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Champagne & Fromage opening in Brixton soon

Dexter Deadwood said:
It's a symbolic protest and ought to be a bit of fun, keep it real?
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Yes - because of the "cool" anti-branding of Yuppies Out I am sure it will attract a lot of people just looking for a bit of edgy fun before they head out and spank their pay on getting wankered on their own choice of booze. That's part of what bothers me about this protest. Style and fun (for some) over substance.

Reclaim the Streets was subversive and fun. No one could complain anyone was being personally threatened.
 
gabi said:
Arguably that place was one of the pioneers of brixton's latest wave of gentrification. Really cant be arsed reading ten more pages of this but if you could lay off the personal abuse that would be appreciated btw.
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I really don't see what the problem is: if you don't like this new café/bar - don't go! It's as simple as that! It's not going to affect earnings in the Albert or the Phoenix, and although the argument that rising business rents is going to affect some areas of Brixton, you can't blame individual shops for that - they're merely responding to the demand.

I like the choice and don't see how the swanky new cafés can't get along just fine with the old fashioned greasy spoons.
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Rushy said:
Yes - because of the "cool" anti-branding of Yuppies Out I am sure it will attract a lot of people just looking for a bit of edgy fun before they head out and spank their pay on getting wankered on their own choice of booze. That's part of what bothers me about this protest. Style and fun (for some) over substance.

Reclaim the Streets was subversive and fun. No one could complain anyone was being personally threatened.
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People feeling threatened is one thing, people being threatened is another. I see no evidence of personal threats being directed at anyone.
 
Rushy said:
Reclaim the Streets was subversive and fun. No one could complain anyone was being personally threatened.
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I should add that it was also a very big part of the accident that convinced me to buy a flat in Brixton.
 
Gramsci said:
The well worn interiors of C&F are a fabrication. C&F is designed like that. In reality it is a high end luxury product. When I say product I do not just mean the champagne. I mean the whole brand. This has been thought out and marketed. The people who set up this business are not stupid. Its not really a French cafe its a fantasy reconstruction for the well off. Its a luxury brand ( there is logo for The Luxury Network on there website).

There website goes on about "authentic French flair" and "rustic".

This is not France and the connotations are different. You are right to say connotations. The design of there "bistro" invokes in the reviewers that this is an authentic bit of France in London. Its a marketing fantasy aimed at the well off.
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Just like Café Rouge then.

If you are talking about interior design then I agree with you. However your earlier post:

Gramsci said:
The ES piece says this is independent shop supplied by independent family producers. The emphasis according to there website is against mass production and for artisan production.
One review I read said there shops are like going into a French village. There own website talks of "rustic" fare.
The brand incorporates aspects of counter culture/ green politics . Such as opposing mass production. Supporting small is beautiful ethos.
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focussed on their products not their design, and my reply was in relation to that.
 
gabi said:
Actually, the recently arrived to brixton people who are organising this protest against recently arrived to brixton people might be able to help you out...
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at the risk of "flogging a dead donkey", the main one who is involved in this was born and bred in peckham. not brixton no, but fairly close by
 
Brixton Hatter said:
We have a long history of protest and resistance in Brixton and I reckon it's a fucking insult to all the locals and activists (some who use these boards, but many who don't) who've put their time and their lives into trying to make things better. In just the past few years locally we've had an active pensioners' anti-cuts group, loads of housing activists and protests, boycott workfare shutting down various retailers and protesting outside A4E on Brixton Road, local public sector strikes, UkUncut shutting down various banks and businesses, anti-cuts union activities, campaigns to save local libraries/the Rec/etc, anti-Foxtons stuff, people protesting planning applications and asset sell-offs, anti-eviction protests, a Thatcher death party....
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All of those protests (with the possible exception of anti-Foxtons, and even that is arguable) are protests against the actual harmful policy, or an organisation which is putting into effect the harmful policy.

This is a protest aimed at a signifier. That is the difference.

Brixton Hatter said:
...and yet somehow this protest is unfair on the champagne-swilling wealthy classes who are prepared to spend £50 on a few drinks....
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£7.50 on a glass, £1 more than the Lounge.
 
Winot said:
All of those protests (with the possible exception of anti-Foxtons, and even that is arguable) are protests against the actual harmful policy, or an organisation which is putting into effect the harmful policy.

This is a protest aimed at a signifier. That is the difference.
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A signifier of what?

And why is aiming at signifiers so wrong? Are there no longer any connections between the signifier and the signified in post-modern brixton or something?
 
Monkeygrinder's Organ said:
I tend to agree with Brixton Hatter tbh.

There's a fairly simplistic view of the gentrification process put out on here sometimes, where a cosy established community of poor folk are booted out by the evil wealthy. I think that's a massive simplification, the reasons for which have been gone over and over many times on here. But the actual effects of what's going on are very real and the ultimate message of all the 'but what about this?' sort of objections is mostly 'don't do anything.'

In all honesty this protest doesn't seem all that well thought out, it does look a bit like what it criticises, and it seems to be strongly associated with a band whose main characteristics are being fucking shit, and being complete wankers. But at least it's something, and maybe something will come out of it. Maybe not but who knows?
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Anything that raises awareness of the important issues such as housing, rent increases etc is a good thing. This protest might well achieve that, whether directly or indirectly.

However if C&F were somehow to be driven out of business and out of Brixton by those campaigning against it, I struggle to think of a single good thing that would come out of it.
 
butchersapron said:
A signifier of what?

And why is aiming at signifiers so wrong? Are there no longer any connections between the signifier and the signified in post-modern brixton or something?
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This person might me able to help you out:

butchersapron said:
It's not 'only' a type of sparkling wine, it's also a signifier of a whole series of oppressive and unequal social relations, slap bang in the middle of some of those on the worst end of those inequalities.
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Rushy said:
No - you didn't say that. It's from the old thread you linked to.
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Oh ok. There's a treasure trove of stuff in that one actually.

I think none of us knew what would happen over the next ten years. The gentrification of the market is what it is, but that can be directly linked to the people sitting in the town hall who gave free rent to willing entrepreneurs a few years back. That new bubbly place is a handy target but it began long before they moved in.
 
Winot said:
This person might me able to help you out:
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How does that help you tell me why it's wrong to aim at signifiers? How does that help you explain why there is no connection between signfiers and the signified? if anything it explains exactly why it is justified.
 
butchersapron said:
How does that help you tell me why it's wrong to aim at signifiers? How does that help you explain why there is no connection between signfiers and the signified? if anything it explains exactly why it is justified.
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I was answering your first question. We will have to disagree on the answer to your second - I think it's unfair/inconsistent/unhelpful to target individuals who (imo) have done nothing wrong (apart from a few marketing errors); you clearly think they are fair game. I don't think we will ever see eye to eye or persuade each other on that.
 
Of course one of the ways in which these inequality producing social relations that you quoated me talking about attempt to justify themselves is by positing themselves as perfectly justified and just the way things are - that places like this monstrosity are in fact perfectly normal and to object to them would be madness. Challenging this notion is a step towards undermining that damaging acceptance. Challenging anti-social behaviour or hate-speech is good community minded behaviour - that effectively is what opposing these inequality reinforcing places and ideas is doing. Their very existence rather than any errors of marketing is the offence.
 
Winot said:
All of those protests (with the possible exception of anti-Foxtons, and even that is arguable) are protests against the actual harmful policy, or an organisation which is putting into effect the harmful policy.

This is a protest aimed at a signifier. That is the difference.



£7.50 on a glass, £1 more than the Lounge.
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You're not seriously trying to draw a comparison by anything other than price between the Lounge and this new place, are you?
 
cesare said:
You're not seriously trying to draw a comparison by anything other than price between the Lounge and this new place, are you?
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Just a corrective to Brixton Hatter's comment. Pointing out that you don't have to be one of the "champagne-swilling wealthy classes who are prepared to spend £50 on a few drinks" to drink at C+F.
 
gabi said:
The two threads are startlingly similar, given that it was more than ten years ago
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Which goes to your point that gentrification of Brixton isn't new, and which I agree with. But the gradual gentrification process has accelerated substantially in the last ~four years for a number of reasons. This new place is a signifier of (amongst other things) accelerated change rather than just gradual gentrification.
 
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