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has brixton 'lost it'?

Brainaddict said:
I vote for the Trinity Arms as the most under-rated pub in Brixton. A cosy local pub that seemed to be strangely disliked by most urbanites when they were forced there by the closure of the Albert.
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I liked it for about two days when the Albert was closed and then got thoroughly bored with it. It's fine for a mid-week quiet drink (good beers, easy atmosphere) but on a weekend it's really dull - it feels like I'm in Surrey somewhere.

As someone once described it here, it's just a bit too "rugger-shirt" for my tastes.
 
editor said:
I like the Elm Park but it can be as bleak as fuck on there on some nights.
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This is true :D It makes me laugh though, the days when you walk in and there's really no one there but a few resident alcoholics at the bar, and the true scuzziness of the place is laid bare for all to see - I wouldn't want to see it change though :cool:
 
Brainaddict said:
I vote for the Trinity Arms as the most under-rated pub in Brixton. A cosy local pub that seemed to be strangely disliked by most urbanites when they were forced there by the closure of the Albert.
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I like it cos it's across the street from me. Not for a raucous night out though.
Fergal the landlord doesn't like even the mildest of swearing - if he hears any, he get cross and has a word.
 
Yossarian said:
Yeah, seems like Brixton's been a focus for night entertainment since the days when night entertainment consisted of marvelling at those newfangled "electric light" things...
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yes of course, but these things aren't constant and for a few years now it's been significantly more popular than it was prior to that.
 
Orang Utan said:
I like it cos it's across the street from me. Not for a racous night out though.
Fergal the landlord doesn't like even the mildest of swearing - if he hears any, he get cross and has a word.
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:D
I like it for the very reason that it is quiet I think. I'm an old man at heart.
 
innit said:
You see that to me ^^ sounds like the Effra :)

The Albert has just slowly lost atmosphere over the years imo, I think your description would have been accurate not so long ago.

Or maybe I've just been really unlucky on the nights I've been there :confused:
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I don't particularly like the Effra or Albert to be fair. The Effra, despite the wall coming down between the two bars, still feels like 2 pubs in 1 a lot of the time - the old Windies boys one side, the jazz-attendees and whiter folks the others. There's little sign of integration really - even on big football games it can be a bit of a library there. That's wrong for a pub imo.

The Albert's welcoming enough, a better melting pot. But it's a little too nice for me some of the time - it's a pleasant meeting point, but the narrow layout and bright lighting mean that I'm not keen on staying there over an evening.

I miss the old Hobgob if I'm honest. I miss the crustiness, the noise and the old Mos Eisley cantina's worth of characters. Some of the evenings in there, and even some of the football games, had been been absurdly spontaneous and outstanding. I miss that old spirit
 
newbie said:
yes of course, but these things aren't constant and for a few years now it's been significantly more popular than it was prior to that.
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From when? I can remember the Dogstar having big queues outside most nights, the central pubs being fuller, Loughborough Junction attracting 'nuff peeps through Brixton, busy regular big nights at 121/Cooltan/Bradys and the Fridge bringing big crowds in with regular live acts.
 
Brainaddict said:
I'm read Geoff Dyer's novel about living in Brixton at the moment. It seems like it was more fun back in the day, but also more trouble.
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Is that The Colour of Memory? Fab book, I'd highly recommend it.

(I have some great memories of mad nights in Brady's & The Albert about ten years ago, but can't really comment on what Brixton is like now. T'would be a shame if it lost its unique 'anything goes' 24-hour party vibe, though I'm a bit the wrong side of thirty :D ;) (JUST A BIT ;) ) to still enjoy that scene.)
 
I am not a "pub person" and I am not from Brixton, but judging by the 3 or 4 times I have been to the Albert, it's always had a great atmosphere compared to pubs in Essex.
 
editor said:
From when? I can remember the Dogstar having big queues outside most nights, the central pubs being fuller, Loughborough Junction attracting 'nuff peeps through Brixton, busy regular big nights at 121/Cooltan/Bradys and the Fridge bringing big crowds in with regular live acts.
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Dunno really, maybe when the Dogstar was the Atlantic, Cooltan was a dole office, Bradys was the Railway and the Fridge was above Mothercare. :)

That's not quite my point though, because although there have always been lively local scenes, the just-off-mainstream widespread appeal of Brixton as a magnet nite-spot has been relatively recent.
 
That's so untrue Newbie. The Fridge, Academy and a huge range of venues, both legal and otherwise, have been drawing in folks for generations. Brixton's been a magnet for bands, musicians and performers for decades.

What's perhaps true is that the area is capable of attracting more monied visitors these days> Equally the appeal of the daytime economy has been decliing - the market and Morleys don't have nearly as much of a draw these days.
 
tarannau said:
That's so untrue Newbie. The Fridge, Academy and a huge range of venues, both legal and otherwise, have been drawing in folks for generations. Brixton's been a magnet for bands, musicians and performers for decades.

What's perhaps true is that the area is capable of attracting more monied visitors these days> Equally the appeal of the daytime economy has been decliing - the market and Morleys don't have nearly as much of a draw these days.
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Come off it :p The (current) Fridge was a Kung-Fu cinema for a few (local) teenagers and the Academy was tatty before it was closed up for years? (can't remember- when was it the Sundance?) The other local theatre became a Bingo hall, the other local cinema was empty for a while, .

attracting more monied visitors these days is approaching what I've been trying to say, poorly as ever.
 
newbie said:
Dunno really, maybe when the Dogstar was the Atlantic, Cooltan was a dole office, Bradys was the Railway and the Fridge was above Mothercare. :)

That's not quite my point though, because although there have always been lively local scenes, the just-off-mainstream widespread appeal of Brixton as a magnet nite-spot has been relatively recent.
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Got to agree with this - in the 80s Brixton was a place you went out of to Go Out. There were plenty of fairly cool, tatty pubs on the decline, but no where you'd travel to go to.

Talking about the old Railway (pre-Brady's) really reminds me of that; it was just a dump fullstop really, although I have fond memories of getting out of my face there in the afternoons when they repealed 3 o'clock closing in the afternoon - it was the only pub in Brixton that stayed open all day at first so became the alcoholic's and general boozer-dosser's magnet from 3 till 6.

Nostalgia apart, Brixton is far livelier now, and has been for a while.
 
editor said:
And Streatham's positively electric with great bars, pubs, squat parties, activist centres etc etc, eh?

:D
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People fifteen years younger than me tell me that there are various nights in decidedly unlikely SW16 locations towards Norbury, Furzedown and other places off the edge of the known world. This is where Streatham's Polish and Russian/Byelorussian emigres let their hair down energetically in company with some carefully selected British acquaintances.

I keep on saying that they surely can't match the speakeasy (complete with currency dealing gangsters and their molls) that I frequented in Leningrad's outer suburbs twenty years ago, but a "pillar of the community" nearing middle-age like me is unlikely to get in unless I rapidly try and remember a lot more Russian than I ever learned before.:D
 
I've no idea what's going on in Brixton these days, but many of the venues that hosted the great parties/nights of yore just don't exist any more. So that has to have an impact. I'm glad to hear the HobCanning is reverting to type, and the few times I've been in the Albert recently (albeit for Offlines), it's always been pretty lively and fun.

The one place that appears to be sticking to the old Brixton ways, it seems to me, is the Grosvenor. I keep hearing about parties that have gone on there, way after the event. Lots of punk stuff, indie stuff, people like Naked Ruby doing their thing - the kind of nights that would be happening at the Canning or the pre-techno George IV. That's the beauty of being off the beaten track of course - you can just get on with what you like. Good on 'em.

Talking of Streatham, that cinema half way down the high road - I assume it's the Apollo that was mentioned just before - has been converted into a high class restaurant, so it seems. I just caught a glimpse from the bus the other day, but it looks pretty flash.

And talking of makeovers, anyone seen the nearly finished building that's standing where the Queen used to be? It's fucking bizarre. If they hadn't knocked down a beautiful old building to build it, I'd almost approve. It's so utterly eccentric and out of place - it looks like it was designed to be on the coastline somewhere, maybe in the south of France. A weird nautical folly that stopped me in my tracks the other days. I stood for five minutes gawping at it, trying to understand just what was going on there.
 
ianw said:
And talking of makeovers, anyone seen the nearly finished building that's standing where the Queen used to be? It's fucking bizarre. If they hadn't knocked down a beautiful old building to build it, I'd almost approve. It's so utterly eccentric and out of place - it looks like it was designed to be on the coastline somewhere, maybe in the south of France. A weird nautical folly that stopped me in my tracks the other days. I stood for five minutes gawping at it, trying to understand just what was going on there.
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Yes it's extraordinary - I like it. And I think you're right about the nautical theme - kind of Well Coates via Corbusier.
 
Part of me was thinking "Is this the start of the end?" when I was looking at it. I just imagined that style spreading through Brixton, destroying the place.

There's something very very wrong about it. Which I almost admire. Brixton is the home of the eccentric after all. But even so...I don't know. It just sets alarm bells ringing for me.

It's fucking weird.
 
ianw said:
The one place that appears to be sticking to the old Brixton ways, it seems to me, is the Grosvenor. I keep hearing about parties that have gone on there, way after the event. Lots of punk stuff, indie stuff, people like Naked Ruby doing their thing - the kind of nights that would be happening at the Canning or the pre-techno George IV. That's the beauty of being off the beaten track of course - you can just get on with what you like. Good on 'em.
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Info for Grosvenor here http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=190635140
 
ianw said:
Part of me was thinking "Is this the start of the end?" when I was looking at it. I just imagined that style spreading through Brixton, destroying the place.

There's something very very wrong about it. Which I almost admire. Brixton is the home of the eccentric after all. But even so...I don't know. It just sets alarm bells ringing for me.

It's fucking weird.
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It looks a teeensy out of place dont u think? Ie, totally fucking out of place. its an eyesore.

Im curious as to what kind of yuppy will be stumping up hundreds of thousands of pounds for a view of the tyre shop though. and also what kind of restaurant/bar they build in the bottom bit.
 
The Grosvenor is a dump - some friends of mine were forced to hire it for a night after the original venue was closed down - it's like Phoenix Nights gone to seed
 
The grovesener's great when I've been to Reknaw nights...Stockwell though innit? :D :p

But then I like Phoenix Nights and grotty 'normal' pubs so go figure :cool:

Brixton has changed a lot, but then it goes in cycles doesn't it. As long as they don't keep knocking down 'old' Brixton it'll get back to how it used to be. :)
 
tarannau said:
The Effra, despite the wall coming down between the two bars, still feels like 2 pubs in 1 a lot of the time - the old Windies boys one side, the jazz-attendees and whiter folks the others. There's little sign of integration really - even on big football games it can be a bit of a library there. That's wrong for a pub imo.
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I didn't like the 'split' Effra when the wall was in situ, but I think taking it down has made a massive difference and mixed people up, in a good way.

Or maybe they just bought my love with free jerk chicken :D
 
Crispy said:
What?! When?! My love is for sale!
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It was in the summer - I think they just had some going spare so they handed it around.

Should anyone be interested, it turns out the price of my love is 2 chicken drumsticks.
 
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