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Brixton's Kaff Bar to close in July, as landlords triple the rent

Fucking awful... If they open another Cafe there never frequent it. :mad: Stealth flyer and sticker their windows...reminding them what they are complicit in.

It reminds me what they did to Spirit on Broadway Market, amongst others.

Increased his rent, community rallied to help and raised money, the whole thing dragged out, Spirit lost his fishmongers/grocers' shop which was everything he had...his livelyhood, his place in the local community etc. and he had a near breakdown...the bastards that moved in and took over the shop have made it into a fishmongers selling overpriced, ponsy fish. I can't believe they had no idea what happened before them. Insult to fucking injury. :mad: I will NEVER ever buy from them. I walk past and I feel punchy. :(
 
That's a real shame. Tripling the rent is having a laugh though, royally, wonder if something supposedly more lucrative has been lined up and the landlord has let greed get the better of them.

As has been said, better to have regular income at a reasonable level rather than erratic higher payments.
 
BigMoaner said:
I liked the place.

Trippled? What on earth could generate that sort of revenue?????
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That's the rub. The only businesses that will be able to pay nu brixton rents are those that charge over the odds. I brought this up on another mailing list and was called naive for hoping that a community should support all of it's members. Sad day indeed.
 
equationgirl said:
That's a real shame. Tripling the rent is having a laugh though, royally, wonder if something supposedly more lucrative has been lined up and the landlord has let greed get the better of them.

As has been said, better to have regular income at a reasonable level rather than erratic higher payments.
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It is the MO...It's happening everywhere. It's the way to get the long standing local shopowners out and cash in on Hipsterism which basically means more money then fucking sense or a social conscience :facepalm:
 
Rutita1 said:
It is the MO...It's happening everywhere. It's the way to get the long standing local shopowners out and cash in on Hipsterism which basically means more money then fucking sense or a social conscience :facepalm:
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I've lived in Glasgow for nearly six years, and during that time part of the district where I live has been gentrified. The area closest to the university is worst, there's been a glut of private student accommodation buildings, including a monster nine story one (planning appear to be ignoring the non compliance as the planning application was only for six or seven stories). There were over 50 objections lodged against the development however most were dismissed or ignored by the planners as they were NIMBY objections rather than substantive.

I ended up moving into a slightly different part of town as my landlord wanted yo put the rent up by more than 10%, for a property in need of maintenance with a damp problem.

More hipster places have opened up, but they're not all doing great.

There's a real shortage of social housing including family housing, everything is becoming geared towards rich students who can afford the private halls.
 
Absolutely gutted for Steve if this goes ahead. The success of Kaff hasn't been given to him through riding a popular wave, I remember him telling me that he didn't have a day off for the first couple of years. When TIme Out ranked it as one of the best places to go in London, the easiest thing would have been to court this kind of attention further, jack up prices, and generally go the way of the unwelcoming, could-be-anywhere cafe. But it's remained the best value place in Brixton and always willing to try out something new or get involved with supporting a local cause.

Can only see this being replaced by a loss-leader chain/brand looking for a Brixton site, I find it hard to believe that there's the possibility to generate enough revenue to pay triple the rent.
 
Something of a heartbreaking update on Kaff's Facebook page:

A quick message regarding our recent news. We appreciate all your kind words and support. Kaff has been an epic journey and we thought we were doing alright.

Unfortunately we can't afford the new rent proposals by our landlords. Sadly we've been dealing with this for almost a year now and there's not really much more we can do.

Thank you again to everyone's support and more importantly being part of a true Brixton venture. With all due respects we can't answer or respond to all messages straight away it's all a bit emotional but thank you again.
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This is really fucking sad. That site had a hideously high turnover for years and Kaff have done brilliantly to make such a success of it as it doesn't really have passing trade. The food at lunchtime is delicious and you can get a good feed for a fiver which is great for brixton these days

I'll really miss it.
 
tompound said:
....Can only see this being replaced by a loss-leader chain/brand looking for a Brixton site, I find it hard to believe that there's the possibility to generate enough revenue to pay triple the rent.
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Sadly, I suspect you are right. And if it is another chain, boycotts need to be the order of the day.
Terrible news :(:mad:
 
Ms T said:
This. I don't go to Kaff much, but a rent hike of this magnitude is outrageous.
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Interesting also that they say they've been negotiating about it for a year - so not a response by the landlord to very recent events.

I'm struck in this by how removed and faceless landlords are (can be) from the location they own properties in. We see the people running and using local businesses yet often have no idea who the landlord is and have no way of interacting. Yet they (and how they choose to run their businesses) are key to how an area is to live and work in.
 
Crazy. What the fuck is the landlord thinking of? Curious to see what type of new tenant takes over. Chain? Surely the wrong location? Wagamama? Pizza Express? Big enough to cover the cost but seems odd to me.
 
Never really spent a huge amount of time there but feel sorry for the owners, obviously. When did Kaff start up? 2008ish?
 
I'm sorry to see it go. I can't have been there more than once or twice in the past year but it's somewhere I always recommended to people for a friendly and lively night out.

Is it three landlords because it is three premises (three shop fronts) knocked together? That would be horribly messy to negotiate.

I'm actually not surprised that new tenants might be prepared to pay three times what these places were going for 5 yrs ago. It was a ghost street as far as retail and leisure were concerned. And we were in recession. Brixton has since overflowed into it making it far more viable as a location. I'm more surprised that there isn't protection for small businesses against rises of this magnitude over such a short period.
 
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The irony is that the success of the bar must be in some part down to the gentrification of the last five years and the custom it has brought for that kind of place.

For the landlords to raise the rent so much that the business is no longer viable is pretty harsh though.
 
Kaff was one of the very few affordable cafe/bars of its kind in Brixton. It was laid back and relaxing in the daytimes, and coffee was just £2 so it was great for freelancers looking for a space to work (where else can replace it?). Beer and cocktails could be as low as £3 in the evenings and a fiver would get you a tasty feed.
 
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