Ready and willing to do their bit to inflate local house prices and accelerate rents out of the reach of many are the notorious estate agents Foxtons, who are now preparing to open a ‘funky’ office in Brixton Road.
Brixtonites will soon be able to enjoy the sight of the ‘edgy’ Foxton Mini cars revving up outside the premises at 506 Brixton Road, formerly occupied by the Speedy Noodle fast food restaurant.
Here’s the artist’s impression of the new Foxtons on Brixton Road, adding another bland corporate façade to Brixton’s main drag.
Foxton’s aren’t just any old estate agents though: this lot have an appalling reputation.
After they were forced to reword their contracts after a court order from the Office of Fair Trading, here’s what The Guardian had to say about the company’s business ethics:
Staff were paid minimal basic salaries plus commission so that, according to one former employee, they were “driven to do almost anything to clinch a deal”.
Dodgy practices included pulling down other agencies’ For Sale boards and putting up their own for properties they weren’t even selling.
Here’s how the building looked in January 2004 when it was operating as a fast food restaurant.
Seen in 1910, the building was used by W.G.Seammen, a ladies’ and children’s mantle maker, outfitter and furrier.
This image is taken from a contemporary advertisement which hoped that their ‘skirts and blouses in the newest materials and boas in all the latest and most fashionable shapes’ would attract the purses of passing Edwardian ladies. (pic: Lambeth Archives)
See more Brixton ‘Then & Now’ features here.
Update: I found this and simply had to share it! 🙂
Hey Foxtons
“Stop parking your shitty cars in the bicycle lane.
Kind Regards, the hundreds of people who cycle past every day.”
Windscreen notices for the Foxtons’ cars which are parked in the Clerkenwell bicycle lane every fucking day.
[Image courtesy of bristly pioneer]
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Thank you for a valuable and historical perspective
BRING BACK SPEEDY NOODLE!!!!!!!!! (Pleeeeeeezzzzzzzzeeee!!!!!!)
Personnally I think that Brixton has been living through an apocalypse for the last 13 years that I have lived there, and though I hate estate agents with venom, this is an indication that Brixton is becoming an attractive place to live; and that cannot be bad. I would rather have some estate agent duped wealth contributors living there than many of the undesirables that contribute to nothing more than the crime stats, and so would the local economy and businesses, I am sure.
What about families who are being forced to move out of their own area as rents go up and up and house prices soar out of reach? How about all the local businesses that are now being priced out?
It is a fair question you ask. But really unless you are in favour of social and economic manipulation and control, which generally leads to more starvation and gruesome corruption in the hands of power crazy regimes, the question cannot be answered to your satisfaction. I cannot refer to any specific familes that have been forced to move from this local area, but remember Brixton is still much cheaper than many other parts of London, most other areas in fact near here and still cheaper than Richmond, or Kingston and other places further out. So I am not sure where these families have been going, do you know?. In general though there will always be winners and losers as human kind, and concentrations of humans ie towns and cities evolve, and neither you, nor I, nor anyone can stop that, it is part of human evolution. I would not be here now if my great grandfather, and grandfather and many like them had not sacrificed themselves in the war. What about them you may ask, was it fair for them to be involved in front line battle while generals smoked cigars and drank finest whiskey? Is it fair that someone would buy gloves from M&S while some trader in the market, with personnal debts has perfectly good ones on offer? Let me give you and example of change locally. There is a nice barbers I go to at the top of Brixton Hill who gives a nice trim for £9. He is grateful for the Sainsbury’s a few doors away, it has increased the footfall and hence his business has benefited. Whilst the small grocers even closer to Sainsbury’s who in some ways compete with Sainsbury’s are probably not so keen. Is it fair there should be winners and losers? It is a pointless question because fair does not come into it. We are on this planet to survive, just like any other species, some of us will do better than others. So I guess my comment initially did not account for everyone. Some will lose and some will gain, as with just about every other turn of time, and twist of fate, and in general that is good for the whole; it will teach us something – hopefully.
The high st will never be as good as when the wonderful Rice n Spice occupied this premises
A great reminder for all car owners at least the street could be good more than ever. Applause for a new change!