Brixton Village — also known as Granville Arcade — is a 1930s indoor market in South London. By mid-2009, a large number of its shops were standing empty.
With funding from the market’s owners and the support of hundreds of local people and organisations, Space Makers filled those empty shops with new community-driven businesses, creative projects and a rolling festival of weekend and late night events.
At the end of October 2010, Space Makers moved on from Brixton Village. After a year of pop-up theatres and galleries, temporary shops and trial-run cafes, all the shops were now let to long-term tenants — many of whom arrived through our original competition. It felt like the right moment to move on.
We might be gone, but there is still loads going on at the market — and plenty of ways to get involved.
If you want to get involved with events at Brixton Village, the best place to start is by visiting The Brick Box — a new community arts hub which opened in September 2010. Eleanor, Andrea and their gang are carrying on the rolling programme of late night events. They’re always interested in volunteers and proposals for events.
To see how it all started, here’s a video from the opening of the first new shops in December 2009:
The market is just 3 minutes from Brixton tube station — directions here. Come down and check it out!
