Champagne & Fromage opening in Brixton soon

[TruXta]

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.

If the only criterium is that it's not a chain then it's not politically very relevant, no.

 

[Ms T]

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).

Soaring rents are making it impossible for everyone - I keep hearing about scary rent rises all over the place, most recently to a colleague at work who pays a crazy amount of money for a studio flat in Pimlico. It was affordable when she moved in several years ago, not now and when she complains they just say they could find somebody else in five minutes, who would take the flat without even looking at it.

This "Help to Buy" scheme is just going to make things worse. We need to build more flats/houses, both to buy and as social housing!

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I must say that "Brixton people leaving the area are making a fat profit and it's basically them to blame for gentrification" is a new one.

 

[TruXta]

I must say that "Brixton people leaving the area are making a fat profit and it's basically them to blame for gentrification" is a new one.

Who's said that then?

 

[alfajobrob]

No it doesn't.

Yes it does...if you actively promote an area then why be surprised when people believe the hype and move in.

 

[editor]

This "Help to Buy" scheme is just going to make things worse. We need to build more flats/houses, both to buy and as social housing!

We need council housing and we need more money paid by the tax-evading rich fuckers to pay for it. We don't need more people owning property and climbing the fucking property ladder, we need more affordable, secure, high quality housing for all.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

This "Help to Buy" scheme is just going to make things worse.

Yep. Just as 'part-rent, part-buy' made things worse. It pumps government subsidy in to an already overinflated private housing market from the bottom. I would argue that it is immoral for the government to put money into private housing.

 

[Ms T]

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.

Only Camberwell Grove, really, and that's pushing it!

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Who's said that then?

I'm afraid that is a bit of the subtext I'm getting here. I'm sure I am misinterpreting though.

 

[TruXta]

Yes it does...if you actively promote an area then why be surprised when people believe the hype and move in.

... and that's the only reason Brixton's become popular? I know Ed's ego is planetary in size but really neither he nor anyone else from the community* is to blame for what's happened.

*who's been vocal about the joys of Brixton

 

[Ms T]

Yep. Just as 'part-rent, part-buy' made things worse. It pumps government subsidy in to an already overinflated private housing market from the bottom. I would argue that it is immoral for the government to put money into private housing.

Taxpayers are underwriting mortgages - it's crazy.

 

[editor]

... and that's the only reason Brixton's become popular? I know Ed's ego is planetary in size but really neither he nor anyone else from the community* is to blame for what's happened.

*who's been vocal about the joys of Brixton

I still emails from people complaining about the 'negative' image my photos give of Brixton!

 

[TruXta]

I still emails from people complaining about the 'negative' image my photos give of Brixton!

Best make them a bit more negative then.

 

[Ms T]

Yep. Just as 'part-rent, part-buy' made things worse. It pumps government subsidy in to an already overinflated private housing market from the bottom. I would argue that it is immoral for the government to put money into private housing.

But I can understand why people are desperate to buy their own home, given the lack of secure housing and hugely inflated rents. Most of us are never going to be eligible for social housing.

 

[Winot]

Blimey, where have you been? It's the same for loads of pub/club workers/cleaners /fast food workers etc and it fucking sucks.

Assumed it was minimum wage. Didn't know zero hours was quite so wide spread.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm afraid that is a bit of the subtext I'm getting here. I'm sure I am misinterpreting though.

Was that aimed at me? It's not really what I said. But a basic problem certainly is people selling up for prices that people like them could never afford. They're not 'to blame'. But if they're not to blame, then the people buying at the inflated prices are not 'to blame' either.

 

[editor]

Assumed it was minimum wage. Didn't know zero hours was quite so wide spread.

Oh, it's everywhere. Rich fuckers like to do whatever they can to keep the poor at the bottom.

 

[TruXta]

I wonder how many people sell their houses significantly below market rates out of choice?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

But I can understand why people are desperate to buy their own home, given the lack of secure housing and hugely inflated rents. Most of us are never going to be eligible for social housing.

Yep. Absolutely. Many of the individuals stuck in the system are not to be blamed for their actions at all. I tried to get a part-rent part-buy a while ago as it was the only way I could possibly escape insecure short-term-lease private renting. I resented it, tbh. I resented not having the option of affordable, secure renting, but I certainly didn't have that option. Turns out I didn't even have the option of part-rent part-buy.

 

[Winot]

Oh, it's everywhere. Rich fuckers like to do whatever they can to keep the poor at the bottom.

Zero hours is certainly something I'd march against. Immoral as fuck.

 

[ska invita]

ROSAMUND SAYS:

The middle-classes, especially “yummy mummies”, are portrayed as the ultimate villains. But they’ve only turned up because the housing crisis has pushed them out of other areas. Why not criticise the oligarchs or hedge fund managers who treat London properties as assets, or the Government for not tackling the shortage in supply?

Hi Rosamund, since you are a well paid journalist writing on a paper that reaches 1.7million people evry day, owned by an oligarch and read by many hedge fund manages WHY DONT YOU write a piece that criticises them for forcing the rest of us normal people out of our communities? I'd like to read that in the Standard.

Whats more since you are reading this thread and plagiarising bits of it why dont you sign up and join in properly instead. Start a "hello im new here thread" in general so we know youve done so

 

[sleaterkinney]

Lots of Middle England have money tied up in properties, either in BTL or as an investment and no politician is going to want to piss them off by taking the heat out of the market. The tories are making it even worse at the moment to warm up their voter base.

 

[alfajobrob]

... and that's the only reason Brixton's become popular? I know Ed's ego is planetary in size but really neither he nor anyone else from the community* is to blame for what's happened.

*who's been vocal about the joys of Brixton

Not the "only" reason. I think it may have been a small contributing factor mind...who the fuck would have moved to Shoreditch etc. if it wasn't for websites\media telling them about how "cool" it was?

 

[alfajobrob]

Best make them a bit more negative then.

Too late for me I've been priced out to West Norwood....the shame

 

[Ms T]

I've just had a leaflet through the door from Winkworth's.

"We just let a property on your street, which has let a number of applicants disappointed. Our applicants have flexible budgets...

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Not the only reason. I think it may have been a small contributing factor mind...who the fuck would have moved to Shoreditch etc. if it wasn't for websites\media telling them about how "cool" it was?

There's a process. It happened in Shoreditch, Hoxton, it's now even starting to happen in Clapton and Homerton, Hackney Wick, all kinds of places that a few years ago you would have found it hard to imagine as places like that. Artists and others with not much money move to a place because it's cheap but relatively central. They do stuff - put on shows, club nights, etc - that brings others into the area, and the area becomes known as somewhere where stuff happens. And other people with a lot more money start wanting to move to the places where stuff happens. Eventually, the kind of people who made the place in the first place can no longer afford to live there, and the nature of the stuff that is happening there changes, becomes safer, more corporate.

 

[TruXta]

Not the "only" reason. I think it may have been a small contributing factor mind...who the fuck would have moved to Shoreditch etc. if it wasn't for websites\media telling them about how "cool" it was?

You've got this backwards. Shoreditch became trendy because when it was cheap (and dead central) lots of different people were able to mix there - artists/"cool" people as well as the poor, alongside the already existing middle-upper class segment. The media people conveyed it mostly after the fact. Now it's a lot less diverse than it was 10 years ago, like Brixton.

 

[Badgers]

Is this true?

Up the workers

 

[Ms T]

Zero hours is certainly something I'd march against. Immoral as fuck.

They really don't treat their staff well...

 

[Ms T]

There's a process. It happened in Shoreditch, Hoxton, it's now even starting to happen in Clapton and Homerton, Hackney Wick, all kinds of places that a few years ago you would have found it hard to imagine as places like that. Artists and others with not much money move to a place because it's cheap but relatively central. They do stuff - put on shows, club nights, etc - that brings others into the area, and the area becomes known as somewhere where stuff happens. And other people with a lot more money start wanting to move to the places where stuff happens. Eventually, the kind of people who made the place in the first place can no longer afford to live there, and the nature of the stuff that is happening there changes, becomes safer, more corporate.

^^ This.

I am constantly amazed by the kind of people I am seeing in Brixton these days. Doesn't stop the hugely annoying claptrap I get from my older work colleagues, mind, who live in the Home Cunties Counties.