Wahaca make planning applications for the old Brady's /Railway Tavern pub on Atlantic Road, Brixton

[ViolentPanda]

"Inspired by" seems to be the tag-line in my reading.

Then possibly you're only semi-literate.
Nowhere does it say "Mexican-style" or "Anglo-Mexi fusion", just "Mexican Market Eating".

It no more claims authenticity than does a pizza place on Brixton Hill.

Does the pizza place on Brixton Hill advertise itself as "Italian Pizzeria eating"? Not that I recall.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Yes. But she did go to the elite St Paul's Girls' School (£6,000 a term for day pupils) and is married to a merchant banker.

The rhyming slang, or of the profession (not that the two are mutually exclusive, you understand!)?

 

[TruXta]

Then possibly you're only semi-literate.
Nowhere does it say "Mexican-style" or "Anglo-Mexi fusion", just "Mexican Market Eating".

Does the pizza place on Brixton Hill advertise itself as "Italian Pizzeria eating"? Not that I recall.

"Looking to the markets of Mexico for inspiration." It's Mexican as much as your bog standard Italian is "Italian". Nor does it use the word "authentic" anywhere I can see, which IME is a dead give-away.

 

[leanderman]

The rhyming slang, or of the profession (not that the two are mutually exclusive, you understand!)?

From the Telegraph announcements (10-08-2009): The engagement is announced between Mark, son of Mr and Mrs Anthony Williams, of Antigua, and Thomasina, daughter of Mr and Mrs Probyn Miers, of Guiting Power, Gloucestershire.

 

[ViolentPanda]

"Looking to the markets of Mexico for inspiration." It's Mexican as much as your bog standard Italian is "Italian". Nor does it use the word "authentic" anywhere I can see, which IME is a dead give-away.

Roland Barthes has just flicked a bogie at you for being so soapy as to not realise that advertising is sometimes a bit more subtle than stamping the word "authentic" on something in big red letters.

 

[ViolentPanda]

From the Telegraph announcements (10-08-2009): The engagement is announced between Mark, son of Mr and Mrs Anthony Williams, of Antigua, and Thomasina, daughter of Mr and Mrs Probyn Miers, of Guiting Power, Gloucestershire.

Daddy had a stupid Christian name, so daughter had to be "blessed" with one too.

 

[TruXta]

Roland Barthes has just flicked a bogie at you for being so soapy as to not realise that advertising is sometimes a bit more subtle than stamping the word "authentic" on something in big red letters.

You think most people who eat at Wahaca think it's authentic Mexican food - whatever that is? I don't.

 

[cuppa tee]

Yes. But she did go to the elite St Paul's Girls' School (£6,000 a term for day pupils) and is married to a merchant banker.

....... she also co-wrote a cookery book called "soup kitchen "

 

[leanderman]

Daddy had a stupid Christian name, so daughter had to be "blessed" with one too.

and what the hell, where the hell is Guiting Power?

 

[TruXta]

and what the hell, where the hell is Guiting Power?

Nazi stronghold.

 

[ViolentPanda]

You think most people who eat at Wahaca think it's authentic Mexican food - whatever that is? I don't.

You're moving the goalposts again. It's not about the perceptions of customers, it's about how the company presents/advertises itself in order to "prime" those perceptions.

 

[ViolentPanda]

and what the hell, where the hell is Guiting Power?

Somewhere to be when the power cuts come again?

 

[ViolentPanda]

....... she also co-wrote a cookery book called "soup kitchen "

Oh, how I expect she and her editor laughed when they came up with that title!

 

[Brixton Hatter]

I can't help feeling that the "community need" argument risks looking a bit flaky if it is tied inextricably to one property.

Why should it not be tied to one property?

Bradys was/is a great building - lots of history, a central location, 'iconic' if you like - why should the community not want it? A building where lots of local people spent lots of time and had lots of memories - that's the sort of building you want.

If Argos closed down, or the Electric Social, who the fuck would want those buildings as community centres? Why would we want them? They're rubbish normal buildings. Part of this is opportunism, and rightly so: if there's a chance to save a decent building for community use, let's fucking take it (rather than going down some managerial route, which ends up giving you a space no-one wants to use.)

The community recently saved the Ivy House pub in Peckham/Nunhead. They could have got together and opened a brand new boozer in a new commercial unit somewhere locally, but that wasn't the point. The point was saving the building itself, for the sake of itself.

 

[leanderman]

Nazi stronghold.

By the Windrush river apparently - and aptly ... sort of.

 

[TruXta]

You're moving the goalposts again. It's not about the perceptions of customers, it's about how the company presents/advertises itself in order to "prime" those perceptions.

Takes two to tango, especially if you're talking about semiotics.

 

[TruXta]

Why should it not be tied to one property?

Bradys was/is a great building - lots of history, a central location, 'iconic' if you like - why should the community not want it? A building where lots of local people spent lots of time and had lots of memories - that's the sort of building you want.

If Argos closed down, or the Electric Social, who the fuck would want those buildings as community centres? Why would we want them? They're rubbish normal buildings. Part of this is opportunism, and rightly so: if there's a chance to save a decent building for community use, let's fucking take it (rather than going down some managerial route, which ends up giving you a space no-one wants to use.)

I just don't see why it had to be an either or from the outset if that was indeed the idea behind it all. Of course I can agree that Brady's would make an especially suitable location for a CC. The Electric Social would do just fine too IMO.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Takes two to tango, especially if you're talking about semiotics.

Ah, the old blame-shifting - "it's all your fault, VP. You talked about semiotics, therefore I have a licence to shift the subject to customer perception, and how I personally feel on that subject!"

Muppet!

 

[TruXta]

Ah, the old blame-shifting - "it's all your fault, VP. You talked about semiotics, therefore I have a licence to shift the subject to customer perception, and how I personally feel on the subject!

Muppet!

And your opinion is of course entirely objective. Cuz of semiotics and Barthes. Right.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

I just don't see why it had to be an either or from the outset if that was indeed the idea behind it all. Of course I can agree that Brady's would make an especially suitable location for a CC. The Electric Social would do just fine too IMO.

You're missing the point (I think.) The starting point is to save the building for the community, rather than open a community centre. The latter is a tool to get the former.

 

[TruXta]

You're missing the point (I think.) The starting point is to save the building for the community, rather than open a community centre.

Save it for the community to do what with? Continue as a pub (I'd love it if that happened)? Something else? A combination of uses? No point having a communal building if it's not used for meeting some communal need is there?

You might be right tho, that I'm missing something.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Save it for the community to do what with? Continue as a pub (I'd love it if that happened)? Something else? A combination of uses? No point having a communal building if it's not used for meeting some communal need is there?

You might be right tho, that I'm missing something.

Does the purpose matter, as long as it's space people in the community can use?

If it's turned into flats it's lost forever. If it's turned into a Wahaca, you're only serving a narrow demographic.

 

[TruXta]

Does the purpose matter, as long as it's space people in the community can use?

If it's turned into flats it's lost forever. If it's turned into a Wahaca, you're only serving a narrow demographic.

I think somehow people believe I'm in favour of Wahaca taking over the space. Which I've not said and isn't true.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

I think somehow people believe I'm in favour of Wahaca taking over the space. Which I've not said and isn't true.

Fair enough

Clearly Wahaca is a better result than having Bradys taken over by an estate agent. Or remaining empty for another 15 years.

It's just a terrible shame we lost a decent opportunity for something unique. I want Brixton to have imaginative and unique buildings for the community to use. Peckham had a fucking great, weird/amazing library built. But in Brixton we're just gonna spend £30m on new council offices instead.

 

[Manter]

I'm with Truxta- or at least what I think he's trying to say. My thought process/sales pitch to the council would be we the community need space to do x which is important because y. And we have an iconic, historically significant building here, that would be fantastic, be saved by this project and add value in these ways.

Instead, it sounds a bit like the cart came before the horse- "this is an iconic, historically significant building so give it to the community and we'll invent some 'community stuff' to go in it. We can't have the building? Stuff it then"

If there is a genuine need for a community space (and I happen to think there is)that need still exists even if Brady's isn't an option. Which doesn't mean flats/pricy restaurants are desirable for that site, or that Lambeth hasn't behaved badly- simply that the community space dream should live on, and be looking for some other space in central Brixton. (Even while regretting that its not Brady's)

 

[Manter]

And on Wahaca/Thomasina Myers- sneering at someone because her parents gave her a silly name is a bit reductive- if she had renamed herself Jane someone would dig out the fact she wasn't really called that and sneer at her for hiding her origins. It's divisive and unpleasant to spend so much time searching for evidence of people's origins and using it to tar and feather them- its part of the divide and rule that this government are pushing so hard, and I'm afraid it's working.

Sorry to be so blunt in criticising some people on here I like, but I think it's a real shame if a serious point (pertinently here how much investment to get businesses off the ground in this country is tied up in old school/family networks, for example) becomes 'she went to a posh school and has a silly name ner ner ne ner ner'. It makes valid concerns about the direction the country is taking into adolescent pointing and jeering- and therefore easy to ignore and dismiss

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Odd how chains which take over these spots are almost universally owned and run by those with inherited privilege though isn't it. Almost like there was some basic economic imbalance in society.

 

[leanderman]

And on Wahaca/Thomasina Myers- sneering at someone because her parents gave her a silly name is a bit reductive- if she had renamed herself Jane someone would dig out the fact she wasn't really called that and sneer at her for hiding her origins. It's divisive and unpleasant to spend so much time searching for evidence of people's origins and using it to tar and feather them- its part of the divide and rule that this government are pushing so hard, and I'm afraid it's working.

Sorry to be so blunt in criticising some people on here I like, but I think it's a real shame if a serious point (pertinently here how much investment to get businesses off the ground in this country is tied up in old school/family networks, for example) becomes 'she went to a posh school and has a silly name ner ner ne ner ner'. It makes valid concerns about the direction the country is taking into adolescent pointing and jeering- and therefore easy to ignore and dismiss

It's not about the name.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

I'm with Truxta- or at least what I think he's trying to say. My thought process/sales pitch to the council would be we the community need space to do x which is important because y. And we have an iconic, historically significant building here, that would be fantastic, be saved by this project and add value in these ways.

Instead, it sounds a bit like the cart came before the horse- "this is an iconic, historically significant building so give it to the community and we'll invent some 'community stuff' to go in it. We can't have the building? Stuff it then"

If there is a genuine need for a community space (and I happen to think there is)that need still exists even if Brady's isn't an option. Which doesn't mean flats/pricy restaurants are desirable for that site, or that Lambeth hasn't behaved badly- simply that the community space dream should live on, and be looking for some other space in central Brixton. (Even while regretting that its not Brady's)

There will always be a need for community space - we don't need to invent that need, or prove it. People will always need to get together. Opportunities (like Bradys) can be the catalyst to generate new uses and get more people involved.

 

[colacubes]

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