{"id":13291,"date":"2022-04-25T11:07:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T10:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=13291"},"modified":"2022-04-25T11:07:03","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T10:07:03","slug":"reclaim-brixton-arches-markets-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=13291","title":{"rendered":"Reclaim Brixton – Arches, Markets & More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reclaim Brixton – Arches, Markets & More – 25th April 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A day of events in central Brixton on Saturday 25th April 2015 celebrated its social & cultural diversity, increasingly under threat as increasing rents and property development are forcing out local businesses and residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brixton boomed after the railways arrived here in the 1860s, the new transport links making it both a popular middle-class suburb and the major shopping centre of South London; it had the first purpose built department store in the UK, Bon March\u00e9, opened in 1877 and continuing in business until 1975 and probably the first street market in the world to be lit by electricity in Electric Avenue. While the wealthier moved out in the first half of the twentieth century to leafier areas, the increasingly working-class population grew, as did the markets, cinemas, pubs and other facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the war Brixton became increasingly multiracial. Arrivals on the Windrush were given temporary housing in the Clapham South deep shelter, and found jobs from the nearby Brixton Labour Exchange and housing in rooms and flats in the area. Though many had intended to go back to the Caribbean, most remained here, bringing over family to joint them and over the years Brixton became a centre of the British African-Caribbean community. In 1981 locals rose up against heavy handed policing but the conclusions of the Scarman report were largely ignored and it was only after the death of Stephen Lawrence that the police were declared “institutionally racist.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There was further unrest after the death of Wayne Douglas in police custody in 1995, and there was an increasing attempt by Lambeth Council to change the nature of the area seen by them as regeneration but by many in the area as gentrification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brixton Arches tenants protest eviction<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The railways run on viaducts through central Brixton, and the arches below them, particularly along Atlantic Road and Brixton Station Road have long provided low cost spaces for local businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But Network Rail decided to increase the income from these spaces and the existing tenants were threatened with eviction and then a tripling of rent for the refurbished space. One of the businesses, fishmongers L S Mash & Sons, had been trading here since 1932 and others since shortly after the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The businesses closed for two hours on Saturday lunchtime, many hanging white sheets with messages across the frontage and others inviting graffiti artists to decorate the shutters. These businesses, the arcades and the market really are the heart of Brixton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brixton Arches tenants protest eviction<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Take Back Brixton against gentrification<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Brixton Black Revs (revolutionaries rather than reverends) had wanted to march peacefully through the gentrified ‘Brixton Village’, but police and security guards blocked their way into the arcade, and instead it became a very short march to take housing and other activists directly to the Reclaim Brixton gathering in Wind rush Square<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Granville Arcade which links Coldharbour Lane, Atlantic Road and Popes Road was built in 1937 with over 100 shops in its covered avenues, and was named after its developer, P Granville-Grossman. The site had previously been the Lambeth Carlton Club, a large Georgian-style mansion buit in the 1870s and home to the Brixton Conservative Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was renamed Brixton Village around 2005 and was saved from demolition by a powerful local campaign which resulted in it and Reliance Arcade, Market Row being given Grade II listing<\/a>. The listing text makes much of the importance of the Afro-Caribbean nature of the markets, but although listing saved them from demolition it has not protected them from gentrification and the replacement of much of this character by trendy restaurants and boutiques. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Back Brixton against gentrification<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reclaim Brixton celebrates Brixton<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The area in front of the Tate Library and Brixton Ritzy was renamed Windrush Square in 1998. It had long been a popular meeting place for locals and local events, but Lambeth Council with offices in the town hall opposite clearly saw that as something of a threat, and spent a large amount on turning it into a desolate, bleak and unwelcoming windswept area to discourage the informal gatherings that took place there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although today the area was reasonably crowded, there seemed to be nothing very organised happening. Unite Community had a microphone at one side and there were a speeches, but few seemed to be taking any notice of them. When I walked around there was a group playing classical music, another of African drummers, and the Revolutionary Communist Group had its own megaphone and speakers, while people were having a light-hearted limbo competition to a musical accompaniment from the Unite ‘stage’. And some of my friends had disappeared to a nearby pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reclaim Brixton celebrates Brixton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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London Black Revs ‘Reclaim Brixton’ march<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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After an hour or two hanging around in Windrush Square, activists again took to the street for a lively march around Brixton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rather to my surprise, the march simply returned to Windrush Square. I hung around for a bit but everything seemed very peaceful and I mistakenly thought that perhaps nothing more would happen and decided to take a bus to begin my journey home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shortly after I left some people stormed and briefly occupied Lambeth Town Hall and a large window at Foxton’s estate agents was broken, and a few activists went into Brixton Village with banners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marcia Rigg whose brother Sean Rigg was killed in Brixton Police Station in 2008<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

London Black Revs ‘Reclaim Brixton ‘march<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Things in Brixton have got worse since 2015. In 2018 Hondo Enterprises owned by Texan property developer and part-time DJ Taylor McWilliams bought Brixton Market which includes the arcades and the following year announced plans for a 20 storey office block, which were approved by Lambeth Council in November 2020. Hondo now brand the whole market area as Brixton Village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More from the protests:
London Black Revs ‘Reclaim Brixton ‘march<\/a>
Reclaim Brixton celebrates Brixton<\/a>
Take Back Brixton against gentrification<\/a>
Brixton Arches tenants protest eviction<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reclaim Brixton – Arches, Markets & More – 25th April 2015 A day of events in central Brixton on Saturday 25th April 2015 celebrated its social & cultural diversity, increasingly under threat as increasing rents and property development are forcing out local businesses and residents. Brixton boomed after the railways arrived here in the 1860s, … Continue reading Reclaim Brixton – Arches, Markets & More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[7892,379,2143,7897,4145,223,3249,7893,7899,7900,1529,17,244,2904,1111,473,3559,83,16,7891,4141,7894,7895,2902,7898,5322,1351],"class_list":["post-13291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-own-work","category-political-issues","tag-arcades","tag-brixton","tag-brixton-arches","tag-brixton-black-revs","tag-brixton-village","tag-class-war","tag-evictions","tag-granville-arcade","tag-hondo-enterprises","tag-hondo-tower","tag-lambeth","tag-london","tag-march","tag-marcia-rigg","tag-market","tag-market-traders","tag-network-rail","tag-peter-marshall","tag-protest","tag-railway-arches","tag-reclaim-brixton","tag-rent-hikes","tag-rent-rises","tag-sean-rigg","tag-taylormcwilliams","tag-tower-block","tag-windrush-square"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13291"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13293,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13291\/revisions\/13293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}