Mauleverer mural under threat

BY ZOE JEWELL

When the mural on Mauleverer Road was first painted thirty years ago, a resident on the street asked for a Caribbean beach view to be inserted into the picture of the Brockwell Park pavilion.

That perfect beach view is now under threat as a developer is looking to build nine apartments in the former Tuborg Building which houses a section of the mural.

The mural was painted by Jane Gifford, Ruth Blench, Mick Harrison and Caroline Thorpe in 1983 on the graffitied wall of the old Tuborg factory. The building had been used to stable horses which would deliver lager to the area. In 1992, the mural appeared in a reggae video called ‘On a Ragga Tip’.

The developer has not yet applied for planning permission, but is seeking advice from council officers and last month held a consultation for local residents at the Six Acres Methodist Church on Lyham Road.

Residents expressed their fears at the meeting that the mural would go if any new development were to be built.

Ruth Miller, from the London Murals Preservation Society, said: “I’d like it (the mural) to stay, because I see it as part of the Brixton murals group.

“Brixton has the best collection of murals from that period in a small area, so every time we chip away at that we start losing in some ways the unique status that Brixton has. Every time one goes, we will lose the stories.”

The mural is locally listed which means its status will be taken into consideration in any planning decision, but ultimately it is not protected from demolition.

In the 1970s and 80s, there were roughly 400 murals in London but only 50 of those remain, with ten in the Brixton area.

Can you spot the mural in this video?