Brixton is the heart of London's Afro-Caribbean community and one of the city's most distinctive neighbourhoods — multicultural, opinionated, musical, and never quiet. The 1948 arrival of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica shaped the area; the population today is mixed but the Caribbean character runs strong, from the bakeries on Atlantic Road to the reggae shops along Coldharbour Lane.
The covered Brixton Market (also called Brixton Village and Market Row) is the spine of the area. Two interconnected Edwardian arcades of independent food stalls, Caribbean grocers, Portuguese cafes, vinyl shops, and small restaurants — it gentrified through the 2010s but kept enough of its original character. Electric Avenue, named in the 1880s as one of the first London streets lit by electricity, runs alongside; Eddy Grant's song is about this exact street.
Brixton has been a music town since the 1960s. The Brixton Academy is the city's best mid-size music venue — a 1929 Art Deco former cinema with a sloping floor that gives a clear view from anywhere in the room. The pubs and bars along Coldharbour Lane and around Pope's Road host live music, DJs, and the longest queues in South London at weekends. The neighbourhood is a 12-minute Victoria line ride from central London.