Pop Brixton (formerly Grow Brixton) Pope's Road development

[twistedAM]

Here's a swishy video from a Pop Brixton trader.



Meanwhile, the Standard is all excited about Pop's £45 a head 'feast'

Pop Feast: Join a street food banquet in Brixton

Is there anywhere in Brixton that does tamales? At streetfood prices?

 

[editor]

Entrepreneurs! Get down to this community business incubator event!

Start Up Brixton, a “community business incubator” for budding entrepreneurs will be at Pop Brixton, 28th May

 

[editor]

Is there anywhere in Brixton that does tamales? At streetfood prices?

'Street food' is a term that has been so abused as to become meaningless.

 

[trabuquera]

twistedAM yes there are at least 2 places - the Colombian butcher (I think it's called Las Americas) on Popes Road, and a couple of the concessions in the bizarrely astroturfed 'world food court' behind Wahaca (the former Brady's), where there are at least 3 small kiosks selling Colombian / Peruvian food. BUT all of these 3 places are takeaway only, very very small and their opening hours and stock availability are erratic.

If you can cope with empanadas instead of tamales then the choice is wider and you could even go and sit down and eat them, inside or out, with delicious salsa, at El Rancho de Lalo,

 

[editor]

... and a couple of the concessions in the bizarrely astroturfed 'world food court' behind Brady's....

There is a central (covered) eating area there though, and it does seem to be opening up a bit more regularly now.

Brixton Food Court in Atlantic Road takes shape

 

[ViolentPanda]

Correct. Various HAs and some form of Lambeth.

One HA tenant told me he'd voted Tory because of this (lunatic) policy.

I wonder whether absurd prices will make RtB more difficult than before.

I'm certain that current prices will put a brake on genuine RtB from most people, given that the maximum discount is nowhere near what it used to be. I'm not sure it'll stop speculators trying to penetrate this new source in the same way they did LA RtB, though.

 

[T & P]

Entrepreneurs! Get down to this community business incubator event!

Start Up Brixton, a “community business incubator” for budding entrepreneurs will be at Pop Brixton, 28th May

Seems a useful tool for anyone thinking of starting a business, or propping up their existing one.

 

[ViolentPanda]

agree with what VP says about Cool. Is Brixton "edgy" and "cool" anymore?

Or is it seen as more a Clapham type area?

From what i can tell, i'd say the later.

the hipsters and "young creatives" will soon turn their nose up, and move on. but by then the damage will have been done. then it probably would have morphed into Clapham, or Clapham lite at best. maybe it already is.

I was chatting with a chap who got moved onto my estate after Rectory Grove in Clapham Old Town was evicted/cleared by Lambeth a couple of years ago. He loves living in Brixton because it doesn't have the "party town"/vomit-fest/braying hooray gala feel that Clapham has developed over the past 10-15 years, although he does say "it hasn't, yet".

 

[editor]

I was chatting with a chap who got moved onto my estate after Rectory Grove in Clapham Old Town was evicted/cleared by Lambeth a couple of years ago. He loves living in Brixton because it doesn't have the "party town"/vomit-fest/braying hooray gala feel that Clapham has developed over the past 10-15 years, although he does say "it hasn't, yet".

Oh, I don't know. There's plenty of bellowing buffoons stumbling about and pools of vomit to step over around Coldharbour Lane in the early hours.

 

[teuchter]

Advertising for some nights in Brixton actually encourages people to drink until they fall over

 

[CH1]

I'm certain that current prices will put a brake on genuine RtB from most people, given that the maximum discount is nowhere near what it used to be. I'm not sure it'll stop speculators trying to penetrate this new source in the same way they did LA RtB, though.

Presumably they still have that scam whereby property companies lend a tenant the purchase price and make them sign an agreement to hand over the property as soon as the legal sale embargo period has expired?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Presumably they still have that scam whereby property companies lend a tenant the purchase price and make them sign an agreement to hand over the property as soon as the legal sale embargo period has expired?

Pretty much, or promise them X number of rent-free years on top.

 

[twistedAM]

twistedAM yes there are at least 2 places - the Colombian butcher (I think it's called Las Americas) on Popes Road, and a couple of the concessions in the bizarrely astroturfed 'world food court' behind Brady's, where there are at least 3 small kiosks selling Colombian / Peruvian food. BUT all of these 3 places are takeaway only, very very small and their opening hours and stock availability are erratic.

If you can cope with empanadas instead of tamales then the choice is wider and you could even go and sit down and eat them, inside or out, with delicious salsa, at El Rancho de Lalo,

Takeaway is perfect, thank you.
Have had several very so-so empanadas in London but will try El Rancho de Lalo's - I take it theirs are homemade?

 

[twistedAM]

'Street food' is a term that has been so abused as to become meaningless.

An imported American/Californian term that does not equate to a country whose traditional streetfood is a sloppy kebab at midnight.

 

[editor]

Not sure if it's been posted before but this analysis of pop ups is right on the money. Pop Brixton are mentioned.

Ephemeral and opportunistic, pop-ups at first seem to draw on the same lineage as free parties or squat raves, repurposing unwanted spaces to create something daring, disruptive and unburdened by red tape. The reality is often a bit different: as outlined in this excellent article by Dan Hancox, pop-ups are just as likely to be a vector for larger corporations to make use of cheap rents and some vaguely rebellious branding.

Even when that’s not the case, many pop-ups are still a poor replacement for spaces which more naturally emerge from or respond to a specific community’s needs. Their finite lifespan demands a quick and direct route to profitability, which perhaps explains why so many of them veer towards universal feel-good fodder: an ocean of barbeques, cupcakes, and cocktails, pop culture references, and cheerfully bland infantilisation of a ball pit for ‘adults’.

Near where I live in South London, a disused space originally earmarked for the “Grow Brixton" project and intended to focus on community groups and environmental sustainability, was launched earlier this year having been rebranded as Pop: Brixton, now run in conjunction with property developers The Collective and hosting product launches for Adidas.

Pop have since been granted permission to redevelop a multi-storey car park in Peckham, previously home to Frank’s Bar and the Bold Tendencies arts organisation. Bold Tendencies’ own proposal for the site, built around 800 affordable artists’ studios and Peckham’s long-term creative sustainability, was rejected in favour of Pop’s focus on “pop-up retail and a multi-use events space". Pop-ups become, in Hancox’s words, “a gloss of fake ‘community’ painted over the cracks rippling through Britain's social structures".

The Quietus | Opinion | Wreath Lectures | The Near-Death Of Raves: The Fate Of Independent Music Venues In 2015

 

[editor]

And here's a piece exposing the shameful cash-raking practices of Pop Brixton pals'n'partners, The Collective:

There are many things about all this that are anger-making, but the first that leaps out at you is the price. The rooms are going for the low, low price of £1,083 a month, or almost exactly half of the average Londoner’s take-home pay. And for that, remember, you don’t get a house or even a flat. You get a room that’s about three metres square, which is fine if you’re a sulky teenager but not great if you’re 30; as well as a bathroom, and a two-ring kitchen hob you share with a neighbour.

Collective living’s fine for students but for everybody else it stinks | Jonn Elledge

 

[trabuquera]

Takeaway is perfect, thank you.
Have had several very so-so empanadas in London but will try El Rancho de Lalo's - I take it theirs are homemade?

I think they're homemade but I couldn't be sure tbh (the ones in the food court + the butchers are definitely homemade). And Rancho de Lalo's salsa is certainly made on site and to me is what makes the meal* really. Otherwise it's just a pasty that speaks Spanish, innit? You'd be better off with a hot patty from somewhere.

(* well, that sauce and the amazingly reasonable £1.50 per empanada)

 

[twistedAM]

I think they're homemade but I couldn't be sure tbh (the ones in the food court + the butchers are definitely homemade). And Rancho de Lalo's salsa is certainly made on site and to me is what makes the meal* really. Otherwise it's just a pasty that speaks Spanish, innit? You'd be better off with a hot patty from somewhere.

(* well, that sauce and the amazingly reasonable £1.50 per empanada)

I like fried empanadas not the baked ones, so agree with you on the patty comparison.

 

[trabuquera]

Lalo's ones are definitely fried. In a lovely nubbly sandy cornmeal crust. (I'm drooling like a Pavlov's dog now, need an empanada ... thanks for nothing twistedAM )

 

[sealion]

Not sure if it's been posted before but this analysis of pop ups is right on the money. Pop Brixton are mentioned.

Good article that by Dan Hancox. He is bang on.

"Edgy, street, funky, quirky – that's not only a full house in arsehole bingo, it also neatly explains how the pop-up serves the needs of late capitalism: it's a lunge to inject coolness and spontaneity into consumerism, in an age when we are finally starting to realise we don't need so much of this junk – and anyway, we really can't afford it".

 

[Harbourite]

In the interests of science and good reporting, I popped into Pop today and this is what I saw. Not a single tourist/customer to be found anywhere, while outside Station Road was positively bustling with shoppers, coffee drinkers, traders, people chatting etc etc.

The place really does seem to exist outside of the community its located within.

View attachment 86695

View attachment 86696

Having vowed never to set foot inside, I've done so twice in the last 10 days (the shame, the shame).

First time for the Calais fundraiser which was excellent. The ramen place was nice and friendly

Second time to go to Kricket - food and staff excellent. Fellow diners would not be, like, totally out of place on "Made in Chelsea"?

Have been and won't go again. Completely soulless and contrived. It could be anywhere. Zero connection with what's around. Shame.

Plus a load of the plank flooring had been taken up for what smelt like a nasty sewerage problem . Like, totes yuck?

 

[editor]

Q. Does this scene in Pop Brixton look even slightly representative of the long standing community directly outside?
A. No

Community project, my fucking arse.

 

[T & P]

Well, if one is supposed to pass judgement on an entire site consisting of many units, different areas and host to multiple events and activities of different kinds throughout the year based on this single photograph, I guess the answer would be no.

Then again if someone posted a photograph showing, say, a free screening, a charity event, a free family & children activity day, or someone handing out free fruits and vegetables to anyone who wanted them, and said 'this is what Pop Brixton is about', anyone not familiar with the place might think Pop is the greatest asset any community could hope for.

That's why trying to capture the essence of a place like this with a single image is as impossible as is misleading.

 

[editor]

Well, if one is supposed to pass judgement on an entire site consisting of many units, different areas and host to multiple events and activities of different kinds throughout the year based on this single photograph, I guess the answer would be no.

Then again if someone posted a photograph showing, say, a free screening, a charity event, a free family & children activity day, or someone handing out free fruits and vegetables to anyone who wanted them, and said 'this is what Pop Brixton is about', anyone not familiar with the place might think Pop is the greatest asset any community could hope for.

That's why trying to capture the essence of a place like this with a single image is as impossible as is misleading.

I pass by Pop many, many times every week and I'd say this is very much a fair representation of what you might expect to find most days.

Obviously it may look different if there's a special one off, one-afternoon event taking place, but this is pretty much what I usually see (if it's not empty, of course). I don't post up these images to gloat or to prove points, btw. I do it because I'm angry at the way I feel that the community - as in the people that actually live and work next to Pop - were sold one thing and given something entirely different.

I'd argue that for the greater part, it does very little to live up to its promise as a 'community project' and very much targets the kind of monocultural drinkers seen in the photo above.

But if you want to seriously argue that Pop Brixton normally echoes the rich and diverse mix of people from all backgrounds seen directly outside and around their security guard manned entrance, let's hear it.

 

[gdubz]

Here's a swishy video from a Pop Brixton trader.



Meanwhile, the Standard is all excited about Pop's £45 a head 'feast'

Pop Feast: Join a street food banquet in Brixton

Nice couple - I think he's from Poland; she's from Mexico. Food is excellent, they are working hard, they live (or at least did) in SW9 and went from a pitch in station road to pop. Love's young dream and in anywhere other than these boards it would be a positive story.

 

[CH1]

Here's a swishy video from a Pop Brixton trader.



Meanwhile, the Standard is all excited about Pop's £45 a head 'feast'

Pop Feast: Join a street food banquet in Brixton

I normally avoid this thread to encourage my blood pressure downwards.
But since I looked at the Standard article there I thought "This is a bit like the Saltoun Supper Club" - if you recall when they came down to the Angell (where Mama Dough now is) and how inappropriate many of us thought this Bullingdon-style behaviour.

Just to remind people Gramsci found a Facebook page at the time. This Saltoun Supper/Brickbox Ladies event had a tone which set some people's teeth on edge - a chimney sweep with blackened face for example A Curative Tonic | Facebook

As for the couple running a business in Pop, commented on by gdubz the positive is indeed being drowned out by the context. If I might make a medical analogy it is like Lambeth Council are giving Brixton a Heart Transplant - but large parts of the host body never wanted it and there is rejection.

Lambeth Council really are annoying - they spend a lot of time and energy promoting trendy businesses - but they completely took their eye off the ball on their flagship social housing project in Somerleyton Road.

The Regeneration Officer in charge of Pop, who seems to work out of the Pop offices in Station Road (but not in a Pop container) - surely could have devoted some of his time to keeping Somerleyton Road on track instead of allowing a creeping privatisation?

 

[leanderman]

Q. Does this scene in Pop Brixton look even slightly representative of the long standing community directly outside?
A. No

Community project, my fucking arse.

View attachment 87234

Reminds me of the photo of that Reclaim Brixton meeting:

 

[editor]

Reminds me of the photo of that Reclaim Brixton meeting:

Why don't you post up some photos from the actual Reclaim Brixton event and explain your point?

 

[editor]

Why don't you post up some photos from the actual Reclaim Brixton event and explain your point?

I'm struggling to see any meaningful comparisons between a Lambeth-sponsored, estate agent backed "community project/green oasis/21st century business park" and a protest against gentrification over a year ago. Perhaps you might enlighten me as to what point it is you're trying to stretch here.

And getting back on to the subject: do you think the crowd that is usually found at Pop Brixton meaningfully reflects and engages with the community it's located within?

But seeing as you asked (and I'm always happy to watch this):

 

[ViolentPanda]

Q. Does this scene in Pop Brixton look even slightly representative of the long standing community directly outside?
A. No

Community project, my fucking arse.

View attachment 87234

Of course it doesn't, but that won't stop some of the usual suspects defending it,while also having a pop at you.