Brixton

This walk starts near Brixton Underground (Victoria Line Zone 2). It is part of a walk originally suggested to me by Lambeth Council. brixton is at the heart of Lambeth. Here is the famous Brixton Market with its Afro Caribbean flavour, its eating places and food from many parts of the world, and its unique and noisy cosmopolitan atmosphere.

At the start of the walk is the Ritzy Cinema, the Tate Library named after the sugar magnate of Tate & Lyle fame, Lambeth Town Hall, the famous Fridge music venue, St Matthew's Church, one of 4 built in the 'Waterloo' style, the extraordinary Budd Monument (pictured with Lambeth Town Hall in nthe background) and much more.

The Sharpeville Monument commemorates lives lost at the 1960 massacre in South Africa.

Hear the soundscape as I walk you throught the market area. Admire the Walton Lodge Sanitary Steam Laundry, founded in 1880 and still going strong. nearby admire a plaque dedicated to the life of a totter and squatter who totted and squatted between 1979 and 1989. Apparently, so it says, he was 'much loved.'

Walk along Railton Road, the front line of the Brixton riots of 1981 when 145 buildings were burnt and many vehicles destroyed. I tell you all about the history of that troubled time in London's race relations, now mercifully past as you can see from the new buildings and regeneration going on all over the area.

We then pass into a gem of a park. Brockwell Park was originally the grounds of a great mansion, bought by the London County Council for the use of the local community as a green space in 1891. As we walk down towards the amazing renovated Lido we hear about the history of brixton, its multi ethnic flavour, its immigrants from the Caribbean from 1948 on, and its present day character.

In the Park is a gem. Lambeth's best kept secret - the Walled Garden. Little Ben is a clock that had to be wound once a week, and was the gift of the local MP for Norwood. A previous member of parliament had a heart attack and died during the opening of the park in 1892.

The walk ends at Herne Hill main line station, which is one stop south from Brixton on the line that runs into Victoria or Blackfriars. Zone 1/2 Travelcards are valid on mainline trains, and there is a frequent and reliable service into central London from this point. Alternatively you can walk back to Brixton along Railton Road, making the walk a circular one.