For 50 years the Brixton Society has been the heart, soul and muscle behind the ceaseless struggle to retain many of those things that make Brixton unique and special.
Even a quick stroll around its anniversary exhibition – open in Brixton library until Saturday 9 August – will remind old timers and astonish newcomers with the number of issues that have been tackled.
“The exhibition is a very small thank you to everyone who has been involved over the 50 years,” says the society. “Some deserve a very big thank you!
“It also celebrates achievements as well as highlighting some of the challenges, past and present, that Brixton and the Brixton Society have faced.
“It is a call to action for the future. Please consider joining the Brixton Society to help us continue our work for the next 50 years.”
In the early 1970s, Victorian neighbourhoods in Brixton faced wholesale demolition to make way for new housing estates of tower blocks and “streets in the sky”.
But people resented being pushed out of their homes and began to organise. Residents’ groups in different areas around Brixton were soon working together to save their homes and promote refurbishment. Yet there were still neglected corners, notably the declining town centre, says an introduction to the exhibition.
A relatively small number of display boards pack a surprisingly large amount of information into a short and easily followed story.
Eventually the various groups and activists came together and formed the Brixton Society in the summer of 1975 to stand up for the area as a whole.
It became a recognised civic society, covering the whole Brixton area from Camberwell New Road in the north to the South Circular in the south, Clapham Road to the west and just beyond Loughborough Junction to the east.
From pictures of Boris Johnson reading a Brixton guidebook to science fiction style images of a car-dominated space-age Brixton, the society’s exhibition is packed with things that make viewers stop and think.
One of them is just how much work is involved in actually influencing the planning application process and monitoring what both private and public organisations are scheming.
“Our planning committee meets monthly and comments on multiple planning applications.,” the exhibition explains. “All of our responses are loaded onto the Brixton Society website. The society has been instrumental in influencing new development to make a positive contribution to the area.
“In line with Historic England guidance, we seek to protect historic buildings, parks and other infrastructure.
“It is not always about buildings. We recently advised and supported a local campaign to reinstate the Grade II listed [Lilford Road] sewer vent, or stink pipe, illegally removed by Thames Water. A small but significant win.”
At the other end of the scale, when Brixton’s covered markets got a new owner with big plans for them, the Brixton Society was able to persuade Lambeth council to adopt a policy that at least half of the units in the covered markets should be for retail use only.
