A Walking Tour of Brixton
"The Queers Make History tour of Brixton is a must for anyone interested in the history of gay radical politics in the 70’s.
"The Queers Make History tour of Brixton is a must for anyone interested in the history of gay radical politics in the 70’s.
We walked the streets with tour leader Ian Townson from Herne Hill Station down Railton Road (known as ‘The Front Line’) to Atlantic Road in the heart of Brixton’s market, and saw the squatted houses and shops, or their sites (some were demolished and redeveloped by Lambeth Council and others were destroyed in the 1981 Brixton riots), that were the seed bed of gay political activism, (and many other political and social campaigns), which contributed directly to the rights we have today.
Ian proudly pointed out the four pubs that he and others were thrown out of and banned from, for daring to openly display their homosexuality – hugging and/or kissing as a greeting, holding each others nail-polished hands and wearing ‘provocative’ gay badges.
We learned about involvement in the Gay Liberation Front, the many demonstrations, and campaigns like refusal to pay rates (council tax), which landed a number of people in court. Ian also spoke about the beginnings of The Brixton Faeries – a theatre group who put on sketches and plays anywhere they could from people’s front rooms to the fringe theatre circuit.
The most interesting part of the tour for us was the site on Railton Road (now demolished) of the first gay community centre in the UK. It was a squatted shop and became an important social and political hub. In the adjacent courtyard of St Georges Mansions, (another squat), Ian read out the names of many people who had been involved in the70’s gay community, and had died of AIDS – a poignant moment for sure. A very diverse group and it was great to meet and talk with people."
— Mary Evans Young, Derek Evans
The original tour was only meant to be a one off event tracing the course of the submerged river Effra with occasional references to one or two gay places. I have now completed five tours and take in places in and around Railton Road especially the South London Gay Community Centre, the Brixton gay community squats (now Brixton Housing Co-op) and several radical and revolutionary groups that were also around in the 1970s and early 1980s. These include three Women's Centres, The Race Today Collective, Brixton Advice Centre, The People's News Service, Bangladesh Food Co-op, Icebreakers radical gay counselling group and a variety of gay landmark sites taking in all the public houses we were thrown out of for 'coming out' as gay.
This map charts sites of radical queer significance in Brixton and the surrounding area, specifically focusing on historical sites of radical activism in the 1970s and 1980s. Completed by Nick Joyner (MA Visual Anthropology) as part of Goldsmiths University's AN71101A course (Learning From Social Movements).
Full page can be found here.
The tour along with the archives at the Bishopsgate Institute have prompted a proliferating interest in the Brixton gay community of that period including podcasts, videos, theatrical productions and art exhibitions. Recent enquiries include a possible BBC documentary and more tours have been requested!
On my first tour I harangued the crowd using a megaphone. Not the best way to win friends and influence people. The subsequent tours were a lot more audience friendly.