Brixton news, rumours and general chat - June 2017

[editor]

Loads on this weekend:
Brixton What’s On: bars, gigs and clubs in and around town this weekend, Fri 30th June – Sun 2nd July 2017

Including:
Party hard and support the Brixton Ritzy workers at the Prince Albert, Brixton, Sat 1st July

I'm also at Market House tonight - PM if you want to get on the free guestlist
Beyoncé to Britpop: Brixton Buzz party at Market House – mail us for guest passes! Fri 30th June

 

[Reiabuzz]

Erm. The Albert doesn't pay its staff the living wage. I've pointed this out before but it still hasn't been sorted from what I understand. Does that flag flying from its entrance not seem a bit incongruous?

 

[editor]

Erm. The Albert doesn't pay its staff the living wage. I've pointed this out before but it still hasn't been sorted from what I understand. Does that flag flying from its entrance not seem a bit incongruous?

That's because it's a stupid, patronising point. The Ritzy staff (and sacked workers) are free to have a post-strike party wherever they fucking like. It may have escaped your attention, but there aren't that many accommodating or sympathetic venues to be found in Brixton on a Saturday night any more, and the landlord - who has no say on what staff get paid - has always been sympathetic to their cause. But the more this cause gets publicised the more likely it is that ALL workers may get the living wage.

But would you rather the workers have no party at all just to placate nitpicking critics like you? Where else would you suggest?

 

[Reiabuzz]

The place across the road, where you're DJing tonight does pay their staff the minimum wage - why not go there? I know the drinks are cheaper in the Albert (or free in some cases) but I'm really surprised they would literally nail their colours to the mast of a joint that is adopting exactly the same practice they're protesting about.

And please, if you're going to throw a word like 'patronising' about, look up the definition first.

 

[editor]

The place across the road, where you're DJing tonight does pay their staff the minimum wage - why not go there? I know the drinks are cheaper in the Albert (or free in some cases) but I'm really surprised they would literally nail their colours to the mast of a joint that is adopting exactly the same practice they're protesting about.

And please, if you're going to throw a word like 'patronising' about, look up the definition first.

1. Market House is already booked up
2. They prefer the vibe at the Albert, a venue that has supported them for years on end
3. Drinks are much much cheaper at the Albert (it may have escaped your notice but money is tight: some people have been sacked while others have lost a lot of money through striking).
4. They have never called for a boycott of all bars not paying the living wage

But seeing as you've gone out of your way to criticise the workers, can you now assure me that you only ever give your custom to places that pay their staff the living wage?

And what have you done to help the workers in their struggle? Anything?

 

[CH1]

Reiabuzz editor I normally wouldn't bother to comment as a laissez faire liberal - but it just so happened there was a broker's report on Greene King this very morning.
Greene King is about double the size of Cineworld in terms of turnover and profits. That said brewing and catering are mature industries. Greene King is a UK domestic company, whereas Cineworld has world-wide aspirations. Presumably that means that Greene King's wage comparator is rural Suffolk and Cineworld's metropolitan Bucharest.

 

[editor]

Reiabuzz editor I normally wouldn't bother to comment as a laissez faire liberal - but it just so happened there was a broker's report on Greene King this very morning.
Greene King is about double the size of Cineworld in terms of turnover and profits. That said brewing and catering are mature industries. Greene King is a UK domestic company, whereas Cineworld has world-wide aspirations. Presumably that means that Greene King's wage comparator is rural Suffolk and Cineworld's metropolitan Bucharest.
View attachment 110471

I'm not defending Greene King in the slightest - those fuckers should pay the living wage like everyone else - but I think it's very much up to the Ritzy workers where they want to go after a day on the picket line. There is no strike by Greene King workers, but if the Ritzy workers prove successful in their battle to ensure people get a decent wage, it's likely other industries will feel the pressure. That's why bedroom critics nitpicking about where the strikers choose to go for a beer after losing a day's wage on the picket line is a pathetic and patronising thing to do.

 

[editor]

After the horrors of Grenfell, Lambeth is looking around the Barrier Block . The only cladding on the block encases the newly installed gas pipes AFAIK.

 

[snowy_again]

The estate I live on had a letter soon after - mostly telling us things we already knew. Bikes locked up in the landing areas were stickered with Lambeth Living* 'we will remove this by x' dates. They haven't appeared to have followed that up.

* Given that LL doesn't exist anymore the pedant in me wonders whether they're open to misrepresentation.

 

[CH1]

After the horrors of Grenfell, Lambeth is looking around the Barrier Block . The only cladding on the block encases the newly installed gas pipes AFAIK.
View attachment 110472

I'm sure you are right. Seems that Lambeth's social housing never got made over with the new cladding material.

I'm wondering about that block at the top of Brixton Hill though. The one that used to be the Planning Department (Courtenay House). Looks from snooping around on the web that it got transferred to MHT for shared ownership sale.

Wonder what happens if you've bought a shared ownership flat and they then spend £1 million changing the cladding? Potential for a large overhang of service charge there.

 

[editor]

NO

 

[Jangleballix]

Thought south africa became independent some years earlier than ghana

SA was a Dominion from 1910 till leaving the Commonwealth in 1960.

 

[editor]

Thread continues here: Brixton news, rumours and general chat - July 2017