Angel pub on Coldharbour Lane becomes arty community space run by Brick Box

[editor]

Compare the mix of the crowd that went in there before with afterwards ?.

There was no mix of people because it was almost always totally empty because it was such a dreadful dire pub.

The Rest Is Noise certainly wouldn't have been my first choice of pub to replace it, but it was quiet in the week and you could get a pint of London Pride there for £2.90. The food wasn't bad either and not too pricey.

Their quizzes were painful though.

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/rest-is-noise-bar-pub-brixton.231094/

 

[RaverDrew]

I remember it for the worst pie and mash I have ever eaten in my life. Never before have I seen pastry that so closely resembled hardboard in every respect and the claggy lumpy lukewarm gravy on top did little to disguise the fact. The pint that came with it was good enough though.

Yeah, actually my main memory of the food in there was waiting an hour for fish n chips one NYE. It turned up still cold in the middle but I had no time to send it back or go eat elsewhere so chanced it. I then spent the rest of the night doubled up in pain. Didn't bother with the food there ever again.

I rarely go to pubs for food though tbf. For me pubs are all about the booze and good company, and the Goose was always great value for both.

 

[editor]

Here's a thread about the pub's demise. I still stand by my words too:

I liked the Rest is Noise: it's true it was a bit Hoxton at times, but they still let in loads of the old boys, some of the music was interesting, they had real ales and it was a fair musical mix too - Blacker Dread did regular nights there and I saw a loads of bands for free.

Other urban comments:

I really liked what they did with the space (for a pub, not so much as a live venue though) and i thought it was reasonably well-priced but i got a local's discount. The food was decently priced too.

it had a good selection of booze too - i'm puzzled why it's closing to be honest. i really liked it.

And even Mr Raver Drew's comments:

Despite not being particularly enamoured with the place in it's present incarnation, I'd much rather see it being used as a slightly pricey yet uber-cool nightspot than a homogeneous high street store

Well, you've got a homogeneous high street store now.

And this compares with the Angel and its £40 Supper Club, how exactly?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

@ RaverDrew
Sometimes though you just want some food with a beer.

 

[RaverDrew]

There was no mix of people because it was almost always totally empty because it was such a dreadful dire pub.

That's just simply not true at all, more often than not you'd struggle to even get a seat or table in there, day or night.

 

[Kanda]

And this compares with the Angel and its £40 Supper Club, how exactly?

It's a one off night. Just like a club night?

 

[editor]

That's just simply not true at all, more often than not you'd struggle to even get a seat or table in there, day or night.

That's probably because the seats were covered with sticky stale beer and quite possibly piss.

But this version of the pub being near-permanently packed is a sheer fantasy and you know it.

The only time it got busy was when there was something on at the Academy - but don't take my word for it - just read the online reviews or the threads here.

 

[RaverDrew]

That's probably because the seats were covered with sticky stale beer and quite possibly piss.

But this version of the pub being near-permanently packed is a sheer fantasy and you know it.

The only time it got busy was when there was something on at the Academy - but don't take my word for it - just read the online reviews or the threads here.

It was a big cavernous space which often gave it the feel that it was emptier than it was, but there was a steady daily trade of regulars, and the only fantasy here is your assertion that it was always empty. Just a complete fabrication by someone that didn't even drink there regularly.

You clearly have a disdain for the kind of crowd it attracted, many of whom used to drink in The Angel previously.

 

[Ms T]

FFS. How can you be this stupid?

They're all GIGS with well known performers/bands and DJs, not club nights. And £12 is not £15, even if your highly confused, twisty world.

I clicked on those links, and they're pretty much all club nights, in my world. I think the folks at Brick Box should be given a chance, tbh. And Saltoun Supper Club is a local business, employing local people (my neighbour's son, for one). And the guy who runs it gets all his ingredients from the market/local businesses.

 

[teuchter]

FFS. How can you be this stupid?

They're all GIGS with well known performers/bands and DJs, not club nights. And £12 is not £15, even if your highly confused, twisty world.

What exactly is your definition of a "club night"?



I'm really confused.

(Not that whether or not they are club nights is actually in any way relevant to the point I was originally making)

 

[Dan U]

i think using beerintheeveing as a benchmark for pub reviews is a bit iffy. if you did that you'd never go to The Albert. Much better are the reviews of people on here i reckon.

"A real horror, especially the morbid staff (miserable 'jam rolls' and psycotic neo fascist in Union Jack t-shirt). Some very interesting customers though. Beer: dire. Decor: tatty Music: Eastern European Plastic Punk. Best avoided"

"The pub’s ardent defenders would insist that the Prince Albert is one of the few traditional Brixton pubs that has resisted the urge to transform into a trendy style bar and has a mixed clientele, actually. The irony is that the pub has become to all intents and purposes precisely that which it has sought not to. It’s style is ‘alternative’,’ radical rebelliousness’ and ‘cool’. It has become unconsciously trendy by trying sooo hard not to be trendy in the way same that Student Grant and his friends are pilloried in Viz. You can tell that you are in the heart of ‘vibrant multicultural Brixton’ when you are in the Prince Albert because there are so many white people sporting dreadlocks, actually.

The truth is that the clientele is not really all that mixed, they are made up of mostly young, professional, white and middle class nouveau arrivistes to the area who were attracted to Brixton because it was / is perceived as being a ‘vibrant area’ (see fawning Guardian-type articles ad nauseum et ad infinitum). These are the sort of people who passionately bemoan the gentrification of Brixton – a process in large part caused by them. Does that matter? No not really if you just fancy a couple of swift swallies."

^^ sounds like it was written by someone banned off here

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/34/348/Prince_Albert/Brixton

i love that site. its reviews for my local are proper nuts

 

[Crispy]

^^ sounds like it was written by someone banned off here

I'll give you 20 quid if that wasn't anna key

 

[Dan U]

I'll give you 20 quid if that wasn't anna key

i thought that. or Ern.

 

[Gramsci]

You seem to think that putting stuff in capital letters makes it true.

There ARE lots of venues in Brixton that put on club nights and DO regularly charge such amounts.

I can go further and back up my capital letters with evidence though:

Electric Brixton this Friday £25

Jamm in a couple of weeks £15 main release

Plan B in a couple of weeks £15 main release

Brixton Academy £32 last weekend

414 in a couple of weeks £12 unless you turn up in the first hour

Brixton Clubhouse (ex Dex) in a couplel of weeks £15 on the door

There you go, a quick look reveals 6 club nights in Brixton within a couple of weeks of today, average price £19.

All very well teuchter. But as I said in previous post all these places are commercial enterprises. The issue is that Brick Box are charging £40 for an inaugural event at what they say is community space. That is going to exclude sections of the community. Ok u can get in for £5. But even that for some is a lot.

If Brick Box said they were going to run this place for arts events and entertainment and going to charge I would not have that much of a problem. Its all the dressing it up as community this and that I am queasy about.

Ive started to look at there aims on there website and it makes interesting reading. Will see if I can post up about that later.

I also still think there should be proper difference between commercial enterprises and those that say they are there to provide something special for the community.

 

[editor]

What exactly is your definition of a "club night"?

I've no idea what you're on about any more. But my club nights are indeed free and I've no idea why you keep on posting up weird information about unrelated live events with big name acts. I'll think I'll just ignore you from now on.

 

[Ms T]

i think using beerintheeveing as a benchmark for pub reviews is a bit iffy. if you did that you'd never go to The Albert. Much better are the reviews of people on here i reckon.







^^ sounds like it was written by someone banned off here

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/34/348/Prince_Albert/Brixton

i love that site. its reviews for my local are proper nuts

It's not that far off the mark, tbh.

I'm not keen on the Albert, personally. I guess I'm one of those hoity-toity gentrifiers who likes food with her drink, which is preferably a decent glass of wine. Or maybe I'm just old.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

..........Its all the dressing it up as community this and that I am queasy about...........
I also still think there should be proper difference between commercial enterprises and those that say they are there to provide something special for the community..........

This is my take too Gramsci. There have always been places of commercial entertainment in Brixton since the 19th century and that's fine. It's what provides income for half of my household.

The Angel isn't in the centre where the clubs and so-on are. It was the last local pub left in the Moorlands Triangle, which as I said earlier is very deprived. it is in no way a community space for the people who live around it.

 

[editor]

You clearly have a disdain for the kind of crowd it attracted, many of whom used to drink in The Angel previously.

That's one almighty and thoroughly dishonest piece of misrepresentation there. You shoudl be ashamed of yourself.

I've only ever commented on the state of the pub, which was a shithole.

 

[editor]

I clicked on those links, and they're pretty much all club nights, in my world. I think the folks at Brick Box should be given a chance, tbh. And Saltoun Supper Club is a local business, employing local people (my neighbour's son, for one). And the guy who runs it gets all his ingredients from the market/local businesses.

No one is stopping them "having a chance." As far as I can see they're doing just fine anyway.

What I have questioned, however, is whether a £40 private event in what was a traditional black pub is the best way to introduce yourself to the neighbours, many of whom are unable to afford such sums to indulge themselves in the "Hysteria Treatment Room and lounge with fops and dandies in the Opium Den."

I've already suggested what I think would have been a better way to do it, but - hey! - what do I know! I only live here!

 

[editor]

I clicked on those links, and they're pretty much all club nights, in my world.

But you've probably never heard of any of the acts playing have you?

If those acts weren't playing hardly anyone would bother going to the venues - that's why the acts names are right at the top and not the name of the club. Some are big names too: Sven Vath, General Levy, Todd Terry etc etc.

They're gigs and that's why teucher had to rummage around to find those prices for events set sometimes weeks into the future - all the ordinary club nights are priced nowhere near his inflated figures.

 

[boohoo]

This is one event at the place which might give them some cash to do a freebie for the locals or offer some of the space cheaply. Spaces/organisations don't run on air!

As someone living locally, i do think good for them and hope for a variety of other activities there. I just see this gentrification as another day in the life of Brixton (saw this happen before in the 90s).

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

This is one event at the place which might give them some cash to do a freebie for the locals or offer some of the space cheaply. Spaces/organisations don't run on air!

As someone living locally, i do think good for them and hope for a variety of other activities there. I just see this gentrification as another day in the life of Brixton (saw this happen before in the 90s).

True, but I don't think it was so fast and in your face as it currently is.

 

[boohoo]

True, but I don't think it was so fast and in your face as it currently is.

yes, I think you are right about that!

 

[Kanda]

Has it been that quick? when did Granvile Arcade get the Spacemakers treatment??

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Has it been that quick? when did Granvile Arcade get the Spacemakers treatment??

Maybe not, it just feels like it

I think part of that is the amount of publicity the area's getting as well makes it feel that way

Suppose that's one of the disadvantages of the internet etc.

 

[editor]

It's definitely changing faster than at any time I can recall and most of it has happened in the past few years: there's more new restaurants and vintage shops than ever before, and with the eviction of Rushcroft Road/Clifton Mansions - and the Barratts homes going up opposite the Barrier Block - you can see how the demographic is changing.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's definitely changing faster than at any time I can recall and most of it has happened in the past few years: there's more new restaurants and vintage shops than ever before, and with the eviction of Rushcroft Road/Clifton Mansions - and the Barratts homes going up opposite the Barrier Block - you can see how the demographic is changing.

I agree, too many new properties going up for people who can afford them, but barely any council housing. And far too much tweeness shopwise

 

[Kanda]

I agree, too many new properties going up for people who can afford them, but barely any council housing. And far too much tweeness shopwise

Council housing hasn't been built anywhere for years to be fair.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Council housing hasn't been built anywhere for years to be fair.

True, and I don't know who owns all the land where development is taking place, and I wonder how much land Lambeth has sold off for developments?

I don't know anything about this type of stuff I'm afraid, although I do remember reading stuff about them having to sell properties off due to cutbacks etc. (I think!)

 

[Mrs Magpie]

True, but I don't think it was so fast and in your face as it currently is.

Plus the poor and the nearly poor are being squeezed as never before so the contrast is a real slap in the face. All sorts of local amenities are losing funding, people losing jobs, people with disabilities losing services, income. Everything, fares, fuel, food has risen in price. My rent has gone up by over a third in less than 10 years but our income has been staying still. A lot of places that people on lower incomes knew and loved have been priced out (thankfully Noor has survived though which is one crumb of comfort). Suddenly on my doorstep is some sort of decadent fin de siècle cabaret (costume pre 1910? I've got some old clothes from the 1990s but that's it) for £40 proclaiming itself as a community event. Mike Leigh would have a field day with that scenario.