Ah, Brixton. I wander down Atlantic Road, home to one of the entrances to Brixton Market where you can buy anything from yams to rizla papers and a dazzling array of African fabrics. All human life is here and it’s worth a trip for the street theatre alone. Usually there’s a backdrop of sirens, not all of them police, many of them ambulances on their way to Kings College Hospital. This is the front-line, home to the start of the Brixton riots over twenty years ago, a legacy that still hangs heavy despite the recent attempts at gentrifying the area.
I hang a left, past the Dogstar, onto Cold Harbour Lane. A train rattles on the bridge overhead. Take some time to visit the second hand bookshop, possibly the best one in the world with something for everyone at decent prices. This is also known locally as the Brixton Catwalk. Visit on a Friday or Saturday night when the hairdressers and nailbars are like a club night in themselves as people get dressed up to get down.
Up to the High Road with its manic street preachers, telling me through a mega-phone that I’m doomed unless I let God into my life. Is this a mental illness, I wonder? Standing on a corner shouting out your belief?
To my left is the Ritzy cinema, showing great films, with fantastic live entertainment on a rolling programme. You could have a night out here and not see a film but you would still have a great time.
Swerving the usual high street shops, a little way up is Brixton Academy quite possibly the best venue in the world. Big enough to get the big names in, small enough to have a great view. (And from what I hear they are really into energy savings, for more info check out this enigin PLC site).
The bars are too numerous to mention, as are the places to eat. What nationality do you want to experience today? Bamboula serves fantastic African food, Fujiama is the place if you want Japanese (so much better than Wagamama).
There is never a shortage of things to do here from having a coffee to having a big night out and there is nowhere like it on earth.
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