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Brixton news, rumour and general chat - April 2014

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I just want to post free style for a moment.
I have previously expressed an analogy with the dirty river. We come to the river because we are community. We hang out our washing, we come to gaze, we come to tell something, we come to listen to learn, we laugh and we joke. We argue and sometimes we fight. This is how it should be.

But i got it wrong, this is not a river it's a beach. It's a beach of a thread. We sit on the beach, some of us shit on the beach.

I like the news, love the general chat but there ought to be more rumour.

I will give you a rumour now if you fancy it.

I have recently been offered a substantial financial retainer for season two of a tv series that is unlikely to air. Of course i banked it.
 
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editor said:
I'm still up. Had the Albert dancing along to a great reggae band all night. ;)
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I'm too fucked to make it to the Hamlet, if i go to bed now then maybe i can top a personal world record (set friday evening) of meeting double figure Urbanites unknown to me all in the space of 24 hours. Which would be an amazing experience.
 
el-ahrairah said:
seriously, it doesn't really matter, this debate stops being fun and interesting when it becomes about point-scoring. it could have been fun and interesting but this desperate attempt to make editor look bad is fucking nonsense and really spoils it for almost all of us reading this.
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didn't we used to tell people to 'take it to PMs' ?
 
2014-04-26_123424.jpg

This has got me thinking. This video by a local band is veritably stuffed to the brim with riot footage, and there's a scene at 3:35 that has something on fire right next to the tube station. What was it?

 
editor said:
View attachment 52813

This has got me thinking. This video by a local band is veritably stuffed to the brim with riot footage, and there's a scene at 3:35 that has something on fire right next to the tube station. What was it?
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Dexter Deadwood said:
Dunn & Co? (Gentlemans outfitters)
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I'm more inclined to think it was 7-Eleven which was situated where WH Smith is now, though in a pre-redevelopment shop unit. It was burned out in the riot of December 1995 (after a death in custody - Wayne Douglas case).

The Independent of 15th December 1995 reported:
8.20pm: Mounted police were brought in as other officers in riot gear tried to move protestors north and south, clashing with a group outside a 7-Eleven store next to Brixton Underground station on Brixton Road. One witness said: "They were pushing people with their shields and the window smashed. Some people were saying the police actually pushed someone into the pane. After that, all hell broke loose."

A mob ran into the store, causing staff to flee through a rear exit, and looters virtually emptied the shop while, outside, bricks and bottles were thrown at police and motorists.

8.55pm: Riot police moved into a crowd that had gathered outside the Ritzy Cinema. With other roads blocked by police, witnesses reported general panic. One taxi driver who got in the way - and hurled racist abuse - was dragged from his cab and beaten, but he managed to escape and drove away.

9.30pm: Rioters continued to throw bricks and bottles in running battles with police until a group set fire to the looted 7-Eleven store. The store manager, Chris Edun, 33, said: "I just stepped out on to the street for a couple of minutes and when I came back the whole place was up in flames. There were people coming in, taking stuff from the shop. The six staff that were working at the time just ran out the back and left them to smash the place up."

Looting and vandalism continued along Brixton Road for at least 30 minutes more. Morley's department store, a hi-fi shop and florists' shop were all looted. Customers in Pizza Hut were showered with glass when a gang of youths threw bricks through its front fascia.

10pm: Violence escalated until the most harrowing incident of the night occurred. John Tisshaw, 39, a motorcycle patrol officer, was dragged from his motorbike at the junction of Ferndale Road and Brixton Road by a gang of youths who severely beat him.

One witness to the attack said: "They were kicking him and one of them had a big stick which they used to hit him. He had his helmet on, so at least that protected his head. He was lying on the ground, but then they got him on to his knees and they were holding him like that, kicking him in the back as if they were trying to break his spine. It was horrific."

PC Tisshaw was rescued by colleagues after a member of the public had driven at his attackers, causing them to back off. He suffered a broken shoulder and cuts and bruises.

10.35pm: Looters turned their attention to a car showroom in Effra Road. They wheeled three cars from a forecourt and set them alight.

Reports vary, but within minutes of the Effra Road incident, police, journalists and local people heard three gunshots. Armed police were deployed and hundreds of police in riot gear fanned out to try to reclaim the area.

11.15pm: A gang forced along Ferndale Road by the police raided the Frank Johnson sports shop, looting expensive training shoes and sports gear. A shop stocking Adidas sports gear was also looted.

Midnight: The Dog Star pub at the junction of Atlantic Road and Coldharbour Lane was vandalised as part of the mob's retreat.

1.10am: Police had secured the centre of Brixton, although small sporadic outbreaks of trouble continued along Coldharbour Lane.

By the time Brixton returned to a relative state of normality, 50 shops had been looted, three pubs had been attacked, 10 cars and a coach had been torched or vandalised, 22 people had been arrested and 12 people, including three police officers, had been injured.

Dunn & Co was indeed burned out - but that shop was at right angles to the tube station and further down under the railway line. I think that burned down back in 1981. This person certainly thinks so: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9003948@N05/10498388786/
 
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Dexter Deadwood said:
An excellent collection of photo's.
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Not mine unfortunately, but a fantastic selection of Routemasters on there!

I don't have a particularly vivid recall of that 1995 riot.

I went to the Ritzy to watch "La Haine" and coming out of the cinema it seemed a bit like the end of the film happening in real life - but I must have gone home as I have no detailed recollection of what was in the newspaper report. A work colleague was in a group of friends and said they ended up taking shelter in the 414 Club.
 
Ms T said:
Have you tried Cafe Max yet, editor? Another good place is the Moroccan or perhaps Algerian place on Brixton Station Rd, which is closed for refurbishment at the moment.
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The is also the Cafe Rio on that stretch of road. Its amazingly cheap.

One of the issues raised at the recent consultation meetings about the redevelopment of that area is that this stretch of Brixton Station road is one of last areas of Brixton that has is affordable.

There is a danger it will be lost when that area is redeveloped.
 
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