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| From Riots and Rebels to Juice Bars and Tapas, a New Brixton Emerges | From Riots and Rebels to Juice Bars and Tapas, a New Brixton Emerges |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| LONDON — They came trotting through the southern entrance of Brixton market, waving handwritten signs to protest the “yuppification” of this notorious South London neighborhood. | LONDON — They came trotting through the southern entrance of Brixton market, waving handwritten signs to protest the “yuppification” of this notorious South London neighborhood. |
| The vegan cupcakes sold across the street, on what was once the front line in race riots, were apparently alternative enough, as was the “contraband” espresso blend on offer two aisles down: At least it came in recycled paper cups sporting a revolutionary star. | The vegan cupcakes sold across the street, on what was once the front line in race riots, were apparently alternative enough, as was the “contraband” espresso blend on offer two aisles down: At least it came in recycled paper cups sporting a revolutionary star. |
| But the opening of a champagne bar by the name of Champagne & Fromage was a step too far. | But the opening of a champagne bar by the name of Champagne & Fromage was a step too far. |
| “This is Brixton, not Chelsea,” growled one man, a hand-rolled cigarette dancing in the corner of his mouth, as another handed out plastic-wrapped slices of processed cheese to “make a point” about the fancy French fare now on sale here: snail raclette and aged Gruyère. | “This is Brixton, not Chelsea,” growled one man, a hand-rolled cigarette dancing in the corner of his mouth, as another handed out plastic-wrapped slices of processed cheese to “make a point” about the fancy French fare now on sale here: snail raclette and aged Gruyère. |
| Long one of London’s most downtrodden, rebellious and diverse neighborhoods, home to Rastafarians and vegetarians, to far-left housing communes, underground raves and the riots in the 1980s that still overshadow its image, Brixton has been gentrifying in fits and starts for three decades. | Long one of London’s most downtrodden, rebellious and diverse neighborhoods, home to Rastafarians and vegetarians, to far-left housing communes, underground raves and the riots in the 1980s that still overshadow its image, Brixton has been gentrifying in fits and starts for three decades. |
| But recently the pace of change has quickened. In 2009 the covered market, once dubbed a “24-hour drug supermarket” by the police, became “Brixton Village” and reinvented itself as a foodie hub. A year later Starbucks arrived. This year, even the local prison opened a fashionable restaurant: The waiting list at Clink is two months. | But recently the pace of change has quickened. In 2009 the covered market, once dubbed a “24-hour drug supermarket” by the police, became “Brixton Village” and reinvented itself as a foodie hub. A year later Starbucks arrived. This year, even the local prison opened a fashionable restaurant: The waiting list at Clink is two months. |
| House prices have surged by 45 percent over the past 18 months, raising the temperature between those nostalgic for the ubiquitous reggae beats and cheap rents of old, and those welcoming the safer streets, trendy eateries and local designer shops that have transformed the area. | House prices have surged by 45 percent over the past 18 months, raising the temperature between those nostalgic for the ubiquitous reggae beats and cheap rents of old, and those welcoming the safer streets, trendy eateries and local designer shops that have transformed the area. |
| When the upmarket real estate agent Foxtons opened a branch in Brixton in March last year, someone spray-painted “Yuck” across its glass facade, and “Yuppies Go Home.” The office was briefly occupied by protesters. As the number of home sales worth a million pounds or more has climbed, so has the number of evictions of residents unable to pay rising rents. | When the upmarket real estate agent Foxtons opened a branch in Brixton in March last year, someone spray-painted “Yuck” across its glass facade, and “Yuppies Go Home.” The office was briefly occupied by protesters. As the number of home sales worth a million pounds or more has climbed, so has the number of evictions of residents unable to pay rising rents. |
| “It’s class war operating through the property market,” said Rowland Atkinson of York University, who studies gentrification. Historically, London has been better than most capitals at integrating social difference, he said. Unlike in Paris, where ghettos circle the city’s core, in London housing projects dot the cityscape even in wealthy neighborhoods. | “It’s class war operating through the property market,” said Rowland Atkinson of York University, who studies gentrification. Historically, London has been better than most capitals at integrating social difference, he said. Unlike in Paris, where ghettos circle the city’s core, in London housing projects dot the cityscape even in wealthy neighborhoods. |
| But in an ever-tighter market, many of those housing units are now privately owned. And it is no longer just the poor who are being displaced by the money pouring into property from domestic bankers and foreign investors from Greece, Russia and the Gulf, but the middle class, too. | But in an ever-tighter market, many of those housing units are now privately owned. And it is no longer just the poor who are being displaced by the money pouring into property from domestic bankers and foreign investors from Greece, Russia and the Gulf, but the middle class, too. |
| Brixton may have resisted the shifting social geography longer than most areas. As early as 1984, a local anarchist band called Class War started a movement called “Rock Against the Rich.” But at Foxtons, one of the managers, Thomas Osborn, said the momentum is now unstoppable. “This used to be a place where people moved who couldn’t afford to buy elsewhere,” he said. “Now it’s become a destination in its own right.” | Brixton may have resisted the shifting social geography longer than most areas. As early as 1984, a local anarchist band called Class War started a movement called “Rock Against the Rich.” But at Foxtons, one of the managers, Thomas Osborn, said the momentum is now unstoppable. “This used to be a place where people moved who couldn’t afford to buy elsewhere,” he said. “Now it’s become a destination in its own right.” |
| Brixton was built during a 19th-century property boom as a destination for the growing middle class. Doctors and accountants snapped up the Victorian homes along Electric Avenue, later made immortal by Eddy Grant’s eponymous 1982 song. But by the end of World War II, most of those homes had become boardinghouses. In 1948, Caribbean immigrants began settling there. | Brixton was built during a 19th-century property boom as a destination for the growing middle class. Doctors and accountants snapped up the Victorian homes along Electric Avenue, later made immortal by Eddy Grant’s eponymous 1982 song. But by the end of World War II, most of those homes had become boardinghouses. In 1948, Caribbean immigrants began settling there. |
| At various turns bohemian, crime-infested and poor, Brixton became above all synonymous with racial tension. In April 1981, in the depth of recession, the first big riot erupted. | At various turns bohemian, crime-infested and poor, Brixton became above all synonymous with racial tension. In April 1981, in the depth of recession, the first big riot erupted. |
| Alex Wheatle was there that Saturday, the air dense with pent-up anger and the pounding bass of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” The police had arrested a local cabdriver for no apparent reason, the final straw. Two days of clashes followed, leaving hundreds injured and dozens in prison, including Mr. Wheatle, then 18. | Alex Wheatle was there that Saturday, the air dense with pent-up anger and the pounding bass of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” The police had arrested a local cabdriver for no apparent reason, the final straw. Two days of clashes followed, leaving hundreds injured and dozens in prison, including Mr. Wheatle, then 18. |
| Sitting in a lounge bar overlooking the street where he and his friends had thrown bricks and ambushed a police van all those years ago, Mr. Wheatle, now a novelist, said the Brixton that had “made him” was slipping away. | Sitting in a lounge bar overlooking the street where he and his friends had thrown bricks and ambushed a police van all those years ago, Mr. Wheatle, now a novelist, said the Brixton that had “made him” was slipping away. |
| At the corner where he first bought marijuana, rolled up in betting paper, a new wine shop is doing brisk business. The record stores that he used to scour for the latest Jamaican tunes have become juice bars and tapas bars and other bars. The derelict apartments where he would pad homemade speakers with roofing insulation and spend the night “bluesing” behind blackout curtains have become unaffordable for him to rent, let alone buy. | At the corner where he first bought marijuana, rolled up in betting paper, a new wine shop is doing brisk business. The record stores that he used to scour for the latest Jamaican tunes have become juice bars and tapas bars and other bars. The derelict apartments where he would pad homemade speakers with roofing insulation and spend the night “bluesing” behind blackout curtains have become unaffordable for him to rent, let alone buy. |
| In his Brixton, Mr. Wheatle said, “music was politics.” | In his Brixton, Mr. Wheatle said, “music was politics.” |
| There is now less of both. The activists and hippies who once lived in cooperatives where everyone paid according to ability and parents sang “Nkosi Sikelele Afrika” to their white babies have largely gone. With them, memories of unlikely alliances across social divides have faded: During the miners strike of the 1980s, the vegetarians and radical feminists of the coop movement made common cause with meat-eating, beer-swilling, working-class lads. “Everybody got on,” said Jess Andoh, who grew up in a commune here and now works in a local bookstore. | There is now less of both. The activists and hippies who once lived in cooperatives where everyone paid according to ability and parents sang “Nkosi Sikelele Afrika” to their white babies have largely gone. With them, memories of unlikely alliances across social divides have faded: During the miners strike of the 1980s, the vegetarians and radical feminists of the coop movement made common cause with meat-eating, beer-swilling, working-class lads. “Everybody got on,” said Jess Andoh, who grew up in a commune here and now works in a local bookstore. |
| Tabitha Rout, a slight blond woman in her 40s, giggles as she recalls the fear Brixton inspired in her friends north of the River Thames when she first moved south in the 1990s. “People would ask me, what’s it like living there?’ and what they meant was: ‘How often do you get mugged?' ” she said. | |
| Those same friends now come to shop and eat in Brixton Village, where Ms. Taylor and her business partner sell local art work in a shop made entirely of cardboard, string and brown paper. You can pay in regular pounds or in Brixton pounds — a local currency accepted in more than 200 places. (The 10-pound note carries the face of the Brixton boy David Bowie.) In between traditional stalls selling plantains, pig heads and plastic statues of Christ, hipsters sip flat whites and nibble on cookies made in the Bad Boys Bakery in Brixton prison. | Those same friends now come to shop and eat in Brixton Village, where Ms. Taylor and her business partner sell local art work in a shop made entirely of cardboard, string and brown paper. You can pay in regular pounds or in Brixton pounds — a local currency accepted in more than 200 places. (The 10-pound note carries the face of the Brixton boy David Bowie.) In between traditional stalls selling plantains, pig heads and plastic statues of Christ, hipsters sip flat whites and nibble on cookies made in the Bad Boys Bakery in Brixton prison. |
| Even Champagne & Fromage, which survived last October’s protest, is packed with young professionals sampling pink bubbly after work. | Even Champagne & Fromage, which survived last October’s protest, is packed with young professionals sampling pink bubbly after work. |
| Is Brixton losing its soul to gentrification? | Is Brixton losing its soul to gentrification? |
| “Do I look like gentry to you, girlfriend?” responded Etta Burrell, who sells One Love shrimps in her seafood restaurant. Ms. Burrell said she had a dream one Wednesday in 2009. A voice told her to go down to the market, and so she went. It turned out to be the day the local government was handing out market units to local entrepreneurs rent-free for three months, a last-ditch attempt at regeneration. | “Do I look like gentry to you, girlfriend?” responded Etta Burrell, who sells One Love shrimps in her seafood restaurant. Ms. Burrell said she had a dream one Wednesday in 2009. A voice told her to go down to the market, and so she went. It turned out to be the day the local government was handing out market units to local entrepreneurs rent-free for three months, a last-ditch attempt at regeneration. |
| A single mother of three on income support at the time, Ms. Burrell had 10 pounds in her back pocket to buy fish. By the end of the day, 10 pounds had become 100 pounds and by the end of the three months she was able to pay 800 pounds in rent on her unit. Ms. Burrell, now 46, has lived in Brixton since she was 9. She has seen her rent climb from 80 pounds a month in 1990 to 600 pounds today. Her restaurant rent keeps creeping up, too, but so does the number of her customers. | A single mother of three on income support at the time, Ms. Burrell had 10 pounds in her back pocket to buy fish. By the end of the day, 10 pounds had become 100 pounds and by the end of the three months she was able to pay 800 pounds in rent on her unit. Ms. Burrell, now 46, has lived in Brixton since she was 9. She has seen her rent climb from 80 pounds a month in 1990 to 600 pounds today. Her restaurant rent keeps creeping up, too, but so does the number of her customers. |
| “All things considered,” she said, “Brixton has become a better place.” | “All things considered,” she said, “Brixton has become a better place.” |