RECLAIM BRIXTON: A LOCAL VIEW

 

Naptali, who came to Brixton in 1963  - I'm privileged to be working on his brilliant autobiography

Brixton: gentrification v regeneration

The Reclaim Brixton event on 25 April is likely to have an impact far beyond Brixton itself. It highlights deeply felt concerns about gentrification. It's widely felt that the very people and small businesses which give places like Brixton their unique flavour are being forced out. 

Here's the view of one local man - Naptali.  It's an extract from his forthcoming memoir, which he and I have been working on together. 

Naptali loves Brixton. He's seen huge changes since the early 1960s when he came here from Jamaica at the age of 7.  His primary school is now a gated community, his friend's shop - Blacker Dread Music Store -  was forced to close last year.  The Front Line where Naptali spent his youth  - once the hub of the Brixton Riots - is now full of 'highly sought-after' properties. 

Brixton Riots forced change for the better

'Things did change for the better after the riots in the 1980s. People started to listen. But now it feels like it was to the detriment of our older generation. They’ve been pushed out, squeezed.  I don’t know if it’s deliberate or just how it is. But we feel like we’ve been squeezed.

'For instance you can’t buy any properties round here – it’s too expensive. And if you want to have a business the rates and rents will kill you. You have to get yuppified.

Now it's changed beyond recognition. Some of it could be for the better, but some of it - it’s not Brixton any more.  It’s not the Brixton we know. I don’t even know if I like it or not.

But I wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere else, because it’s where I’ve always known.  I don’t live here now, but I’m here every single day.

OK, I don’t mind seeing all these new faces.  But I would like to see more of my own people being involved in the new amenities and the new businesses that are around here. Because it's us who caused the change so to speak.  So let most of us benefit from the change that we brought about.  That’s how I see it.'