Brixton news, rumour and general chat - February 2015

[CH1]

I was a regular at Kwik Save. They were part of the great Baked Bean Price Wars of Brixton, which was then followed by the lesser remembered Bleach Price War. Heady days!

I remember the 3p large cans of Baked Beans. In those days Kwik Save was definitely cheapest in Brixton like Lidl is at the moment.

 

[editor]

I remember the 3p large cans of Baked Beans. In those days Kwik Save was definitely cheapest in Brixton like Lidl is at the moment.

And don't forget the super-stripped down French (?) supermarket that opened up where Joy was. They were part of the Bean Wars!

 

[CH1]

And don't forget the super-stripped down French (?) supermarket that opened up where Joy was. They were part of the Bean Wars!

I remember that one too - I thought it was locally owned but the staff mostly seemed French speaking - probably students given their age. The shop didn't last long though.

I was just looking up Iceland and they applied for planning permission in 1987, so I guess they've been around in Brixton since then - a lot longer than I thought. They weren't a discounter in those days.

 

[Crispy]

Surely Crispy was being disingenuously ironic - anybody who was in Brixton before 1985 would remember the Pope's Road Tescos.

I was running round a primary school playground in Bristol in 1985, but even still, you're right I did know the POpe's Road site used to be a supermarket

 

[Nanker Phelge]

....

wrong forum

 

[Casaubon]

When I dropped by that way a few months ago, I momentarily misread it as 'bourgeois' and thought it some political statement. Then I realised it said 'B Our Guest' @self.

I've mis-read it as 'bourgeois' since it went up.

 

[editor]

The flattened crossing lights are still strewn across Coldharbour lane, but now sport a natty hat.

http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2015/02/brixtons-fallen-street-crossing-light-gets-a-natty-orange-hat/

 

[T & P]

They haven't removed it yet???

If I were an ambulance-chasing type with a high pain threshold I'd be going there to trip over it and get a few grand compensation. I thought the one thing local authorities were fastidiously efficient about was H&S... This is pisspoor.

 

[Ms T]

Any fool knows that the perfect place for an Aldi or Waitrose is on Effra Rd. Does anyone actually use that Currys anyway?

 

[snowy_again]

I annually return a 'broken' laptop under warranty and replace it for a new one.

Every time I go in I swear to my self it's the last time I'll cross the threshold.

 

[Rushy]

Any fool knows that the perfect place for an Aldi or Waitrose is on Effra Rd. Does anyone actually use that Currys anyway?

2 reams of A4 for 4.99 and a sonos bridge last week. Oh. And a can of air.

 

[gaijingirl]

Any fool knows that the perfect place for an Aldi or Waitrose is on Effra Rd. Does anyone actually use that Currys anyway?

we do - it's a bit like an electronics lending library.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Any fool knows that the perfect place for an Aldi or Waitrose is on Effra Rd. Does anyone actually use that Currys anyway?

Its one of the few places I can carry a TV home from.

Always annoys me the way the entrance welcomes cars and make pedestrians walk the long way round and then fend for themselves.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Just been offered a bribe of over £100,000

Spoiler: Bribe

View attachment 67257

Who is offering such a bribe? Is that even legal? is it so they can make you homeless in the future?

 

[Winot]

Its one of the few places I can carry a TV home from.

Always annoys me the way the entrance welcomes cars and make pedestrians walk the long way round and then fend for themselves.

It's like an out-of-town shopping centre but in town.

 

[friendofdorothy]

It's like an out-of-town shopping centre but in town.

Did they not notice it's in town when they planned it?

 

[Winot]

Did they not notice it's in town when they planned it?

God only knows. It's horrific anyway.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Who is offering such a bribe? Is that even legal? is it so they can make you homeless in the future?

Thatcher's children. Yes and yes.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Saw that electric avenue was still 'closed' - how much shit have they got to clear from those sewers?
Its putting me off shopping.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Thatcher's children. Yes and yes.

Please name and shame company doing this.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Please name and shame company doing this.

The Department for Communities and Local Government.

 

[colacubes]

Saw that electric avenue was still 'closed' - how much shit have they got to clear from those sewers?
Its putting me off shopping.

They'll be done by 13th Feb according to the signs. The drains have collapsed again. This has been happening on and off for at least 10 years and unless you can actually see shit running down the street as in 2005 there's no reason you should be put off. You can't even smell it. Knackered Victorian sewers with too much pressure on them due to more people than were intended to use them.

 

[se5]

Another bus strike tomorrow - I think all the routes travelling through Lambeth are affected (or as far as I could see arent on the list of routes unaffected at https://www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/bus-strike) so the only buses running will be being driven by scabs

 

[CH1]

Who is offering such a bribe? Is that even legal? is it so they can make you homeless in the future?

I got one of these (again). What's the point of leafleting streets like Colharbour Lane which are either owner occupied or privately let - except for 310 Coldharbour Lane which is guarded by Guardians (presumably a Lambeth "street property" awaiting auction).

 

[CH1]

Saw that electric avenue was still 'closed' - how much shit have they got to clear from those sewers? Its putting me off shopping.

Most likely it's the effect of years of "pop-up" urinals!
I saw two massive pump-out vehicles in reserve outside the Karibu on Monday night.

 

[CH1]

Another bus strike tomorrow - I think all the routes travelling through Lambeth are affected (or as far as I could see arent on the list of routes unaffected at https://www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/bus-strike) so the only buses running will be being driven by scabs

Why is TFL not mentioning Coldharbour Lane is closed eastbound from Barrington Road. It's causing mayhem. Yet when I walk up to Tescos its like a normal utility situation - they've coned off half the road and disappeared until after the weekend.
TFL seem to be in the NHS stakes for chronic incapability if you ask me.

 

[teuchter]

Of course there's a moral issue, but it goes far wider than Brixton. That said, people here use Brixton as the example because we live here, we see the poverty, and we see the effect that expensive clubs, bars and restaurants are having, especially as some, perhaps a majority of those outlets, repatriate their profits outside the area. That might not bother the majority of posters, or even more than a tiny minority of Brixton residents, but it bothers me because I've been watching this happen in different parts of south London for over 40 years now, and I'm fairly well-acquainted with how the story plays out.



And who is it judging what comprises sneering, and who is sneering, teuchter? You who won't judge how people spend their money, but are happy to judge posters whose worldview and morality differ from yours?



In my own case, I don't "eat out". Most restaurants aren't disability-friendly in terms of accessibility yet, and likely won't be until accessibility is mandatory - even then, it'll only apply to new-build.
I'm not sure people are objecting to "frivolous spending when eating out". It appears to me that the objection is to the price per se, and perhaps to the knock-on effect that higher prices can have on other outlets. We've already seen "local" restaurants closing over the last few years because of rent/lease cost issues. I certainly worry that rentiers are encouraged by higher prices in "entertainment"-based outlets such as club, pubs and restaurants, and that this feeds an already-existing problem for locals.


I don't object to people spending their money as they wish.
I find spending £20 on a "faux Berlin Brunch experience" sad. I find it sad for 2 reasons:
1) As you've already noted, it's likely to be inauthentic.
2) You're unlikely to pay the Euro equivalent of £20 on brunch in Berlin even at a decent quality restaurant, rather than a cafe.

A more affluent population is moving into Brixton. This means that businesses and landlords have a wealthier market to cater for. This has the consequence that some of those less wealthy who have been living here for some time are priced out of housing and/or find that their shopping and entertainment options narrow. I think we can agree that this is happening, and that these are not consequences we like to see.

So, what to do about it? That question has to involve considering the causes rather than just the symptoms. It's caused of course by things taking effect on a much larger scale than Brixton and these are indeed much discussed on here, on other threads at least. There's lots of stuff that could happen to ameliorate the situation. Rent caps. Tenancy law reform. More social housing. Protecting existing social housing. Making developers stick to their affordable housing quotas. Planning policy intervening, at a local and national level. No doubt you could much more to this list.

These things get a mention but so often they seem to be drowned out, on this thread in particular, by a focus on the symptoms. Discussion at length of what type of people are spending what amounts of money where and on what. The way they are dressed. The way they speak. That the events they are attending are not "authentic". That the food isn't served on plates. That the cocktails have silly names. How much they are paying for something that they could have bought in Iceland for 50p.

Can't deny that I sometimes indulge in making fun of that stuff too. But it seems to me that relatively harmless piss-taking gets mixed up on here with the anger about the wider changes in Brixton and then it's not just having a bit of a laugh about what other people get up to; it's a kind of attack/judgementalism disguised as something more benign. An attack on a vaguely defined group of people. Poshos out, yuppies out, hipsters out. You don't need to give me a lecture on why it's not the same thing as saying "no blacks or Irish". I get that and I think most readers of this thread do too. The point is not whether it's "as bad" as that but that it's wrongheaded for similar reasons. Lazy thinking that doesn't help do anything about the underlying issues. I would argue counterproductive, even.

You say you "don't object to people spending their money as they wish". If you say so, but I see a lot of posts on this thread which as far as I can see revolve around just that. There definitely seem to be objections to people spending a certain amount on certain things. Why otherwise these cost comparisons of restaurant meal vs weekly shopping bill. Or tasting-menu tours vs volunteer local history walking tours. Or popup dinner vs 2 pints in the Albert.

On the other hand you say the objection is to the price "per se". So there is an objection to certain things costing more than a certain amount. Ok. So this is presumably an objection to the businesses rather than the customers. But what exactly is the objection to and what is supposed to happen differently? Should the businesses set their prices lower than what they can get away with? At some unspecified discount to whatever the going rate is? Does whether or not they live locally affect how they should set their prices? Should they reduce their prices even if their rent is going up? You talk about the "knock-on effect that higher prices can have on other outlets" as if those higher prices aren't already the knock-on effect of something else. It's just an "objection" to symptoms rather than causes again, is it not?

And like the "objections" to the spending of money in certain ways, the "objections" to businesses seem so often to turning into an attack on a person or a percieved person or type of person. Suddenly the size of their kitchen seems to be part of the objection and in effect we are back to judging them on "spending their money as they wish". And why do small scale operations like the market tour get such a disproportionate amount of flak compared to, say, any number of nightclubs which must turn over sums that are orders of magnitude greater? It looks suspiciously like these objections aren't just the result of concern about the overall story that's playing out but are somewhat selective. Maybe some have a tendency to turn a blind eye to those establishments they themselves like to attend, despite them being every bit tied up in the "overall story"?

By the way, I haven't actually said that I don't "judge" anyone. I am liable to come to certain conclusions about people according to their apparent wealth. Of course it's not totally irrelevant; people's wealth can indicate how they are likely to percieve the world and what their vested interests might be. But when people are making comment on the wealth and spending choices of others (either individuals or perceived groups) it's a bit rich to act all indignant when it's pointed out that maybe they themselves are fairly privileged relative to the benchmark they are using (ie Brixton's poorest) to make their pronouncements. Because ultimately the only argument being made is a simplictic one that something is expensive relative to something else.

 

[Mr Retro]

Back on topic, the editors bean link is the nearest to a hug from the Internet as it's possible. This is gold:

"According to The Grocer, the retail trade magazine, its rivals' prices are the lowest for 101 years.

Historians at Heinz, which introduced tinned baked beans in 1901, say beans were by no means the cheap product they are today. They were introduced to the market at nine old pence - the equivalent after inflation of pounds 1.50 at today's prices."

 

[editor]

Back on topic, the editors bean link is the nearest to a hug from the Internet as it's possible. This is gold:

"According to The Grocer, the retail trade magazine, its rivals' prices are the lowest for 101 years.

Historians at Heinz, which introduced tinned baked beans in 1901, say beans were by no means the cheap product they are today. They were introduced to the market at nine old pence - the equivalent after inflation of pounds 1.50 at today's prices."

I think I'd like to go for a drink with a Heinz historian.

 

[brixtonblade]

I think I'd like to go for a drink with a Heinz historian.

Probably better to have a drink in the beer garden rather than the bar unless you've got a heavy cold