Brixton, once the heart of black Britain, is now a black shopping destination
Hurry up, dear. I need to get back to CroydonA GOOD deal has changed in Brixton, a south London district, since Eta Rodney bought her Victorian terraced house in 1980. Then many of her neighbours were, like her, Jamaican. West Indians had settled in Brixton since 1948, when some arrived on the Empire Windrush. Today many of Mrs Rodney’s black neighbours are selling up and moving out of the area, making way for predominantly white newcomers. Britain’s historic black centre is being transformed—but in an odd way.
An extract:
Yet there are many remnants of the old Brixton. In the streets outside Brixton Village it is still possible to buy plantains and chicken feet. Ben Gidley, a sociologist at Oxford University who is studying ethnic patterns of movement in south London, believes Brixton will hold onto its Afro-Caribbean culture longer than its Afro-Caribbean residents. It is becoming a new kind of ghetto, revolving around shopping rather than living.
Not sure what I said exactly to be paraphrased like that…
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