Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brixton
Brixton
is a classic Victorian suburb, transformed from open fields into bricks and
mortar in a couple of decades following the arrival of the railways in the 1860s. The
viaducts still dominate the landscape of central Brixton, with shops and arcades hidden
under their arches, but it's the West Indian community, who arrived here in the 1950s
and 1960s, who still define the character of the place - Notting Hill may have Carnival,
but it's Brixton that has the most upfront African-Caribbean consciousness. Brixton also
suffered from a reputation for violence and gun crime, earned during the 1981, 1985
and 1995 riots when tensions between the police and the local youth came to a head.
Brixton's main axis is the junction of Brixton Road, Acre Lane and Coldharbour Lane,
south of the tube station and overlooked by the slender clock tower of the immense
Edwardian
Lambeth
Town Hall
; the dinky neo-Renaissance Tate Library built in 1892;
the Ritzy
cinema, which opened in 1911 as the Electric Pavilion; and, on the triangular
tra
c island, the Neoclassical church of
St Matthew
, from 1824, with its grandiose Doric
portico, its crypt now used as a bar. A short walk up Effra Road brings you to Brixton's
main green space, hilly
Brockwell Park
, beloved for its lido (see p.439), and venue for the
Lambeth Country Show, a celebration of
rus in urbe
held every July (see p.25).
21
SOUTH LONDON
1
Tate
Britain
WALWORTH
VAUXHALL
Pimlico
GODING ST
0
K E
Kennington
Vauxhall
mile
KENNINGTON
Kennington
Park
NINE
ELMS
Oval
Battersea Park
Battersea Park
Queenstown
Road
CAMBERWELL
Larkhall
Park
A
BATTERSEA
Stockwell
G
Denmark
Hill
Wandsworth
Road
STOCKWELL
Clapham
High St
Loughborough
Junction
Ruskin
Park
Clapham North
VOLTAIRE ROAD
Clapham
Junction
CLAPHAM
Brixton
TRINITY
GARDENS
ATLANTIC
ROAD
A 3
CL
M M O
N
C
Clapham
Common
Clapham
Common
C
BRIXTON
HERNE HILL
BLENHEIM
GARDENS
North
Dulwich
Herne Hill
O
Brixton
Windmill
Wandsworth
Common
Clapham
South
Brockwell
Park
Dulwich
Picture
Gallery
Wandsworth
Common
Belair
Park
TULSE
HILL
Balham
U
N
West
Dulwich
BALHAM
STREATHAM
HILL
O
Dulwich
College
Tulse
Hill
Tooting Bec
Common
WEST
DULWICH
Streatham
Hill
Tooting Bec
Crystal Palace
