I moved to vibrant and multi cultural Brixton over seven years ago. I have since witness a massive improvement in a borough with chequered past. The street names surrounding the underground reveals the history of Brixton and its community. Immortalised by musician Ed Grant, Electric Avenue was the first street to be lit by electric energy in London. Windrush square refers The Empire Windrush’s voyage from the Caribbean in 1948 which brought in the first set of Caribbean immigrants to the UK. Coldharbour Lane makes reference to the basic accommodation offered to rough travellers in the 1800s.
Brixton is a mix bag of contradictions. The wonderful and the weird walk hand-in-hand. When you leave the station you are welcomed by the mixed smells of burning incenses and popcorn in the air and sometime you hear a street preacher trying to convert passers by. Walking down Coldharbour Lane you find the arcades: Market Row, Brixton Village and the Brixton street market that spreads from Electric Avenue to Atlantic Road . Further down Brixton Road is the brilliant Ritzy, one of the oldest cinema in London, which houses a bar called Upstairs at the Ritzy with live music, from Reggae, Afro-beat and swing to Jazz.
Built in the 30’s Granville Arcade, a building of historical significance, was re-branded as Brixton Village in 2009. This indoor market building had fallen into hard times so the
arcade’s owners, local community and business funded the regeneration
of the arcade by organising pop-ups cafes and restaurants, a tiny
cinema, theatre and community projects. Nowadays, it houses a plethora of
colourful cafes, vintage, eclectic shops and restaurants on long
leases, from Afro-Caribbean to South American to Asian
selling everything from giant live African snails, dried fish heads,
exotics fruits and vegetables, pig’s trotters, heads to ethnic fabrics,
colourful wigs and bric-a-brac. Expect free events at Brixton Village they are organised by The Brick Box, a community arts hub. They have extended opening hours to 11.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday.
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| Excellent Colombian food at Santafereno |
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| Honest Burgers |
One of the best burgers in London can be found at Honest burgers, which is always busy so expect to queue at weekends. Elephant is a little restaurant selling flavoursome colourful Pakistani curries. Mama Lan, French & Grace, both began as supperclubs and food blogs, now they respectively sell Beijing street food and Middle Eastern fare. You can find a couple of butchers, very good variety of cafes including Federation Cafe, Burnt Toast, a delightful little corner bakery which the concept is DYI toast, the smell of toast coming from the table takes over the corridors of the arcade. Next to it is the new addition The Joint, they serve bbq pulled pork, corn and chicken wings, looking forward to trying it.
Cornercopia uses locally sourced ingredients in their cafe/restaurant. You will also find LAB G, an ice cream parlour serving very good artisan gelatos. Coeliacs can find gluten-free goodies at WAG Free. Etta’s Seafood offers Caribbean seafood plates and punchy homemade Caribbean ginger beer and hibiscus juices. Relay Tea Room is a sweet little tea room and they bake their cakes at the premises. Kaosarn is a family run Thai restaurant offering big flavours and heat on a plate! Okan is a small Japanese street-food cafe serving pancakes from Osaka called Okonomiyaki. In between these places there are other vintage shops and art galleries like Studio 73. Everyday there’s a new stall, shop or event opening at Brixton Village.
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| Franco Manca |
Crossing the road you find the other arcade, Market Row, was built in 1928, has three entrances on Atlantic Road, Coldharbour Lane and Electric Lane (via Brixton Market) Some of my favourite places to eat and drink in Brixton are here. Franco Manca famous sourdough pizzas are made from slow-rising sourdough and baked in a wood burning brick oven. Seven at Brixton is great for breakfast, snacks, great cocktails, pinxtos at early evenings and good beers late night. Next door is Casa Morita run by a husband-and-wife and serves hearty Mexican food.
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| Wishbone – Salt n’Pepper and Asian Mayo |
We also have a Chocolate Museum, which opened yesterday. Enjoy Brixton!
