Work starts on the eagerly awaited new Foxtons office on Brixton Road

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I got another four Foxtons envelopes through front door this week

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Is this a cop shop employee?

Peter Bradley March 27, 2013 at 1:40 pm · Reply
I for one am 100% in favour of gentrification. We have to live in a world where people need to see their surroundings look better – if you live in a nice place, it will attract nice people and the whole area moves upmarket. What are these dale-park-idiots trying to preserve? Scruffy old market stalks selling cheap imports from china, looking more and more likes some filthy medina every day, or nice clean businesses where you are prepared to take your kids without exposing them to clouds of marijuana and psychos with mental health issues. Poor ghettos don’t work, they never have and never will. Forget this rose-tinted idea of Brixton as a happy clapping steel drum playing mix – there is a really nasty side to it that I would happily gentrify out to the burbs. I would love all these bleeding heart liberals to just spend one week working in Brixton police station.

 

[editor]

Who are you referring to really? Honestly curious. It's not like hipsters are a demography that is clearly defined.

I'm referring to the subset of people that people would generally describe as 'hipsters.' I don't think they're that hard to identify, tbh, but perhaps you think differently.

I'm not going to compile a Hipsters' Spotting Guide though. If you're not sure, I'm sure the web can help you on that score.

Edit to add: I don't bring up hipsters so I'm not sure why you're asking me anyway.

 

[TruXta]

I'm referring to the subset of people that people would generally describe as 'hipsters.' I don't think they're that hard to identify, tbh, but perhaps you think differently.

I'm not going to compile a Hipsters' Spotting Guide though. If you're not sure, I'm sure the web can help you on that score.

Edit to add: I don't bring up hipsters so I'm not sure why you're asking me anyway.

The point I made is that people you see as hipsters others might just see as something else entirely. You seem to have a fairly set idea on who they are, based on looks I take it. And you don't bring up hipsters? Are you having a laugh? You go on and on and on about how they've ruined Brixton for you FFS.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Will March 27, 2013 at 12:53 pm · Reply
It amazes me that people can get so spectacularly strung out by the opening of an estate agency branch and suddenly decree that it is gentrification gone mad and Brixton is going to the dogs. Brixton has considerably bigger problems than the opening of an estate agency – I will cite the burglary/ransacking and two muggings that I and my partner have suffered in the two years that he has lived there as a readily available example.

Whichever way you look at it, daubing paint on the window of a shop is just pointless vandalism. Furthermore, it won’t have the desired effect, unless the desired effect is to give passers by a bit of a giggle, in which case it’s a roaring success.

As everyone has taken great joy in pointing out, Foxtons’ business model is aggressive – do you actually think they’re going to respond “oh, we’re obviously not welcome here, we’ll pack up shop”? Course not. They will thrive there – as they do everywhere – because, much maligned as they might be, they are extremely good at selling property and considerably more professional to deal with the vast majority of mickey mouse outfits you will find on the average high street, Brixton certainly included. In case anyone was wondering, that is why they are ‘everywhere’.

If you don’t want Foxtons in Brixton then there’s a very effective way to achieve that – don’t go through the door. Otherwise, just belt up.

I don't want Foxtons in my life and yet they bombard the public's letterboxes with their crap

 

[editor]

The point I made is that people you see as hipsters others might just see as something else entirely. You seem to have a fairly set idea on who they are, based on looks I take it. And you don't bring up hipsters? Are you having a laugh? You go on and on and on about how they've ruined Brixton for you FFS.

I didn't mention them in this recent discussion and I'm curious why you're only interested in my opinion of what a hipster is. Anyone might think you're just spoiling for a point scoring fight.

Sorry. Not playing ball. Too dull.

 

[TruXta]

I didn't mention them in this recent discussion and I'm curious why you're only interested in my opinion of what a hipster is. Anyone might think you're just spoiling for a point scoring fight.

Sorry. Not playing ball. Too dull.

Whether you brought them into it or not is besides the point. The point being you're damned quick to point fingers at this group of people you refer to as hipsters, yet when asked who these people are you have no answer. Bit strange is all. As you were then.

 

[editor]

Whether you brought them into it or not is besides the point. The point being you're damned quick to point fingers at this group of people you refer to as hipsters, yet when asked who these people are you have no answer. Bit strange is all. As you were then.

You're a bit obsessed. Get over yourself, ffs.

 

[TruXta]

You're a bit obsessed. Get over yourself, ffs.

Done that twice already today, but thanks anyway. Anyway, this was all a bit of a derail - what I thought was interesting before we got into the buns was you said that hipsters have a general lack of political interest. Now, most people arguably have a lack of political interest, whether by choice or by necessity. What if anything, in your opinion, marks the disinterested hipster out as noteworthy? Assuming you are talking about a well-defined group of people here.

 

[editor]

Done that twice already today, but thanks anyway. Anyway, this was all a bit of a derail - what I thought was interesting before we got into the buns was you said that hipsters have a general lack of political interest. Now, most people arguably have a lack of political interest, whether by choice or by necessity. What if anything, in your opinion, marks the disinterested hipster out as noteworthy? Assuming you are talking about a well-defined group of people here.

I've still no idea why you remain solely interested in my opinion of what makes up a hipster here - why aren't you asking other posters too? I didn't even bring them up but you're like a dog with a bone here.
The odd thing is that it's not like I've said anything remotely contentious - the apparent general lack of political drive in hipster culture is well documented:

What are hipster political views? Vaguely leftist but basically apathetic and non-committal. Hipsters do not get involved with politics. The only political issue they are likely to be passionate about is environmentalism. That’s the default hipster cause. Vegan and organic food and bicycle lanes and neighbourhood preservation are offshoots of that, but the anti-gentrification neighbourhood preservation thing is really merely a form of self-interested snobbery.
http://www.cloudadagents.com/the-common-hipster-a-marketers-field-guide/

Hipster culture, adds Heath, seems aware of its own political irrelevance.
“Hipsters don’t pretend they are changing the world with their moustaches,” he says. “Hipster culture, as a counterculture, is exclusively apolitical.”
http://uniter.ca/view/6927/

I hope that answers your question in full. If you're still not sure what a hipster looks like, ask another poster because I'm not interested in indulging the festival of nitpicking you no doubt have all revved up and ready to go.

 

[TruXta]

I've still no idea why you remain solely interested in my opinion of what makes up a hipster here - why aren't you asking other posters too? I didn't even bring them up but you're like a dog with a bone here.
The odd thing is that it's not like I've said anything remotely contentious - the apparent general lack of political drive in hipster culture is well documented:


I hope that answers your question in full. If you're still not sure what a hipster looks like, ask another poster because I'm not interested in indulging the festival of nitpicking you no doubt have all revved up and ready to go.

Jaysus, a bit defensive today? I asked you some simple questions based on posts you made. Why? Because you do go on and on about these dastardly people. Proving that I'm not the only obsessive.

As for those links they deal with US and presumably Canadian "hipsters" - I'm far from convinced that whoever you label as hipsters in London are of a kind.

But sure, everyone, what's a hipster look like? If you asked me 10-15 years ago I'd probably have said someone with dreads, trailer cap, Vans, checked shirt. These days? Something else. Anyone?

 

[editor]

Why? Because you do go on and on about these dastardly people.

Do I really? So how many times have I referred to them this month before you kicked off? Care to hazard a guess?

Here's the answer: Once - and that was about the dire sausage dog cafe. And not once the month before.

 

[el-ahrairah]

There's some overlap, but no, they're not.

i think so. they're basically yuppies who want to be cool. middle class, self-obsessed, lots of spare cash, identifiable lifestyles of conspicuous consumption. how are they not?

 

[TruXta]

Do I really? So how many times have I referred to them this month before you kicked off? Care to hazard a guess?

Here's the answer: Once - and that was about the interminable sausage dog cafe. And not once the month before.

And in the years before? Nevermind, it's beside the point. I think what irks me really is the way you use "hipster" as a catch-all for a variety of different groups: younger people with hairstyles and fashion ideas you don't like, others maybe more of the Claphamite variety, yet others the demonic gentrifiers of Brixton. Yet in my experience the only thing they have in common is bothering you. Which is fine - be bothered all you like. I'm bothered by lots of things too, many of them probably the same things as you're bothered by.

Yet the irony is that once upon a time you were the hipster that came in and changed the neighbourhood. You and your ilk.

 

[Chilavert]

My view of a contemporary hipster, in terms of uniform at least, would include, but not be limited to:

Skinny jeans, including turns up so that socks are clearly visible.
Plaid shirt/slim-fit t-shirt/knackered looking Fair Isle knitwear or similar.
Thick-rimmed 'NHS' glasses, probably without actual lenses.
Woolly hat with bobble (this must be perched on top of the wearer's head though, allowing the full forehead to be visible, ideally with forelock showing.

Accessories include: Satchel, Apple products, fixed wheel bike or something that looks like it just arrived from the 1930s, complete with basket and non-digital camera.

 

[TruXta]

i think so. they're basically yuppies who want to be cool. middle class, self-obsessed, lots of spare cash, identifiable lifestyles of conspicuous consumption. how are they not?

I could tell you if there was any actual content in that post there. Yuppies who want to be cool. Right, that narrows it down. Middle class, ditto. Self-obsessed. You mean like many activists tend to be? Identifiable lifestyles of conspicuous consumption = shopping in 2nd hand/vintage/retro shops? Flinging credit cards around Mayfair?

My point being (and nothing personal really) - hipsters is a meaningless term apart from its function as a placeholder for the sentiment "I don't like these people, I don't like what they're wearing, what they listen to, what they read and what they eat".

 

[editor]

And in the years before?

One mention of the word in two months. Not much of an 'obsession' then.

 

[pissflaps]

lazy stereotyping! it's what made this country great.

 

[Chilavert]

Were those two people that came into the Albert asking about how noisy it was hipsters?

 

[editor]

My point being (and nothing personal really) - hipsters is a meaningless term apart from its function as a placeholder for the sentiment "I don't like these people, I don't like what they're wearing, what they listen to, what they read and what they eat".

That's just lazy stereotyping. I don't dislike all hipsters and I almost certainly have some of their music in my collection (although not the insufferable, cabin-bound whiner Bon Iver). Some of the cameras are nice too, if perhaps underused. I can't get on with the trousers though.

 

[editor]

Were those two people that came into the Albert asking about how noisy it was hipsters?

Does it matter?

 

[editor]

Woolly hat with bobble (this must be perched on top of the wearer's head though, allowing the full forehead to be visible, ideally with forelock showing.

Damn. I've been wearing mine wrong all this time.

 

[TruXta]

One mention of the word in two months. Not much of an 'obsession' then.

You don't have to use the word for us to know who you're on about you know. This whole thread and many others partly revolve around the issue of the changes we see happening to Brixton. You've often and vociferously blamed hipsters for some of the negative impacts you perceive. Yet when pressed you don't want to or can't identify who they are. Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now.

 

[Rushy]

That's just lazy stereotyping. I don't dislike all hipsters and I almost certainly have some of their music in my collection (although not the insufferable, cabin-bound whiner Bon Iver). Some of the cameras are nice too, if perhaps underused. I can't get on with the trousers though.

Hipsterism is indeed quite unforgiving of the more muscular thighed amongst us.

 

[pissflaps]

reminds me - a month or so ago, Mrs Flaps was perusing that chi-chi knick knack and macrobiotic greeting card store down one end of market row, and they were selling a hard copy version of this: http://hipsterhitler.com/

i asked the owner if he thought it was appropriate to be selling something like that in his shop and i got a self satisfied shrug and an eyeball roll for my troubles.

if you're on here, you're a cunt.

because hitler, lol!

 

[TruXta]

That's just lazy stereotyping. I don't dislike all hipsters and I almost certainly have some of their music in my collection (although not the insufferable, cabin-bound whiner Bon Iver). Some of the cameras are nice too, if perhaps underused. I can't get on with the trousers though.

I heartily agree about Bon Iver and the trousers. Only punks and speed-freaks should be allowed to wear skinny jeans.

 

[Chilavert]

Does it matter?

Not really!

Perhaps I've misinterpreted some of your posts about 'incomers' to Brixton changing the area for the worse and taken that to mean hipsters. Clearly on reflection that is a very narrow definition.

 

[editor]

You don't have to use the word for us to know who you're on about you know.

Ah, so in the absence of finding any actual examples of me 'obsessively' going "on and on" about them, you're now saying that I'm still talking about them anyway?

For the record: that's bullshit and you're wrong. I'm not blaming hipsters for Foxtons, Brixton Square, vanishing affordable housing, the lack of new council housing, the eviction of the squats, the pricing out of small businesses or most of the other things that I feel have been instrumental in changing the character of Brixton for the worse.

 

[Chilavert]

Damn. I've been wearing mine wrong all this time.

Me too.

 

[editor]

Not really!

Perhaps I've misinterpreted some of your posts about 'incomers' to Brixton changing the area for the worse and taken that to mean hipsters. Clearly on reflection that is a very narrow definition.

It is.

In fact, I'd prefer to have hipsters moving into the old squats in Coldharbour Lane than upwardly mobile professional types who I suspect will be quick to start lodging complaints about the noise coming from the oiks.