Champagne & Fromage opening in Brixton soon

[passivejoe]

While the champagne glasses are being clinked in the Village, there's people struggling to survive mere metres across the road, there's people being evicted out of their homes, and there's growing numbers of people attending the nearby soup kitchen. It's fucked.

You could say the same of anywhere within Zone 2 with a housing estate nearby. Now expensive privately owned houses sit 'mere metres' from others perhaps struggling.

The alternative is a permanently itinerant population, with an individuals assessed and graded by disposable income and forced to reside in an area with those in the same grade. Every work promotion you get means a move to a new borough so that you can stick with your own kind. Made redundant? You can't make your old neighbours in the Greggs queue feel guilty for being able to afford a sandwich for lunch when you're so hard up... so its time for you and your family to be shipped up to an out of town homeless shelter where you can join other homeless families and all be homeless together. Then nobody has to even look at someone with more / less disposable income than themselves.

I may be a Tory politician in the making.

 

[teuchter]

I like the coffee from Greggs.

How much does it cost? I might give this a go.

 

[editor]

You could say the same of anywhere within Zone 2 with a housing estate nearby. Now expensive privately owned houses sit 'mere metres' from others perhaps struggling.

Sure. But there's not many places 'enjoying' this rate of change or seeing the poverty gap grow so quickly in such a condensed area.

 

[fredfelt]

Spot the difference

Asti spumanti
Champagne

Nescafe instant coffee
Federation flat white

Iceland cheddar
Posh cheese

Obviously there are other ways of looking at this but let me try:

Buy Asti and the profits are more likely to go to a global corporation, such as the 'General Beverage Coporation' than if you were to buy Champagne.

I don't know the Federation cafe but I assume they make a least a token efforts and get fair trade coffee. Whereas the best Nescafe can do is sign up to some bullshit Rainforest Alliance label which means fuck all.

Similarly Iceland cheddar is likely to be sourced from a mega dairy which is probably part of a vertically integrated dairy conglomerate whereas posh cheese probably comes from a farm which has been handed down through generations.

In each case the latter is more likely to be less 'tax efficient' and more integrated with with the locality where the product is produced.

 

[passivejoe]

Sure. But there's not many places 'enjoying' this rate of change or seeing the poverty gap grow so quickly in such a condensed area.

That's true. I do think that the change for Brixton has been on the cards for a while. Sandwiched between Clapham, Herne Hill and Stockwell, all with much higher property prices, it was only a matter of time. Which I assume is why Foxtons moved into reset property values.

 

[editor]

That's true. I do think that the change for Brixton has been on the cards for a while. Sandwiched between Clapham, Herne Hill and Stockwell, all with much higher property prices, it was only a matter of time. Which I assume is why Foxtons moved into reset property values.

For sure - it's been coming for ages and places like C&F are only going to accelerate the process. I would wonder though if those other places are seeing such a rapidly widening gap between the haves and the have nots.

It seems strange that when people are all talking excitedly about Brixton 'improving' and 'being on the rise,' soup kitchens and food banks are opening up in the neighbourhood for the first time. Strangely, enough, those new 'pop-up' ventures in Brixton don't seem to be getting much media attention.

 

[Badgers]

Going to ChaFro next weekend. Would Urban suggest a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon bubble? Which has the better vibe?

 

[TruXta]

ChaFro schadenfreude?

 

[editor]

Bubblegeddon.

 

[teuchter]

Going to ChaFro next weekend. Would Urban suggest a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon bubble? Which has the better vibe?

Have you decided on your trouser colour yet Badgers? Maybe you could put it to a vote?

 

[TruXta]

Have you decided on your trouser colour yet Badgers? Maybe you could put it to a vote?

He'd look darling in a pink tight one.

 

[Badgers]

I am going off the peg and off da hook

 

[T & P]

Coffee wankers

I do find it funny that many of the countries that have always excelled at coffee (Italy, Spain, etc) have always managed perfectly with 3 basic offerings (black coffee, white coffee and 'cortado'), one size and no fancy names and toppings.

Give me a proper Gaggia-machine coffee on a small espresso cup anytime over all that Starbucks style shit.

 

[Gramsci]

Obviously there are other ways of looking at this but let me try:


I don't know the Federation cafe but I assume they make a least a token efforts and get fair trade coffee. Whereas the best Nescafe can do is sign up to some bullshit Rainforest Alliance label which means fuck all.

Does Federation coffee get its coffee "Fair Trade"? Checked there website and it does not say that.

Just because a shop sells high quality goods like coffee does not mean that they are Fair Trade.

Starbucks are big conglomerate and a lot of there coffee is Fair Trade.

 

[Mr Bim of Bar]

Going to ChaFro next weekend. Would Urban suggest a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon bubble? Which has the better vibe?

Went past yesterday around 2pm and was very busy, think you best try a Tuesday around 6am

 

[isvicthere?]

What are you on about? It's owned and run by two guys from New Zealand who source their coffee from a guy based in recently gentrified Spitalfield Market. And it's fucking expensive in there. Nice coffee mind you. But I'm also sure the champagne joint serves up decently tasting stuff too.

Last time I went in Federation, it was cheaper than mega-chain Caffe Nero.

 

[isvicthere?]

I do find it funny that many of the countries that have always excelled at coffee (Italy, Spain, etc) have always managed perfectly with 3 basic offerings (black coffee, white coffee and 'cortado').

I'm pretty sure (will now go and check) that Italy has more ways of serving coffee than any other country.

 

[Manter]

I do find it funny that many of the countries that have always excelled at coffee (Italy, Spain, etc) have always managed perfectly with 3 basic offerings (black coffee, white coffee and 'cortado'), one size and no fancy names and toppings.

Give me a proper Gaggia-machine coffee on a small espresso cup anytime over all that Starbucks style shit.

You have clearly never been to Spain! There are hundreds of ways of having your coffee over there, they are very precise about it. They also love silly additives- vanilla, cinnamon, sugar syrups, orange oil etc.

 

[fortyplus]

What was on the site originally before C&F set up shop?

Faiz Food Store, an identikit Caribbean/Continental/Asian foodstore, it was the dry-goods and groceries arm of the greengrocers opposite. There are still quite a few of this type of shop in Brixton but only one remaining in the Granville (A&N, opposite Ilia's/Dagons, which has its greengrocery arm on the corner site opposite Mama Lan).

 

[Vibrant-Hubb]

It's all very well saying rich and poor live side by side in London, but it isn't a simple as that. There is a concerted effort of political policy to re-engineer London. Successive governments have not built social housing and have allowed huge sell-offs of estates to private developers. Benefits are being cut and this is causing terrible distress and hardship. (Did the benefits bill break the economy? No, not really. It was the bankers. Does it make sense to throw a disabled person out of an adapted home that cost thousands to adapt, because they have a box-room they use for storage? No.)

Prvate rents and house prices have soared - pushed up by city wages and lack of regulation to temper the buy-to-let free-for-all and rent levels. An influx of international wealthy have been encouraged by low property taxes to "buy-to-leave"" homes as investments that are not even let out. Street after street of homes in Belgravia sit empty with absurd gyms and pools unused. Buy-to-let and and buy-to-leave reach out all over London.

I'd have no issue seeing a champagne bar next to a greengrocer, if the dice weren't weighted. But currently they are, and it is obscene to weight the dice in favour of the already privileged.

(As an aside, I think the smug looking duo behind C+F must be uttely, uttely clueless about Brixton history and the fights for rights and against racism that went on here. They could have opened something mid-range and vaguely useful. But all this cupcake-isation is pampering for grown-up babies. Get over yourselves and do something to make the world better, arseholes).

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I

Prvate rents and house prices have soared - pushed up by city wages and lack of regulation to temper the buy-to-let free-for-all and rent levels. An influx of international wealthy have been encouraged by low property taxes to "buy-to-leave"" homes as investments that are not even let out. Street after street of homes in Belgravia sit empty with absurd gyms and pools unused. Buy-to-let and and buy-to-leave reach out all over London.

Yep. The housing boom is fuelled from the top by the international super-rich and the bottom by various govt first-time-buyers schemes. Rising housing costs reinforce inequality. And the knock-on of the empty homes in Belgravia is that city-types cannot afford to live there any more and are moving to the likes of Brixton instead (not just Brixton - the same thing is happening in Hackney, too).

I agree with you about the owners of C&F. They could have opened something with a range of things on offer, and tbh anyone who thinks it's great to push fois gras is a bit of a twat in my book. They are not as classy as they think they are.

 

[fredfelt]

Does Federation coffee get its coffee "Fair Trade"? Checked there website and it does not say that.

Just because a shop sells high quality goods like coffee does not mean that they are Fair Trade.

Starbucks are big conglomerate and a lot of there coffee is Fair Trade.

I've not idea about where Federation gets its coffee.

The point I was trying to make was the difference between mass produced, often low quality commodities from tax efficient global conglomerates vs small independent producers.

Obviously for many the only products which are in their price range are low cost mass produced products. However at what expense?

A corporation must be globally competitive. Production lines are put in place, jobs de-skilled, materials are sourced at the lowest possible cost from another faceless corporation who's in the same global race to the bottom with no room for inefficiencies.

Where as in my ideal world I'm thinking of a low volume cheese producer in rural France which provides a decent living to people in the community which it operates. Its supply network is local. Their focus on quality of product requires skilled workers. It respects the livestock which it relies upon. It pays it taxes locally and is in it for the long term.

When bemoaning C&F about and their exclusive prices it's easy to overlook that small, high quality businesses often provide skilled and meaningful jobs - the type of jobs that low price global operators operating in a neo-liberal economy have been very successful at stripping away.

It's sad that so many skilled jobs have been lost to globalisation that high quality produce increasingly seems to be only accessible to the wealthy. There's a systematic failure - and I think it's unfair to blame the results of that failure on high quality producers and retailers.

 

[Hollis]

The champagne bars that've opened up on the main railway stations platforms are quite interesting to observe.. Now if I wanted to engage in an ostentations display of how 'well-to-do' i was I think i'd head down to Searcys Champagne bar at Paddington. Quite a phenomema really - very 1980s.

 

[Gramsci]

I've not idea about where Federation gets its coffee.

The point I was trying to make was the difference between mass produced, often low quality commodities from tax efficient global conglomerates vs small independent producers.

Obviously for many the only products which are in their price range are low cost mass produced products. However at what expense?

A corporation must be globally competitive. Production lines are put in place, jobs de-skilled, materials are sourced at the lowest possible cost from another faceless corporation who's in the same global race to the bottom with no room for inefficiencies.

.

According to the Fair Trade website those who can use the logo must follow it 10 principles.

Which is

Principle One: Creating Opportunities for Economically Disadvantaged Producers
Poverty reduction through trade forms a key part of the organization's aims. The organization supports marginalized small producers, whether these are independent family businesses, or grouped in associations or co-operatives. It seeks to enable them to move from income insecurity and poverty to economic self-sufficiency and ownership. The organization has a plan of action to carry this out.

So whatever business that has the logo , big or small, must support small producers.

 

[TruXta]

According to the Fair Trade website those who can use the logo must follow it 10 principles.

Which is



So whatever business that has the logo , big or small, must support small producers.

I've seen some research saying that Fair Trade deals have actually lowered wages in some sectors in some countries - will try and dig that up. Not sure if it was to do with coffee or other commodity.

e2a - found it http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=15625

 

[Ms T]

Last time I went in Federation, it was cheaper than mega-chain Caffe Nero.

Last time I went, a small latte cost £2.50, which is more expensive that Caffe Nero. And that was some time ago now.

 

[Gramsci]

I've seen some research saying that Fair Trade deals have actually lowered wages in some sectors in some countries - will try and dig that up. Not sure if it was to do with coffee or other commodity.

e2a - found it http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=15625

An interesting read. After fredfelt posts looked at this a bit more.

I notice that small farmers who benefit from Fairtrade might employ casual labour at low wages.

As I said in previous post C&F marketing is that they present themselves as "small is beautiful". The assumption being that compared to large business they are somehow better. In practise they are marketing high end niche product.

As for Fairtrade here is a good article. The writer get to the point that Fairtrade is not about preserving "authentic" culture but about helping to overcome development problems in countries that historically been subject to imperialism ( he does not use that word but that is what it is) and have been held back in developing there countries.

 

[SarfLondoner]

If C&f continue to grow and open more branches as i would imagine is the aim.The "small is beautiful" ethos will soon go.

 

[Chilavert]

The champagne bars that've opened up on the main railway stations platforms are quite interesting to observe.. Now if I wanted to engage in an ostentations display of how 'well-to-do' i was I think i'd head down to Searcys Champagne bar at Paddington. Quite a phenomema really - very 1980s.

I went to the champagne bar at St Pancras a few years ago before the (now ex) girlfriend and I got the Eurostar; 'twas a good way to start the weekend.

For me that's the type of occasion (and location) for a glass of champers, not Brixton market.

 

[Mr Bim of Bar]

Oh the markets too DOWNMARKET for champers is it ?