To the rescue, here I am....
This is what I was listening this morning while getting ready to meet my friend, a very committed community development worker that deserves her own blogspot (to come). Sun was shining indeed. There was nothing special about our plan. We were going to have lunch together in a nice ethnic restaurant inside Brixton Market. Then we were going to head towards a young people's project that she co-founded some time ago. The group meets regularly, but their main activities take place on Saturdays most of times. The core group comprises nearly 40 youngsters, 15 of which belong to the steering group that meets every week. Well publicised activities and special events attract something between 60-80 itinerant members. They all keep coming even if they don't manage to participate as often from other more regular activities. These numbers are impressive, as any youth worker can confirm. The young people have started to consider developing a social enterprise as a result of a very organic learning process in which they have developed some artistic skills and more impressively, they have started to generate income. That story will also be featured separately.
Anyway, nothing special in going on a Saturday afternoon to have lunch in an ethnic restaurant, I thought. Except for the fact that the restaurant's owner has a picture of her with Prince Charles. She is wearing her apron in the picture. At first I thought it was a joke. But then they told me that Prince Charles is the Patron of Brixton Market. I still need to double check that fact. But being the Patron or not, he went there and hugged the chef, if that category applies. She cooks there, but she also owns the place, takes decisions and manages financial affairs. Her sons work there as waiters. It is an ethnic, family business.
Brixton market has hit the headlines a lot recently. There has been controversies around the decision to sell some of the covered arcades to private developers, who were, obviously, thinking about 'redeveloping' the area (that is, building a residential tower block and a PRIVATE park, above a new market building). The following summary was extracted from the Wikipedia entry:
"In January 2009 London and Associated Properties employed communications company Four Communication to undertake a survey of local opinion. Concerns were raised on the Brixton Community website Urban 75 that the survey was one sided, only available in English.Friends of Brixton Market, traders and residents ran a successful campaign against the proposals[4].The Friends' proposal for Listing was strongly supported by the Twentieth Century Society. In April 2010 the Secretary of State of the Department of Culture (DCMS) announced that the government had overturned its previous decision not award heritage protection to these three arcades and declared all three Grade II listed buildings. They were listed by virtue of their cultural importance and contribution to the social and economic history of Brixton, particularly since the 1950s as one of the principle hearts of the Afro-Caribbean community in London, as well as for their architectural importance since such arcades, once more common, are now rare."
If you are still reading, you will notice that one of the reasons for overtuning the redevelopment is the fact that the market is considered of cultural importance particularly in relation to the history of the Afro-Caribbean Community.
Well...
I am sad to announce that even if the opening of a new starbucks has been delayed temporarily with the obstruction of the 'new market building' project, change has already taken place.
Right in front of the ethnic restaurant, there was a Rasta trader of music, clothes and artefacts who shut down his business two weeks ago. He could not keep up with the increased rent. Delve a little more, and you will notice the many new boutiques that have opened. Venture to go into one of the new cafes selling fussion food and snacks, and you will see that most of the people inside are reading the Guardian.
I have nothing against Guardian readers (like me), except the fact that I hate feeling so comfortable amongst them. The new coffee shop that claims to sell the best coffee in London, probably does.
But Brixton, dear friends, was never a white middle class market. Brixton, as my partner couldn't help but saying, is the new Borough Market. I give it 6 months for someone to start selling overpriced olives in there. The wikipedia entry also says that 'the market sells a wide range of foods and goods but is best known for its African and Caribbean produce, which reflect the diverse community of Brixton and surrounding areas of Lambeth'. It is precisely that, the diverse community of Brixton and surrounding areas of Lambeth which is endangered with this process, that I prefer not to name. Which side is Prince Charles on, I have no clue.
I am very white and very middle class. I know that most of the new traders might have been attracted to the area for its diversity. But how can they not distroy it? How can we, as human beings, like something and end up imposing something completely different on it?
When is change desirable? How can change happen even if it has been officially hindered?
Is cultural loss the inexorable price of change?
Change for what?
By the time I left, sun was not shining anymore. Seriously.
Anyway, nothing special in going on a Saturday afternoon to have lunch in an ethnic restaurant, I thought. Except for the fact that the restaurant's owner has a picture of her with Prince Charles. She is wearing her apron in the picture. At first I thought it was a joke. But then they told me that Prince Charles is the Patron of Brixton Market. I still need to double check that fact. But being the Patron or not, he went there and hugged the chef, if that category applies. She cooks there, but she also owns the place, takes decisions and manages financial affairs. Her sons work there as waiters. It is an ethnic, family business.
Brixton market has hit the headlines a lot recently. There has been controversies around the decision to sell some of the covered arcades to private developers, who were, obviously, thinking about 'redeveloping' the area (that is, building a residential tower block and a PRIVATE park, above a new market building). The following summary was extracted from the Wikipedia entry:
"In January 2009 London and Associated Properties employed communications company Four Communication to undertake a survey of local opinion. Concerns were raised on the Brixton Community website Urban 75 that the survey was one sided, only available in English.Friends of Brixton Market, traders and residents ran a successful campaign against the proposals[4].The Friends' proposal for Listing was strongly supported by the Twentieth Century Society. In April 2010 the Secretary of State of the Department of Culture (DCMS) announced that the government had overturned its previous decision not award heritage protection to these three arcades and declared all three Grade II listed buildings. They were listed by virtue of their cultural importance and contribution to the social and economic history of Brixton, particularly since the 1950s as one of the principle hearts of the Afro-Caribbean community in London, as well as for their architectural importance since such arcades, once more common, are now rare."
If you are still reading, you will notice that one of the reasons for overtuning the redevelopment is the fact that the market is considered of cultural importance particularly in relation to the history of the Afro-Caribbean Community.
Well...
I am sad to announce that even if the opening of a new starbucks has been delayed temporarily with the obstruction of the 'new market building' project, change has already taken place.
Right in front of the ethnic restaurant, there was a Rasta trader of music, clothes and artefacts who shut down his business two weeks ago. He could not keep up with the increased rent. Delve a little more, and you will notice the many new boutiques that have opened. Venture to go into one of the new cafes selling fussion food and snacks, and you will see that most of the people inside are reading the Guardian.
I have nothing against Guardian readers (like me), except the fact that I hate feeling so comfortable amongst them. The new coffee shop that claims to sell the best coffee in London, probably does.
But Brixton, dear friends, was never a white middle class market. Brixton, as my partner couldn't help but saying, is the new Borough Market. I give it 6 months for someone to start selling overpriced olives in there. The wikipedia entry also says that 'the market sells a wide range of foods and goods but is best known for its African and Caribbean produce, which reflect the diverse community of Brixton and surrounding areas of Lambeth'. It is precisely that, the diverse community of Brixton and surrounding areas of Lambeth which is endangered with this process, that I prefer not to name. Which side is Prince Charles on, I have no clue.
I am very white and very middle class. I know that most of the new traders might have been attracted to the area for its diversity. But how can they not distroy it? How can we, as human beings, like something and end up imposing something completely different on it?
When is change desirable? How can change happen even if it has been officially hindered?
Is cultural loss the inexorable price of change?
Change for what?
By the time I left, sun was not shining anymore. Seriously.
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