Everyone is as bad as each other when it comes to "gentrification" and U75 for making it available to the web chattering classes is one of them.
Champagne & Fromage opening in Brixton soon
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editor
hiraethified
Brilliant.
TruXta
tired
this is a joke right?
Sort of, but like most jokes has a ring of truth attached.
I've even tried to buy champagne once in the Albert fwiw. They didn't have a bottle cold*
Needless to say, there's a big difference between a brewery owned pub offering a couple of sparkling options on a slightly standardised menu and an enterprise centred around the selling of champagne. I can't say I'm exactly overjoyed by the prospect to say the least.
I had some early fears about the pace of gentrification in the market, but this is two-fingers up ridiculous really.
*In mitigation, we did get a bottle of sparkling wine instead.
Needless to say, there's a big difference between a brewery owned pub offering a couple of sparkling options on a slightly standardised menu and an enterprise centred around the selling of champagne. I can't say I'm exactly overjoyed by the prospect to say the least.
I had some early fears about the pace of gentrification in the market, but this is two-fingers up ridiculous really.
*In mitigation, we did get a bottle of sparkling wine instead.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Isn't the problem more that people are moving out and selling at such high prices that only people in very different circumstances from those moving out can afford to move in? Fair few people have made a killing by moving out from places like Brixton.
editor
hiraethified
That would be the same shite deal offered for many of the regular jobs available in Brixton to people who aren't fortunate enough to work in media or whatever, and I doubt if it's much different amongst many of the waiting staff in the Village (unless they're lucky enough to own the place or be nicely monied, of course).
TruXta
tired
No it doesn't.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Of course, but you can't blame them for selling their house at the market price. They have to buy in the same market, presumably.
editor
hiraethified
A lot of the people leaving Brixton aren't doing so by choice, but have been forced to do so by landlords looking to make a killing and massively increasing their rent.
And then there's all those lifelong squatters being kicked out by the co-op council too.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Of course. Still shit though.
TruXta
tired
IDK, I've often heard it said on here that people started selling back in the 80s and many moved out to cheaper places/more for your money places further afield.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Or perhaps landlords inflating prices and forcing people out, or in fact selling places, or councils doing compulsory purchases and redevelopments, or many of the other mechanisms occurring across London whereby people really are forced out of areas.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Bingo.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Often because they have had a family and need more space, but can't afford to stay in Brixton. A friend of mine was forced out of E Dulwich for that reason, despite earning a pretty good salary. As LM has said elsewhere, the soaring house prices benefit very few people. even the middle classes.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I don't blame them. I have friends who've sold up after 40 years in Brixton, bought a house on the south coast and pocketed more than half a million. But they did not sell to people like them - people like them (they're retired, he was a printer, she worked in admin jobs) are nowhere near able to buy even a flat in Brixton now, let alone a house. They weren't forced out (although they were pretty skint - Maxwell stole most of his pension), but the choices were stark: stay in Brixton and live carefully, or move out and have more money than they know what to do with. It's their children who are forced out.
editor
hiraethified
And all the nu-money coming into Brixton isn't going to make a scrap of difference to their lives (in fact, it'll make things worse, as the soaring rent prices will make it almost impossible for those at the bottom of the pile to stay in their own community).
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yes, that is true. Renters are forced out.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Who owns Dairylea sure seems like a whale sized red-herring given the more pressing issues of gentrification and social displacement.
"So don’t chuck that brick through the window — let’s use it to build."
"Us" eh?
To be fair to her, she does say she grew up in Camberwell. She's more of a local than most of us!
That's partly true, but also because I suspect people didn't have the same idea of property as profit potential back then. Many of my relatives moved out because the suburbs offered complete, comparatively modern houses with fancy treats like central heating and your own front door, not portions of ramshackle victorian terraces. Most working families didn't have the will or ambition to tackle those big projects, nor could foresee that the neighbourhood would improve so quickly.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Is this true?
TruXta
tired
That's a fair point.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
We wouldn't be able to afford our house now, probably. Despite being "lucky enough to work in the media".
editor
hiraethified
Some independents stores can be every bit as exploitative and as uninterested in local matters as chain stores, and the distinction continues to get fuzzier as 'independents' morph into fast growing chains with wealthy backers. The traditional image of an independent store is often quite at odds with the reality of the actual company itself.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Yes.
editor
hiraethified
Blimey, where have you been? It's the same for loads of pub/club workers/cleaners /fast food workers etc and it fucking sucks.
editor
hiraethified
I've certainly lived in Brixton longer than she has and parts of Camberwell can be as posh as Hampstead, not that any of this makes a great deal of difference to the price of a Dairylea cheese slice.
