family of international artists, participants and supporters.

It produces high-quality performances and balances this with a focus on the development of emerging artists of African and Asian heritage.

The company also creates opportunities for under-represented artists and aims to break

down the perception that opera is elitist.

The company has commissioned Des Oliver with librettist Patricia Cumber to write Windrush the Opera, which will tour England next year, the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush Generation in the UK. A Tickets are £35 and £25; concessions £15. Book at bit.ly/Pegasus-Aspern

area will have lots of creative and fun activities for children.

Brixton Windmill’s shop selling its unique and colourful range of products and its pop-up café will be open throughout the afternoon in the Brixton Windmill Centre.

Other events during 2022 in Windmill Garden include evening Bat Walks on 21 April and 22 September.

In August, you can release your creative side at Art in the Park when adults and children will be encouraged to paint, draw or experiment with new craft techniques all inspired by the historic windmill and the park.

September is a particularly busy month for the windmill with its Annual Windmill Lecture and Harvest Festival.

In December the events programme for 2022 will end with the Winter Market and Santa’s visit to his magical grotto inside the windmill where children can visit him.

The windmill will be open to visitors throughout the season. They can climb inside to see the machinery and discover the history of this rural building on Brixton Hill.

Trained volunteers provide guided tours of the 206-years-old windmill from April to October on the second weekend of the month and there are extra open days in both April and September.

On the second Sunday of the month from April-October, Liz du Parcq, an experienced Blue Badge guide leads a walk of Brixton Hill explaining the fascinating history of the area around Brixton Windmill. Tickets for the guided tours and the walk can be booked on the windmill website: brixtonwindmill.org.

brixtonblog.com

20 WHAT’S ON

2022 APRIL

Our selection of gigs and more in Brixton and nearby MARCH

TUE 26 @ BRIXTON HOUSE

Last night to catch Heather Agyepong’s powerful new solo performance THE BODY REMEMBERS, which explores how trauma lives in the body, particularly for Black British women across different generations. 8pm. £21.

Concessions £17.

WED 30 @ UPSTAIRS AT THE RITZY

LAID BARE (@laidbaremusic) is back in Brixton – entering its ninth year Upstairs At The Ritzy – presenting the best musicians, singers and poets South London has to offer.

Hosted by local musician Rami Radi, the night is dedicated to local performers showcasing their talent in a friendly environment.

7.30pm. Free.

WED 27 @ HOPE & ANCHOR

Careful with that chisel – @paintvineuk offers “a creative night of DRINKING AND SCULPTING” at the Hope & Anchor. “A unique night out for those looking for something a little different”. No artistic experience required. 6.45–8.30/9pm. £29.

THUR 31 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

HIGHSCHOOL from Melbourne, Australia, visit Brixton for a special show bringing their mix of sun-dappled indie pop and industrial post-punk to the Windmill. 8pm. £8.

THU 28 @ EFFRA HALL TAVERN

APRIL

If it’s Thursday, it must be JAMAICA JAZZ at the Effra. Few free nights anywhere could beat it for music and atmosphere.

FRI 1 @ PHONOX

First of five Friday all-nighters with NIGHTMARES ON WAX, aka George Evelyn, featuring deep house, disco, house, and techno.

9.30pm–4am. £22.40.

FRI 29 @ THE PORTICO

SAT 2 @ HOOTANANNY

Creation Rebel Soundsystem and Lion Vibes present a night of DUB AND REGGAE, with Blood Shanti & The Shanties; Dub Judah; Dubkasm featuring Styrda & Digstep; Creation Rebel Soundsystem featuring Tudor Lion and Ras Terry Gad. 9pm–3am. £8/10.

SUN 3 @ DEPARTMENT STORE

Last day of a three-day show Downstairs at the Department Store with DYNAMITE GALLERY from Brighton presenting the work of some of their favourite artists. 10am–5pm.

Free, register on Eventbrite (Dynamite Art Fair 2022).

MON 4 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Hip-hop meets psychedelia with Irish-born rapper REJJIE SNOW. Plus support. 7–11pm. £22.50 plus booking.

TUE 5 @ HOPE & ANCHOR

Brixton LIFE DRAWING (@brixtonlifedrawing) is a back after 18 months at a new Acre Lane venue. Classes suitable for all levels and everyone is welcome. Drawing equipment provided or bring your own. 7.30–9pm. £16.76.

WED 6 @ ONLINE

What forces drive the distribution of plant-life around the globe and create such diversity?

Biogeography is the third in a 10-lecture series – BOTANY FOR GARDENERS – by botanist and TV presenter Dr Mark Spencer, covering everything from the evolution of plants to the importance of wild plants in sustaining future human life. Organised by the South London Botanical Institute – slbi.org.uk. 6.30–8pm. £10 members/£12 non-members.

THUR 7 @ ACADEMY

Londoner KOJEY RADICAL – one of the UK’s most important cultural voices – plays the second night of his biggest show to date to celebrate the release of his first album, Reasons To Smile. Support from Sam Wise, Rachel Chinouriri and DJ Juls. Doors 7pm; curfew 11pm. £27.60–£38.25.

FRI 8 @ BLUES KITCHEN

Regular Friday live show with house band The Beekays, DJs and guests playing non-stop funk, SOUL and rock ‘n’ roll. Free before 9pm. £5 before 10.30pm. £7. Until 2.30am.

SAT 9 @ HOOTANANNY

The BIG BALKAN BASH is back with The Baghdaddies; Mr Tea & The Minions; shunTa; with DJs LucDec and C@ In The H@. 9pm–3am. £11 (Group, min 5, £9).

Rami Radi Upstairs at the Ritzy

SUN 10 @ JAMM

Afro Beats ‘n’ Brunch – the UK’s biggest AFRO-THEMED BRUNCH – at Jamm promises all the drink, vibes, and jollof you can handle – combining. food from @thesuyafactory and team of DJs & hosts to take guests on a journey through real African music. Noon–5pm.

Brunch £25.92. Party only (from 1pm) £13.52.

MON 11 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

A triple bill mixed bag with “industrial scale” JAZZ from In Tongues, chill beats from Spacey Basement Cult, and total pop from MAY. 7.45pm. £5.

TUE 12 @ BROCKWELL PARK

Silverfit Tuesdays at Brockwell Park, featuring NORDIC WALKING with Ailien, are designed for anyone who is 45 or older. walking poles can be provided. 2.30–4pm. Meet Herne Hill gate 2pm. Free, donations welcome, book in advance (essential) at bit.ly/SF-Brockwell-Nordic

WED 13 @ EFFRA HALL TAVERN

Brixton favourite ERROL LINTON plays a regular Wednesday night gig at the Effra. Free.

THU 14 @ UPSTAIRS AT THE RITZY

The Purple Room is a new OPEN MIC night at the Ritzy promising the best up and coming talent in London. 7.30–9.45pm. £12.

FRIDAY 15 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

The Bad Friday ALL-DAYER BBQ will feature Deadletter, Platypus Complex, Heartworms, Industry Standard, Stepbrother, Hatty Taylor, and The Phone Call. Doors 3.30pm. £9.90, includes BBQ.

SAT 16 @ HOOTANANNY

OUT THE BOX returns with reggae, dancehall, dub, D&B, jungle, and hip hop. Massive line-up includes Micky Finn & MC GQ; Carasel; dat Brass; Monaghan; Soose Cue; Ollie Rant; Geoblu; OS: Man; DJ Blite; Raptor MC; and Taz-B.9pm–3am. £9.

SUN 17 @ PRINCE OF WALES

Norman Jay welcomes Soul II Soul legend Jazzie B to the first of three summer parties UP ON THE (POW) ROOF with more guests including CJ Mackintosh; Noble & Heath; Pablo Martinez; Rob Alldritt; and Ash (Soho Radio). 3pm–3am. £12.50–£17.50. Scanable photo ID required for entry.

© Rajvi Vaya

MONDAY 18 @ JAMM

STRAIGHT POCKET, the great improvised jazz night hosted by Renato Paris that began in and then outgrew Pure Vinyl on Ferndale Road is now at Jamm. Come to play, or just to listen.

And now you can eat and drink as well – the gig is “supported by Hennessy” the brandy brand.

6pm–11pm. Free before 8pm. £3 advance. £5 on the door.

TUESDAY 19 @ BRIXTON HOUSE

African DJEMBE DRUMMING workshop for under-16s in Studio 6 of the new Brixton House Theatre on Coldharbour Lane. 5.30pm. £5.50 – book in advance.

WEDNESDAY 20 @ HOOTANANNY

Hootananny hosts THE UNDERCOVER HIPPY on their Spring tour with powerful social and political messages (Fool Britannia celebrating Brexit) and infectious reggae rhythms. Support

by Drop In The Ocean. 7–11pm. £16.50.

THU 21 @ QUEEN’S HEAD

Ten acts of live STAND-UP comedy in this Stockwell Road pub, plus “beer, warmth and lots of LOL”. 8pm. Free.

FRIDAY 22 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Maykel Blanco and his Salsa Mayor, the most popular live band in Cuba, part of the La Linea London LATIN MUSIC festival that runs from 21 April to 123 May. 9pm–3am. £27.90.

SATURDAY 23 @ HOOTANANNY

The Time & Space tour brings DON LETTS to Brixton as a guest of headliner Gardna at the launch party – plus Catching Cairo, Eva Lazarus, Fat Stash and more. 9pm–3am. £13.20.

Group (min 5) £10.60.

SUN 24 @ POW

SOCA ON DE ROOF Returns with a sweet dose

of the music from some of the best DJs and hosts in London. Bring a flag and rep your country. 4pm– midnight. £16.76 to £27.54.

MON 25 @ WHIRLED CINEMA

Loughborough Junction’s favourite cinema is showing the new WESTSIDE STORY for four nights, beginning on Monday. 7.30pm (4.30pm Sunday 1 May). £12 (seven-day membership).

Hop on a 2, 432 or 322 to West Norwood for a night of live music and art with Carmen Marie, an ever-evolving South London singer/ songwriter and her band. Plus Nahs Spncr, an “old soul” singer/songwriter, and DJ sets. Art from the Abbastanza Collective conceptual art movement, blurring the thin lines between FASHION AND ART. Plus South Candles, launched in 2020 from the heart of Brixton, and Moyenne – a fresh collection of hoodies, tracksuits, tees and shorts mixing eco with urban. 7.30–midnight. £9.21–£11.37.

SAT 30 @ BRIXTON, VARIOUS

This year’s BRIXTON DISCO FESTIVAL takes place in Electric Brixton, POW, the Ritzy and Brixton Village. It sold out last year … 2022 artists include The Shapeshifters with Teni Tinks and Obi Franky, Mr. Scruff, Cerrone, Dave Lee, Colleen “Cosmo” and DJ Paulette.

General admission ticket: £36.08.

MAY SUN 1 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Pure GARAGE promises a night of just that, with Artful Dodger, Heartless Crew, Matt “Jam” Lamont and Scott Garcia, plus Ray Hurley, Hermit, MasterStepz, Spin E.B, DJ Listener, Kele Le Roc, Sweet Female Attitude, MC Creed, MC Rankin, Kofi B, Hyperactive MC, MC Ultra, and Bbbrown. 9pm–5am. £24.

MON 2 @ CORPUS CHRISTI

Introductory session for adults to Krav Maga SELF DEFENCE at Corpus Christi church hall, 11 Trent Road SW2 5BJ, with black belt Simon Pither. brixtonkravmaga.com. 7.30–9pm. £20.

TUE 3 @ LIBRARY/ONLINE

The Adult Fiction READING GROUP, a book club for adults, gets together on the first Tuesday of the month. They read the best new fiction, classics, and occasionally dip into genres like sci-fi and crime. Contact 020 7926 1058 for more information and an invite to the meeting. 6.30–8pm.

WED 4 @ HOOTANANNY

And now for something completely different: relive the musical life of a 19th century sailor.

Hootananny hosts OLD TIME SAILORS, a flashmob show designed to take the audience back in time. The crew is 17 musicians playing more than 40 songs and tunes – acoustic only – while the audience will sing and dance surrounded by drunken sailors. What could possibly go wrong? 7–11pm (venue open until midnight). £10.

brixtonblog.com

22 WHAT’S ON

2022 APRIL

Club Silly – the relaunch

Brixton’s new theatre now open Brixton House – the new venue on Coldharbour Lane – is up and running with an extensive programme Making use of the latest technology, Brixton House has two theatres seating up to 220 people and 120 respectively; several studios, rehearsal and performance spaces; meeting rooms; high-end office accommodation, plus a bar and café open to the public. It will also include spaces for the community to use for exhibitions, markets and even parties.

The Brixton House team are anxious that the venue should not be seen as part of a gentrification process which displaces and excludes local people.

Although the business model depends on attracting theatre companies, audiences and commercial organisations from across London, artistic director and joint CEO Gbolahan Obisesan is very clear that Brixton House must be a community resource – as much for the residents of the nearby Moorlands Estate as for London’s wider community.

Coming up at Brixton House is the HOUSEMATES FESTIVAL of new work to celebrate the stories that independent artists and freelances have created over the past two years. Brixton House hands over the keys to its “housemates” for two weeks to play and reimagine the theatre as a world of their own.

You can book for two shows in the festival for only £15 Shows include:

Saturn Returns

Sonny Nwachukwu

21 – 24 April

Saturn Returns is a “choreopoem” that explores the psychospiritual clashes produced in Black people by the weight of history.

Written and directed by South London born Sonny Nwachukwu, it is his first ever stage show and delves into an astral projection reality, where the characters of Ada and Obi take on forms of past, present, and future lives.

Through original music, spoken

word and dance, Saturn Returns contrasts Christian notions of redemption through suffering, with mystical notions of escaping the constraining mortal realm through astral projection.

“Being one of the first companies to bring my work to Brixton House is really exhilarating,” Sonny says.

Concha

Big Girl Words

Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Winnie Arhin

21 – 23 April

Ama, a young writer-performer, is trying to win a performance slot in a new theatre programme for marginalised voices.

She shows the producers snapshots of her character ideas for solo shows. Here we meet Miya – a nosey little girl who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time; broken-hearted Josephina, who finds a surprising new love interest; and Gabrielle, the over-sharing North Londoner.

While showcasing her ideas, Ama is faced with a dilemma infused with micro-aggressions and family obligations. Should she follow her moral compass or compromise to achieve her dreams?

Things I Can Laugh About Now

By Shakira Newton Piece of Cake Theatre Company

26 – 29 April

Girl is a British, working class, queer and mixed-race woman in her twenties. Though she is youthful in years, her complex and traumatic life experiences have led to her having an old soul.

But this does not always equal emotional maturity.

Comrades In The Dark+

Brixton House and Caitlin Barnett Company

26 – 29 April

An “exhilarating and visceral” portrayal of one man’s attempt to maintain his identity told through poetry, dance and Irish music.

By Carly Fernandez City Lighthouse Theatre Company

26 – 29 April

Concha is a semi-autobiographical show that explores the queer experience and all of the glorious and messy things that come with it.

Brixton’s Bureau of Silly Ideas (BOSI) is relaunching its Club Silly with an event in its railway arches home on Friday 22 April.

The idea is to grow and support the artist community connected to BOSI and beyond.

The night, says BOSI, will be stacked with artists ready to show off what they’ve made. Acts – to be announced – will be “rambunctious, political, hysterical, and surreal -–we’ve given them a home here and we are pulling out all the stops to make this one sausage of a silly night!”

Alongside the art, there will be trivia, games, live music, and a bar.

Plus, on the night, Club Silly will have an in-theatre masseuse! Get there early to book your spot for a 10-minute massage while you watch the show.

Tickets are £10 (plus an Eventbrite fee) unless you’re a member of Club Silly.

Membership is free and it’s easy to sign up. It comes with lots of goodies, says BOSI, and they will all to be revealed on the night.

Sign up to become a member before you book and you’ll receive an email code for 21% off your ticket (because BOSI always goes that extra 1%).

A For club membership go to: bit.ly/Club-Silly-Membership A For tickets, which are limited, go to: bit.ly/Silly-relaunch

Bureau of Silly Ideas are public space mavericks who create and perform wild, engaging, and unique works of art for the public realm.

From robotic wheelie bins on the high street to giant squid farms beside tower-block developments, if you see something out-of-the-ordinary in your day-to-day adventures, it could be them.

In operation for decades, BOSI champions artists in all shapes and forms, which is why it relaunching Club Silly – as a community for artists “where we can support artist development and the creation of new work with our spaces, skills, and resources”.

Club Silly: The Relaunch is the first event in its new form.

“We put the call out for artists from any discipline who had a silly work-in-progress that could use an audience,” says BOSI. “We’ve had dozens of submissions ranging from drag, to spoken word, to film, to crochet!” Programming the acts was taking place as the Bugle went to press.

“In coming months, we’ll have workshops and more events, and we’re really hoping to engage as many people as we can to reignite Club Silly with full throttle! “ A BOSI: Arch 18, Valentia Place, SW9 8PJ

I Miss Amy Winehouse 3 – 4 May

Suchandrika Chakrabarti would like you to join her in missing Amy Winehouse – a show about nostalgia, the death of print media and partying hard.

For The Love Of A Primary Care Giver Cheryl Ndione

3 – 5 May

Rosemary is about to make a speech at her mother’s wedding.

She’s not quite sure how to hit the right note as the relationship between them has been less than rosy.

As thoughts and feelings bubble up to the surface the audience realises that, maybe, the apple hasn’t fallen very far from the tree at all.

A one-woman show that tackles the emotions and motivations that shape a toxic relationship between mother and daughter.

Chicken Burger’n’Chips Corey Bovell

3 – 6 May

Summer holidays in South London … Corey dreams of nothing but hanging around with his friends while ordering as much Morley’s as possible.

A raw and nostalgic comingof-age story about growing up in South London.

Directed by Almeida Theatre resident director T D Moyo, Corey Bovell’s fast-paced, witty play tells a story about gentrification and the impact it is having on the lives of young people.

Don’t try this at home: pie throwing at Silly Towers

Market House is back Brixton’s Market House reopened on 25 March with the latest of its many occupants.

It was the Coach and Horses pub in the 80s. Its most recent previous incarnation was the Indian-themed eatery Karakana.

It’s now back as Market House with food by “chicken connoisseurs” Wingmans, which describes itself as “a multi award-winning restaurant group specialising in homemade Americanstyle comfort foods with emphasis on everything chicken”. Wingmans also has outlets in Kilburn and Soho.

Friday and Saturday nights will see music at the venue. Gold teeth DJs kicked things off. Old school disco is

the Saturday night fare.

The opening comes almost 10 years after the first Market House opened in April 2012 – at the beginning of the night-time transformation of Brixton.

Also on offer in the venue on Coldharbour Lane will be an “expansive cocktail menu”, an “exciting late-night programme” and a fresh interior – the whole run by a team that “knows and loves Brixton” – the one that runs Brixton Jamm and the Courtyard on Brixton Road.

Jamm is also now playing host to the acclaimed Straight Pocket nights that began life in Pure Vinyl on Ferndale Road and had been due to transfer to Market House when Covid hit.

APRIL 2022

brixtonblog.com

TIME OFF 23

BOOKS THE POLITICAL LIFE AND TIMES OF CLAUDIA JONES | David Horsley | £4.95 | Manifesto Press

Revolutionary, journalist and carnival founder Claudia Jones is well known today – giving her name to a street in Brixton, for instance.

Her role in establishing the celebration of African-Caribbean culture and a newspaper for Caribbean people in Britain and as a civil rights activist saw her face on a Royal Mail postage stamp in 2008.

But the explanation that accompanied the issue of this stamp made no mention of a central aspect of her life.

Born in Trinidad in 1915, she was exiled from the United States in 1955 as a result of her membership of the Communist Party of the USA and lost no time in joining the Communist Party of Great Britain when she arrived England.

What the establishment was happy to overlook, author David Horsley goes into in detail in The Political Life and Times of Claudia Jones, published by the Communist Party’s Manifesto Press.

Horsley’s book details both the relentless persecution of Claudia Jones – born

Cumberbatch – in the US and her tireless political activism there and in Britain.

It was activism in a context that no longer exists. The Soviet Union, although fatally flawed, offered an example of revolutionary change and promoted and facilitated internationalism.

Horsley’s book details Claudia Jones’ life as a revolutionary and internationalist – rescuing her from the role of an establishment-pleasing founder of newspapers and carnivals.

Claudia Jones campaigned and networked on an international stage, meeting Mao Zedong and Martin Luther King among many other leading figures.

But this brief biography does not ignore her achievements in publishing and culture.

Regarded by many as her greatest achievement, The West Indian Gazette began life in 1958 in rooms over Theo’s Record Store at 250 Brixton Road, moving to Station Avenue, Loughborough Junction, in 1963.

It became a hub for many activists, including

Sam King, the first Black mayor of Southwark, who was circulation manager.

Horsley’s book also spells out Claudia Jones’ exact relationship with the Notting Hill carnival.

In 1959, she founded the London Caribbean Carnival, but its events were indoors over five years in London and Manchester. It also attracted current or future superstars like Cleo Laine and Mighty Sparrow to perform.

It was only after her death that the people’s carnival in Notting Hill was established.

Horsley concludes that much of Claudia Jones’ writing is available in books and online and that “a huge effort must be made to ensure these are studied by activists”.

RADICAL LAMBETH 1978-1991 | Simon Hannah | £16 | Breviary Stuff

A giant condom on the town hall flagpole Radical Lambeth 1978-1991 is altogether too terse a title for this book.

If, when seeing it, your heart sinks at the prospect of a learned diatribe on the evils of capitalism and the errors of the 57 varieties of leftists fighting it, relax. Radical Lambeth is a well written and entertaining read.

It’s as much about the wonderfully rich and radical culture of Lambeth, and particularly Brixton, at this moment in time as it is about the minutiae of local authority and national politicking.

And it has a cast of characters ranging from Peter Mandelson to Naomi Campbell.

Author Simon Hannah knows what he is talking about. He works for Lambeth council and is a leading trade unionist there.

As he says in his introduction: “There is no room for halos when you get down and fight

dirty in the environs of local politics.”

But without hiding his sympathies, he treads an impartial path between the people and politics involved in Lambeth council’s defiance of a Conservative government, which is at the centre of the book.

“Trust me Ken, we’re all going illegal together. I promise you there’s no backsliding.

They can’t fight us and the miners. We can bring Thatcher down and then anything is possible,” Ken Livingstone reports Lambeth council leader Ted Knight telling him.

But first the government defeated the miners, and then turned its attention to Lambeth and other defiant councils.

The book gives the context for that struggle with a sure touch, sprinkling historical background facts like the disappearance of 1m bricks “lost” in the 1970s building of

the Myatt’s Fields estate. It also excels in describing the radical social and cultural scene of the time – much, but not all of it, centred on Brixton.

Current followers of politics in Lambeth may well get a sense of déjà vu as they read this book. The names and places may be different, but the issues are the same.

It would, however, take something very special to rival the spirit of those times.

Hannah ends the book talking to Joan Twelves, leader of Lambeth council from 1989 to 1991 … “Twelves had other things to worry about at the time; the council had attached a giant a 15ft condom to the flagpole at the Town Hall to mark World AIDs Day and she had to arrange getting it removed in case the ‘prodigious prophylactic’ blew away and caused a traffic accident on the streets below.”

THE LEAVES THAT DIE | Ricky G | £12.90 | available online

Growling cars, silent screams Richard Golah-Ebue, aka Ricky G, a BritishNigerian poet was born in South London and was homeless for two years in the early 90s, but was later able to achieve a degree in philosophy from the University of North London and an intermediate degree in law from Birkbeck College, University of London.

He donates £1 to charity from each copy sold of his book of poems, The Leaves that Die. Reading it is akin to viewing a collection of visual creations by a surreal artist.

There is a palette of scenes, words, and sounds. In each poem they are put together in ways which defy simple understanding but combine to create powerful moods and emotions.

They also contain references to English poetry classics – Shakespeare, and Wordsworth’s The World Is Too Much With Us, for instance.

Among growling cars, silent screams and dawns are multiple references to weather, dreams and shadows.

The poems’ mysterious messages are reminiscent of some of Lambeth resident William Blake’s poems, and they follow the avant-garde pioneer E E Cummings by abandoning all capital letters.

Silent screams searching for an understanding higher on distant roads that hunger strangers wearing smiling faces satisfying thirsty destinies hope living on barren dreams and see through disguises silent screams echo inside destiny drunk on foolish pride looking back to see tomorrows storms and the quiet calm that follows forever waiting watching falling flowers fading reasons invading dressed in fine linen men, women and children hurrying along as if in a dream it’s vanity time on the golden mile every body is dressed in style dreams trying to keep a low profile making it hard to even smile

MURDER AT CORNER RISE | A K Summer | £6 | available online

It’s murder at work …

Brixton resident A K Summer (right) has published her first novel – Murder at Corner Rise Corner Rise is an imaginary, possibly idyllic, group of islands, which just happens to be home to an upmarket district called Brixton.

But there are actual and symbolic volcanoes bubbling beneath surface of the islands and their inhabitants.

There are petty and powerful passions at play in this whodunnit.

While the employees of Corner Rise University’s Crown Campus dither over what cocktail to sip at the Spice Shack, a murderer – or is it murderers? – stalk the apparently peaceful paradise.

And, as on many an ocean paradise, there is a price to pay for months of sunshine. As well as volcanoes, Corner Rise has hurricanes …

Murder at Corner Rise is just the sort of book you need on a sun lounger – whether it’s in a garden, park or holiday beach – easy to read,

but with enough intrigue, mystery and plot to keep you turning the pages.

Its portrayal of office politics and relationships are uncomfortably accurate for anyone who has ever had to endure them.

Central character Cyan’s speculation about and involvement in what is going on draws you into deeper and deeper water along with her.

It’s probably a good idea to have a snack and a drink to hand as you read.

Scarcely a chapter goes by without some food or drink featuring – from takeaway hot chocolate with too much cream to close the lid, to the hot pickles that mother makes.

And if you like what you read, you will discover as the book closes that a sequel is a definite possibility.

A K Summer’s totally convincing Corner Rise University is based on

a long career in student support in London universities, including King’s College.

Inspiration for the setting came when she sailed from the Caribbean to the UK in 2014. The Corner Seamounts are in the Atlantic Ocean, south and west of the Azores and a little to the north of Bermuda.

The actual seamounts do not break the surface, so no one is going to be able to visit Corner Rise University or the expensive Bakersfield shopping centre in Brixton.

BRIXTON

Bugle SPORT

‘It’s going to be massive – a new high quality community ground’ Local inclusive sport got a big boost with the announcement that a charity is to restore a Dulwich sports ground for use by Brixton-based Lambeth Tigers Football Club and by women’s and girls’ cricket teams.

The Griffin sports ground in Dulwich Village, once run by King’s College, London, is being restored as a top quality community facility by the London Youth Sports Trust (LYST), a charity set up by the Tigers and Dulwich Cricket Club.

The Griffin will be home to the Tigers and to Dulwich Cricket Club’s women’s and girls’ teams.

The Tigers, who train on the Jordan Sancho 3G pitch in Myatt’s Fields Park, draw many of their players from local communities.

Following agreement on a new 30-year lease for the ground with the Dulwich Estate, the Griffin will be the first club-standard cricket ground in the UK to give priority to women and girl players and their teams.

It will also be Lambeth Tigers’ first permanent home ground.

“The Griffin is going to transform the opportunities available in South London to two groups who are among those with most to gain from community sport: young people who are growing up with the extreme stress of living in high crime neighbourhoods, but who deserve the best, and women and girls, who often take second place in sports grounds everywhere,” said Stephen

Grey, chair of LYST and a parent at Lambeth Tigers.

The Tigers were formed in 1995 and re-founded 10 years ago in the Loughborough and Angell Town estates in Brixton by youth ­workers David Marriott and Jamahl Jarrett.

The club has a track record both of developing outstanding football talent and of providing lifeenhancing opportunities for children and young people who might otherwise be vulnerable to the impact of crime or deprivation.

Jamahl Jarrett said: “Everyone has been talking about the amazing sporting talent that’s coming up from South London – but the facilities on offer do not match the potential.

“We see the Griffin as a place that brings kids from all backgrounds and communities together.

“It’s going to be massive for our club.”

The Tigers will continue to develop their base in Myatt’s Fields Park where they run holidays camps with lots of free places for the community and open-toall-sessions on Sundays.

Dulwich Cricket Club, established in 1867, has doubled the size of its women’s and girls’ section to more than 150 and now has one of the largest in London and the South East.

As many as five teams play on Sundays. The club also has seven mixed teams playing on Saturdays.

Its women’s and girls’ teams, who will have priority use of the Griffin over men’s and boy’s teams.

Dulwich Cricket Club training session for under-11 girls

Hope, danger and diversity: Brockwell Park’s cricket nets Ollie Goodwin discovers the grass roots of our summer sport – as well as the problems and potential solutions to England’s cricket crisis – in the bumpy nets of Brixton’s Brockwell Park English cricket is in a precarious place. An Ashes smashing from the Australians, a rolling racism scandal, arguments about the structure of county cricket – there was a lot to digest this winter.

So it’s important that we don’t forget about the roots of the game.

Visitors to Brockwell Park, may have spotted the AstroTurf cricket practice nets up the top of the hill. But over the years they have deteriorated.

As anyone who has batted in them will tell you, the surface can be a little, how should we put it … unpredictable.

But it’s there, it’s free and on a summer afternoon it’s always full. It doesn’t come more grass roots than places like this.

Surely if the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sport England are hoping to tackle the bigger issues of the game, the place to start is its roots.

Some of the local users of the Brockwell nets recently decided that enough was enough and, led by Alex Bigham (inset), a Herne Hill local, a petition for much needed repairs was launched. It currently has more than 1,200 signatures.

“We really need to improve it for the new season,” Alex told me. “I started playing there with my brother when we moved to the area, and we met a few other players who practised there.

“I added one of them on WhatsApp and it’s now grown to a group of over 70 players.” Alex is really the driving force behind the revamp project.

I began heading to the nets last summer.

The first person I met was Giordy, who

added me to the group chat and from then on I got chatting to the rest of the lads who were all welcoming.

The appropriately named “Brockwell Nets” group chat is always buzzing with cricket chat, game offers and people organising meet-ups for a net. They’ve a proper community feel going and it’s great being involved.

“From teenagers who are getting into league cricket to retired fast bowlers who will fire down an occasional bouncer in between cans of Red Stripe,” is how Alex describes the diverse community.

Cricket in England just isn’t accessible enough.

There’s a clear lack of facilities for people coming from less advantaged backgrounds with what’s essentially a pay wall stopping people who might otherwise be keen to get involved.

However, the bigger picture is an absence of representation and a huge pool of untapped potential. As we’ve seen over recent months at Yorkshire Cricket Club, this leads to huge problems and the time for change is now.

“The ECB and certain county cricket boards could learn a lot from inner-city nets such as Brockwell Park. I’ve never seen anything but good vibes. I think it is a wonderful chance to pass on enthusiasm, regardless of age, gender or race, and in this day and age, you rarely get that opportunity.” Hector, a Herne Hill local, told me. He’s spot on.

The accessibility of spaces like this is really important for involving people who might not normally get the opportunity.

While having it’s great having a space where everyone can have a knock for free, Brockwell nets can be a dangerous place to

play. With a concrete base and thin layer of felt over the top, after years of use they are ridiculously bouncy. If I’m being honest, it’s a terrifying place to bat.

People who play there regularly bear the scars. Most batters end up wearing a couple.

Giordy explained: “The condition of the nets is not up to standard. The metal nets ruin balls and, if hit at the incorrect angle, the ball can turn into a missile, hitting people on the other side of the nets.”

The condition of the nets epitomises what’s going on in English cricket. There’s so much potential here in South London – a culturally diverse place with the Oval, one of England’s major international grounds, just down the road.

“Maybe we can find some opening batters to help us in a future Ashes series!”

Alex said, tongue in cheek.

It looks like, thanks to Alex and the rest of the group who have worked really hard, these facilities are going to get the attention they need.

A Lambeth council spokesperson said: “We have a rolling programme of investment and improvement to Lambeth’s m u ch l ove d p a rk s, spor ts facilities and open spaces. “ T h a t i n c l u d e s wo rk to re pair the cricket nets a t B r o c k w e l l P a rk t h a t h av e been highlighted.

“The council has secured quotes for the work on the nets, and the required repairs will follow.”

With luck, I’ll be batting on a decent surface in a few months’ time.

And with some more luck, places like the Brockwell Park nets will be buzzing this summer, helping the next generation develop their skills, without any cost.