Brixton news, rumour and general chat - February 2016

[Rushy]

The one on St Matthews Road was very much in use when I passed it last week. An older looking chap was concentrating very intensely on something on the shelf. It looked like he might be prepping a crack pipe, which used to be a common sight in that box but which I have not seen for a long while. Over his shoulder I saw that he was busily propping up an open hard core mag with blobs of chewing gum. He picked up the receiver, dialed and at that point I thought I should probably give him some privacy.

 

[Maharani]

Is there a decent bed/mattress shop locally?

 

[brixtonblade]

Is there a decent bed/mattress shop locally?

These are on Coldharbour Lane.
Norris Bedding, London

Look good.

But I got mine from Ikea so no direct experience!

 

[Rushy]

Is there a decent bed/mattress shop locally?

Is the Classic Bed Company still on Norwood road opposite the park? I got a lovely mattress from there years ago which is still very comfy. More recently I've been buying online. Recently bought a really comfy firm memory foam double mattress on eBay for about£150.

 

[colacubes]

Warren Evans in Clapham Junction. Honestly the best money I've ever spent in my life. Not cheap but well worth it.

 

[editor]

I posted this a few days ago ad it's picked up a lot of attention from Bowie online community which makes me feel like my obsessive documenting of the shrine wasn't entirely in vain!

Brixton’s Prettiest Star: The David Bowie shrine five weeks after his death

 

[Winot]

I posted this a few days ago ad it's picked up a lot of attention from Bowie online community which makes me feel like my obsessive documenting of the shrine wasn't entirely in vain!

Brixton’s Prettiest Star: The David Bowie shrine five weeks after his death

Unfortunately for me the memory of Bowie is now irrevocably associated with the smell of Subway sandwiches

 

[Rushy]

Unfortunately for me the memory of Bowie is now irrevocably associated with the smell of Subway sandwiches

Better than urine. Although that will no doubt return once the flowers are gone.

 

[editor]

Unfortunately for me the memory of Bowie is now irrevocably associated with the smell of Subway sandwiches

I've been about 15 times and I can't say I've even noticed the smell of the place.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I've been about 15 times and I can't say I've even noticed the smell of the place.

It stinks.

 

[editor]

It stinks.

I only ever tried a Subway once. It was awful, with the tasteless food coming in a half ton of packaging.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I only ever tried a Subway once. It was awful, with the tasteless food coming in a half ton of packaging.

I've never been in. The smell coming from inside them puts me right off...

 

[colacubes]

I had one once at Cologne airport when my flight was delayed by 4 hours and nowhere else was open. I wish I'd gone hungry tbh. It was vile

 

[brixtonblade]

I had one once on the basis I figured "you can't really fuck up a sandwich".

Turns out you can.

 

[editor]

I was foolishly persuaded that it was some sort of healthy option but there was so much crap thrown on the thing that I may as well gone for a bucket o'lard in a bap. With a sugary top.

 

[twistedAM]

I was foolishly persuaded that it was some sort of healthy option but there was so much crap thrown on the thing that I may as well gone for a bucket o'lard in a bap. With a sugary top.

When I worked in the states in the 90s it was often the healthiest option in small-town America or along the Interstates. i have no desire to try them over here.

 

[cuppa tee]

Unfortunately for me the memory of Bowie is now irrevocably associated with the smell of Subway sandwiches

by srange coincidence there is a bootleg Bowie album with the title "Subway"

 

[Winot]

by srange coincidence there is a bootleg Bowie album with the title "Subway"

Scratch and sniff?

 

[Maharani]

Is the Classic Bed Company still on Norwood road opposite the park? I got a lovely mattress from there years ago which is still very comfy. More recently I've been buying online. Recently bought a really comfy firm memory foam double mattress on eBay for about£150.

I pass here pretty much everyday and I couldn't say if it's still there or not. I'll have to have a proper butchers on Monday.

 

[Rushy]

I pass here pretty much everyday and I couldn't say if it's still there or not. I'll have to have a proper butchers on Monday.

Same. But just lazily looked it up on street view and it looks like you will have to settle for cakes at that address.

 

[Maharani]

Same. But just lazily looked it up on street view and it looks like you will have to settle for cakes at that address.

I think they'll be too spongy

 

[Rushy]

I think they'll be too spongy

But so good for midnight munchies.

 

[Harbourite]

I was foolishly persuaded that it was some sort of healthy option but there was so much crap thrown on the thing that I may as well gone for a bucket o'lard in a bap. With a sugary top.

an artisanal bap i hope. with single estate iberico lard. vintage french bucket (distressed handle). organic unrefined cane sugar.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I had one once at Cologne airport when my flight was delayed by 4 hours and nowhere else was open. I wish I'd gone hungry tbh. It was vile

Next time, grab a Bifi-roll from a vending machine. It'll be vile too, but it doesn't pretend to be healthy!

 

[deadringer]

Ah, here we go again. The excuses and the weird financial comparisons with totally unrelated activities.

If you're comfortable having an exclusive cocktail bar opening up opposite one of the most deprived estates in London, offering 'deals' that are totally unaffordable to the community they reside in, and targeting rich tourists, that's fine. I'm not comfortable with it though. It illustrates the growing poverty gap all too graphically for me.

PS The Moorlands estate has one of the highest number of people on benefits, so that "hard earned" comment is particularly meaningless/patronising. Many are living on the breadline so can't afford £100 meals for two, regardless of whether their income was "hard earned" or not, and regardless of whether they'd like a "treat" or not.

Because not one person on that estate will ever spend £50 on a night out. Ever.

 

[editor]

Because not one person on that estate will ever spend £50 on a night out. Ever.

At no point did I make that claim, so please don't post try and misrepresent me so crassly. What I said was, "Many are living on the breadline so can't afford £100 meals for two."

That claim is backed up Lambeth's 'State Of The Borough' document:

The Moorlands Estate is classified as severely deprived in income, employment and wider barriers to services...

Coldharbour is the most deprived ward in the borough, unemployment is high and income is lower than the borough average.
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/State-of-the-borough-2012.pdf

 

[Thimble Queen]

Brixton-based football fans are collecting food donations for refugees at Dulwich Hamlet FC on 2 March. Details: Dulwich2Dunkirk to hold food collection at refugee football match

 

[ViolentPanda]

Because not one person on that estate will ever spend £50 on a night out. Ever.

He didn't claim that no-one would.

What you seem unwilling (or unable) to grasp is that it's not about whether someone from Moorlands occasionally uses the Shrub & Shutter, it's about how much use locals get out of them per se. It's a residential area with a dwindling number of affordable independent retailers serving locals, and an expanding number of expensive (in terms relative to local incomes) "life-stylised" food and drink outlets that serve more "tourists" than locals.

 

[Gramsci]

Not much different from going out a couple of times a in a week, which a lot of people do regularly and can easily cost more than £20 a night.

Of course some people across the estate and elsewhere might not be able to afford it. But some of them might not be able to afford even a single night out a month, never mind a week, in the cheapest pub in Brixton either. So if we are to judge the merits of a bar or restaurant on whether all members of the local community can afford it, I would suggest censuring every single venue in Brixton, even the 'Spoons, because there are certainly some people who cannot afford a drink in any of them.

Its in a row of shops that were all affordable. Not part of central Brixton. Having an upmarket cocktail bar in this row of shops is to much in ones face for my liking.

For instance I used to use George to cut my hair. He went and hey presto the new one charged more than I can afford.

Its a complaint up in LJ on the estate that these new places aren’t for them- as they put it. Why they are concerned it might happen to there area. They are wary of moves to "regenerate" LJ with sound reason imo. They see new places like this cocktail bar as the thin edge of the wedge- which I also think is well founded concern.

At one of the Council consultations some said they would like a Wetherspoons as its a pub they can afford.

 

[bimble]

Anybody know what the hell is going on now at the Blacka dread shop? It seems to have turned into an ironic teeshirt and sunglasses emporium - no more potatoes ?
Someone was saying he's been out for months but presumably there's no chance the record shop will re-appear, right?