The Ritzy at 100

To mark the Ritzy cinema’s 100^th birthday, Kaye Wiggins went behind the scenes with general manager, Rob Belfield

It’s hard to imagine the Ritzy on its opening night in 1911. The cinema, then called the Electric Pavilion, would have been more imposing than it is today: the main auditorium, which now seats 350, had 780 seats.

But it is not known what the cinema’s first visitors would have watched. Rob Belfield, general manager of the Ritzy, says he has tried to find the name of first film shown at the cinema, but could not uncover any evidence.

“There are records to show it was opened by the mayor of Lambeth, but unfortunately they don’t say which film was on,” he says.As he shows me around the cinema – early one morning, when it’s eerily quiet – Rob paints a picture of how it would have looked 100 years ago.

“Where you’ve just come in, at the main entrance by the ticket desks, wasn’t part of the cinema,” he says. “It was the Brixton Theatre, which was bombed in the Blitz. After that it was used as a car park for the library, until 1994 when it became part of the Ritzy.

“The bit that’s now the restaurant would have been the box office, and the main auditorium would have stretched right back to where the bar is now.”

We head to the projection room above the main auditorium, a tiny room crammed with equipment. There is still an old film projector, although almost all of the films are screened from a neat digital box. “We’ve kept the film projector, but we don’t use it very often,” Rob says. “Now and again there’ll be a local filmmaker who will want to use it for a special screening.”

Below us, in the main auditorium, is a brand-new screen that can show 3D films and was installed just last month. There’s one problem with it, though. Because it is twice the size of the previous screen, it is too big to fit behind the cinema’s curtains.

“We had to stop the routine of pulling the curtains back at the start of a film,” Rob says. “There’s not much we can do about that. We still try to build anticipation in other ways, like dimming the lights.”

As we head downstairs for a closer look at the main auditorium, the history lesson continues. “The cinema nearly closed for good in the 1970s,” Rob says. “It was closed for two or three years and was becoming derelict, and the council was going to turn the whole area into a shopping centre.

“But a group of four local residents invested £10,000 in the cinema. They must have scrimped, saved and borrowed to do it, but they turned it around and it was reopened in 1974.”

Rob says the Ritzy has become more populist in recent years, showing blockbusters that it might previously have shunned. “We’ve definitely moved from arthouse to a more mainstream cinema now, because it’s what the community wants,” he says.  “When the new Harry Potter film is out and you’re not showing it, you’re not in tune with people.”

Despite the Ritzy’s local, individual, independent feel, 95 per cent of the films shown are chosen by the head office of Picturehouse, the national chain that owns the Ritzy and 18 other cinemas across the UK.

Rob insists, however, that he tries to give locals what they want, and often receives letters requesting certain films be screened. “I’ll always try to meet people’s requests,” he says.

And he is convinced that the Ritzy will not be taken over by a bigger cinema chain, or abandon the world cinema and small film screenings that set it apart. “We’ve got more than 10,000 members and they’re loyal, committed people who have strong opinions,” he says. “They’d be up in arms if the Ritzy became just like all the other cinemas.”

A tip – if you have a choice of screen, pick screen 5. It has plush new reclining seats and wine tables, but the tickets are the same price as all the others.

MaccyD’s

Kaye Wiggins, out taking photographs this weekend, noticed something funny in the Victorian-looking clock above McDonald’s: nowhere is safe from the golden arches…

Brixton on the BBC

BBC World Service set up a radio discussion about Lambeth public service cuts at Rosie’s Deli Cafe last week. Kaye Wiggins took part and here she explains what was discussed

The BBC World Service set up a makeshift base in the brilliant Rosie’s Deli Café in Brixton Market on Thursday, to present an “austerity special” programme about public sector cuts.

Presenter Dan Damon described Brixton in his introduction as  “one of the most cosmopolitan and at the same time one of the poorest parts of the capital.” He said it was worthwhile to look at what was happening in Brixton because cuts in services and public sector jobs would hit harder here than elsewhere.

“People love living here but also they know that the services that keep the place livable in, and a lot of the jobs, are provided in a large part by local government and those are going to be cut,” he said.

Cllr Pete Robbins reiterated some of the doom and gloom. Asked about the impact of the council’s funding cut from Westminster, he said: “There are going to be some immediate, fairly devastating effects.” (Interestingly, he also said two thirds of the £79m cut over three years would come from saving money on the council’s back office functions and administration costs. I’d be intrigued to see how this will work: what were they spending it on?)

Damon managed, largely because he’d spent several hours wandering round the area in the days before the broadcast, to also capture the brighter side of Brixton.

He said he loved the market’s cultural mix and he noted food and music from Ghana and the Caribbean, a Brazilian hairdressers (“although I’m not sure what that is,” he said) and a Japanese restaurant – I think he meant Fujiyama.

“Anyone who was fearful about the social impact of immigration should come to Brixton because 25 years ago this was a very troubled place,” he said.

“There were race riots here, the police were accused of brutality, of stopping and searching black people but not white people, and as a result cars were burned, there were many nights of unrest.

“But now what you see is a society that really does prove that immigrants not only can settle into an area but make it extremely colourful and diverse.”

Damon also praised the work of voluntary and community groups in the area, with a glimpse into the work of Livity, which aims to build up local young people’s skills and confidence by training them to be journalists. You can hear interviews with its co-ordinator Mira and one of its trainees, Celeste, about 28 minutes into the programme.

Damon said Brixton stood out because of the important role played by local citizens in holding the council to account using blogs, Twitter and other social media. “People can express themselves in different ways, they don’t rely only on local newspapers,” he said.

At this point I jumped in enthusiastically with my tuppence worth, saying dissatisfaction with Lambeth Life, the council-run newspaper, had spurred local people to hold the council to account themselves using blogs and social networks. “It means that the council is being scrutinised in a way that it never has been before,” I said – you can hear it here.

The programme managed to convey a serious, troubling picture of a place under threat from the loss of local services, but without losing sight of what people love about Brixton – the diverse culture, the food and music, the importance of community groups and the work of local bloggers and activists.

If Lambeth Council wants to make sure that Brixton’s reputation isn’t taken back to where it was in the eighties as a result of the cuts, it would do well to capture come of the positive story that the World Service found. Reminding people of what they love about their area, without ignoring the tough times it faces, might be a good place to start.

The BBC World Service ‘World Update’ facebook page features video interviews with Kaye Wiggins and Livity. See them here.

The full programme has now been taken down, but you can listen to Kaye’s audioboo here.

‘The government has cut our money’…so how are we going to cut services?

Kaye Wiggins reports from the public budget consultation at Lambeth Town Hall last night

At a noisy meeting in the town hall last night, Lambeth residents vented their frustration about the £79m in cuts that the council will make from its £310m budget over the next three years.

The council’s plan for the event, a public consultation attended by about 60 residents, was that local people would suggest how they thought it should make the cuts. They could do this by writing their thoughts on a ‘post-it note wall’ and a ‘graffiti wall’.

The night didn’t get off to an easy start for the council. A Unison member interrupted during the introduction. “Labour councillors met last night and agreed to a detailed budget,” he said. “We have a right to know what they decided. Otherwise this meeting is a waste of our time.”

When several members of the audience applauded the Unison man, councillor Paul McGlone tried to explain. “Details of the meeting will be online tomorrow morning,” he said, causing an outcry that set the tone for much of the evening.

But when people were separated into small groups later on, they started talking more quietly about the services that should be spared from cuts. Libraries, children’s services and housing emerged as the big priorities.

McGlone told the residents the council had not made any final decisions on its budget, and would use their feedback to help it decide on its priorities before it announced the final figures on 23 February. He said the council particularly wanted to protect its budgets for children’s services, crime, schools, better homes and helping people to get back into work.

Nobody mentioned the council’s controversial adverts for the consultation process, which said: “The government has cut our money so we are forced to cut services.” But messages on the graffiti wall, like the one below  might send a signal to the council about it.

2010 – the year in Brixton

Kaye Wiggins reports on 2010 in Brixton – a year of elections, closed leisure centres, happy lido days, rising market rents and a jerk chicken festival.

 

2010 has been a year of change for Brixton. It has said hello to Windrush Square, Starbucks, Chuka Umunna and the co-op council. Here’s a quick round-up of the bigger stories of the year.

The renamed and re-landscaped Windrush Square opened in February. Lambeth Council said it would “create a safe, high-quality public space reflecting our unique and diverse community.” But critics questioned whether an “expanse of concrete” could really reflect Brixton’s character.

Also in February, the council announced its plans to “go co-op”. It has spent much of the year trying to explain to residents what this means, and gather our thoughts about it, sometimes in unorthodox ways. Asking us to put coloured balls in different bucket and stickers on bits of paper was a memorable example.

But what the council claims is a worse-than-expected budget settlement from central government, announced in October, has brought a sense of urgency to the plans. They are due to come into force from spring 2011.

Sticking with politics, the general election in May saw Labour hold its Streatham, Vauxhall and Dulwich and West Norwood seats. Chuka Umunna replaced Keith Hill in Streatham, Kate Hoey kept her Vauxhall seat and Tessa Jowell held onto Dulwich and West Norwood.

In the local elections, there was a strong showing for Labour, which gained seven seats. The Lib Dems and the Tories each lost three seats.

A plan to temporarily move Streatham’s ice skating rink to the site of the Pope’s Road car park in Brixton caused unrest this year. In October, more than 100 demonstrators marched to Lambeth town hall to protest about it.

The plan also angered traders on Brixton market, who said using the closed car park as an ice rink, rather than reopening it for parking, could cause them to lose more trade. They had been arguing since February that the closure of the car park in December 2009 had affected their trade, and a Freedom of Information request in October added weight to their argument.

Market traders have had a difficult year, warning in September that rent rises could force more of their shops to close. But there was good news in April, when Brixton’s indoor markets were given listed status.

Shopping in Brixton changed a lot in 2010. Whilst several market stalls have closed down, and independent shops like Lori’s Frothy Coffee have struggled, big brands including Starbucks, H&M, T-Mobile and, most recently, Holland and Barrett, have arrived in the town centre.

But Brixton’s local businesses have had some causes for celebration. The Brixton Pound marked its first birthday in September. And who could forget Charles and Camilla’s surprise visit to the market in July?

Brockwell Park in the snow

Guest blogger Kaye Wiggins sent in some photos from this week’s snow in Brixton:

Haircuts and lager, courtesy of Lambeth

Guest blogger, Kaye Wiggins, finds a more concrete policy in Lambeth’s cooperative council plans

You can picture the tabloid headlines already, can’t you? As part of its plan to become a co-operative council, Lambeth is going to give direct payments to more and more of the people that use its services, to spend as they choose.

This could include haircuts, horse riding lessons, presents for their children and even going to the pub, according to a recent report about the plan.

Giving money directly to people, rather than spending it on services they can use, is part of the ‘personalisation’ agenda, a key part of the council’s plan to go co-op.

The report, called Survive and Thrive and published last month by the council and the charity representatives’ group Acevo, says this agenda will be extended in future, and will cover services including health, social care, criminal justice, welfare to work, education, children’s services and substance abuse.

Under the plan, the council will fund charities and community groups that will let the people using their services decide on how their problems could best be addressed.

If a person’s situation could best be helped by rebuilding their self-confidence, and that person decides that a haircut or horse riding is the best way to do it, then they can choose for the money to be spent in this way.

“Anything should be possible as long as it is legal and it contributes towards achieving a mutually agreed outcome,” the report says.

It gives the example of a supported housing association in Tower Hamlets, called Look Ahead Housing and Care, which used funding from the council to give service users £40 a week to spend however they liked.

It says one used the money to buy presents for her children, another had her hair styled and another “used it at a pub as a way of making contact with a local darts team”.

The report says: “Although this was initially challenging for staff, these activities reconnected those living at Coventry Road with the local community, developed skills in communication and social awareness and, ultimately, began making the believe there was a route to recovery.”

It looks as though more and more of the council’s services will be provided in this way as it progresses with its co-operative plans. There’s a stark warning in the report for organisations that don’t deliver personalised services: “It is essential that they do not rely on on-going support from Lambeth, the PCT or other statutory agencies which are committed to a new commissioning model based on personalisation.”

This might become the biggest way in which Lambeth residents are affected by the co-op council agenda. The plan to go co-operative has been criticised for being a big idea that local residents struggle to see the relevance of – but here, at least, is a concrete policy.

‘Lambeth Life’ – a co-operative council paper?

If you’re going to turn the council co-operative, you may as well turn the paper that represents it co-operative too, right? Over at her own blog, @kayewiggins has been speaking to Steve Reed, Labour Leader of Lambeth Council, about his plans to hand over more editorial control of council freesheet ‘Lambeth Life‘ to residents who want to get involved. It’s an interesting idea but, as ever, it’s not quite clear just how much editorial control that will mean. Perhaps the council should stop pretending that ‘Lambeth Life’ is anything but a council paper and support residents who want to start an independent local paper or magazine over which they would have full editorial control.

Kaye’s blog post is here.

Brixton Skill Share

Guest blogger Kaye Wiggins returns with a report on the Brixton Skill Share

As I was wandering around Granville Arcade at the weekend I popped into Remade in Brixton’s Skill Share project  to see what was going on.

There were jewellery-making classes, solar cooking lessons and free tasters of Caribbean smoothies from Kalefa Naked Foods, as well as a broken piano that anyone could play with (I think the aim was to turn it into a work of art, but in reality it was proving a popular toy for a group of children).

I chatted to Hannah, who runs the skill share. She said the group could use the venue for free until the end of August, courtesy of the community regeneration group Space Makers, and after that they would try to raise the money to rent it.

The space will be used for community purposes as long as there is enough demand for it. Hannah says most of the money to rent the premises will come from teachers that pay to use it and can charge for their classes. So if there’s something you’d like to learn, or something you think you can teach, get in touch with her by emailing remadeinbrixton@googlemail.com.

Free smoothies from Kalefa Naked Foods

Jewellery-making lessons

Reporting from the town hall…

Guest blogger Kaye Wiggins, journalist for Third Sector magazine, reports from last night’s co-operative council meeting

About 70 residents gathered in a warm, crowded room in Lambeth town hall last night to discuss the co-operative council plans.

During the two-and-a-half hour question and answer session with council leader Steve Reed, almost all of those that asked questions said they welcomed the idea, at least in theory. But they raised concerns about how it would work in practice.

One of the biggest concerns was how the council would make sure the whole local community had its say about the plans. “I know most of the faces here,” said a lady on the front row. “We’re always here; we’re always debating with the council. There are a lot of other people in the borough. We need to get to the grass roots.”

Reed said the public consultation on becoming a cooperative was the biggest the council had ever held. He said there would be surveys, roadshows, public meetings and – surprisingly – random vox pops outside tube stations during rush hours to ask local people what they thought.

He also said the co-operative idea was not just a way of coping with the 25 per cent cut the council will make to its overall spending in the next four years.

He said involving local people in providing public services would make the services more responsive to the community’s needs. He stopped short of saying which services would be provided in this way, but said housing would be “an extremely interesting area to look at”.

One resident voiced a concern that seems likely to be repeated as the consultation goes on. “I already co-operate with the council by paying my taxes,” she said.

But maybe we should take heart from a suggestion made by councillor Jackie Meldrum, who said there could be “some kind currency to be a reward system” for residents that helped the council to deliver its services.