A leading Brixton business owner today (24 November) called for urgent action over the “total collapse of hospitality” in the area and listed many recent closures.
Hammant Patel Villa – whose own long-running Atlantic Road restaurant Courtesan will close at the end of the year – said that, just last week, Atlantic Road Bakeries, Happy Dumplings and Kraft had closed, followed by the landmark Prince of Wales site at the weekend.
Villa, who is environment chair of the Brixton Business Improvement District (BID), called on it to approach Lambeth council, the Greater London Authority, and other bodies to address the crisis.
He said his brewery and bar business Supercute, based in Loughborough Junction with an outlet in Brixton Village;s Market Row, has been “undermined” by Lambeth council and its licensing committee.
He added that the BID should stop wasting its meagre resources to support ineffective projects.
“These are the businesses, from memory, that have now recently disappeared from our town centre despite all the shouted warnings,” he said:
- 2 Nigerian Boys
- Article
- Bar 384
- Barrio
- Brixton Cycles
- Café Van Gogh
- Cheese and Fizz (Formerly Champagne +Fromage)
- Chucks Rottiserrie
- Dogstar
- Gremio de Brixton
- Hacha
- House of Döner
- Rum Kitchen
- Seafood & Cocktail Bar
- SideChick
- Wood & Water.
“I know we can add more businesses to this horrific list,” said Villa.
“These are not just names. Local people running businesses have suffered huge losses in our town with an unrelenting destructive impact to our economy and personal wellbeing.
“How many more businesses are about to close?”
He called for “immediate and drastic action” and for the BID to prioritise “radical solutions” now.
Brixton Village, seen as the centre of local nightlife, comprising the Granville Arcade and Market Row, has now been up for sale for well over a year.
Freight Brixton, a 1,000-capacity space above Sports Direct on Popes Road, was originally slated to open in the summer of 2024, but is only now starting to advertise events there.
In October, Lambeth council appointed architects to develop a “community led” strategy for “public spaces and community life” in Brixton town centre, widely seen as the precursor to more traffic restrictions and pedestrianisation in the area.
In June, Brixton Market traders launched an association to work together to tackle the “slump” they face.
I own three businesses in Brixton – Guzzl, the newly opened Guzzl Canteen (hot dog and rum bar) and Brixton Spirits. It is clear that the cost of living crisis, the new taxes on jobs and rising costs are all having a major impact on hospitality businesses in our community. Local organisations such as BID cant change this reality but they need to be coming up with practical mitigating and community based answers to these problems. Otherwise our neighbourhood is going to cost tinue to suffer from further closures.