You are invited to join his family and friends to celebrate the life of ALAN SLINGSBY who passed away on 28 January 2026. A gathering will be held 10.15 - 11.15am on Friday 13 March West Norwood Crematorium, Norwood Rd, London, SE27 9JU Refreshments afterwards in the Great North Wood Pub 3 Knight’s Hill, West Norwood, London, SE27 0HS Bright colours and happy memories are encouraged 

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of Alan Slingsby, our editor. Alan died at home suddenly and unexpectedly - we believe of heart failure - on 28 January. Throughout his life, Alan dedicated himself to impartial and high quality journalism, and as the editor of the Brixton Bugle and Blog he threw all his energy, skills and resources into building a unique and much-loved publication. Alan loved Brixton and worked tirelessly and selflessly to give its people a voice. He believed passionately in the importance of local news, written to the same exacting standards as the best in international reporting.

Yogi Sutton, a parishioner of Brixton’s Corpus Christi catholic church, received one of the highest honours for a lay person in the faith at a ceremony at the Brixton Hill church yesterday (25 January). In recognition of her tireless work championing racial justice, she was honoured as a Dame of St Gregory the Great by Pope Leo XIV for her contribution to the Catholic Church and wider society.

The sausage strolls The Blog and Bugle team had the absolute pleasure of meeting Ned, Bruno, Ronnie and Frankie, a string of dachshunds on their sausage strolls in Brockwell Park. This lively bunch are all chums who were clearly loving their doggy camaraderie under the watchful eyes of their owners, Joy and Jeanette. If you are a super fan of daschunds and a lover of art then stroll over to Joy's website and instagram. Here you will find greeting cards and gifts with prints of Daschund Pollock and Lickedenstein.

The rain stopped and the sun put in an appearance for Brockwell Swimmers’ first Freezefest today (24 January). But the water in the pool was 7.8ºC, and the Met Office’s “feels lie” temperature for Brixton was 5º,so it was not the day for a leisurely couple of lengths. Three hours of coldwater swimming included relays and some courageous performances … Liz Torode (r) celebrates winning the 100 metres 60+ race Organiser Brockwell Swimmers’ Tim Sutton

Tamara Barton-Campbell “Black, bold and beautiful” and creating “sexy films that bang”. That’s Brixton’s Renaissance Studios. Founded in 2017, the women-led production studio nestles opposite the bustle of Brixton station and a short walk from the David Bowie mural. “When I think Black, bold and beautiful, people say that about a person. So I am personifying the company and I bring my blackness to the table every time,” explains Tamara Barton-Campbell, founder and creative director of Renaissance Studios.

Image: © Harry Pseftoudis The charity behind Brixton prison’s acclaimed Clink restaurant has launched nationwide catering and bakery delivering high-quality food. Like its restaurants, The Clink Charity’s new venture, Catered by Clink, will support the rehabilitation and training of people in prison and young people at risk of offending. “Customers can enjoy beautifully prepared canapés, pastries and celebration cakes, knowing that every order contributes to life-changing opportunities for individuals rebuilding their lives,” said the charity.

Police are appealing for witnesses and information following a rape at an address in Pulross Road, Brixton, on Thursday, 8 January. A woman reported to police that she had been raped in the early hours of Thursday, 8 January, and an immediate investigation was launched. Detectives identified a suspect shortly after the incident. He has since been charged with two counts of rape and drug supply offences.

Brixton Rec is to close for three or four days while a new energy centre, which the council says is to improve heating, hot water and overall reliability across the building, is installed. The Rec currently shares infrastructure with International House, which is to be redeveloped under council plans for the “Rec Quarter”. The council said the building will be closed from the evening of Friday 23 January, reopening from the morning of Tuesday 27 January.

Embargoed until: 00:01 Thursday 22 January 2026 Brixton donor centre manger Rexford Osei-Bonsu outside the centre in the Bon Marché building on Brixton Road Brixton’s blood donor centre next to Marks and Spencer is celebrating its first birthday today (22 January) with the news that its tally of new blood donors is twice the national average. More than one in ten donors at the centre are from the Black heritage communities it targets to improve and save the lives of people with sickle cell disease.

The unnerving sights and sounds of barely clothed women having their throats cut outside KFC in Brixton today (21 January) stopped passers-by and fast food customers in their tracks. It also attracted the attention of six police officers who kept a distant but watchful eye on a bladed article that would have seen an instant arrest if it was not being used to dramatise the miserable life and cruel death of the chickens eaten by local carnivores.

Without Sam King, there would be no Windrush Day, no Windrush Square in Brixton, and the Empire Windrush itself may well have been forgotten. So it is fitting that Brixton, the spiritual home of the Windrush Generation – which itself would probably have a different name without Sam King – will host a commemoration of his life in the 10th year after he passed in 2016.

Lambeth council has opened initial consultations on new bus lanes for Brixton’s Acre Lane. It has received funding from Transport for London (TfL)’s Bus Priority programme to improve bus journey times on Acre Lane, and to make buses more reliable by introducing a “bus priority corridor”. TfL says its programme aims to allow buses to navigate freely “without being held up by congestion, parking or other kerbside activity”.

The number of people employed in the borough of Lambeth fell by 2% in the year from December 2024 to December 2025. This places the borough among the weakest employment performers in London, according to data published by the employment and pay app WageSight. In December 2025 there were 170,263 employees on Lambeth payrolls covered by central government statistics. The payroll headcount reported by employers was down 3,409 (-2%) year-on-year.

Professor Miranda Brawn The D.A.R.E. podcast, hosted by former Lambeth equalities commissioner Professor Miranda Brawn, will feature an impressive range of guests for its third season. From Baroness Doreen Lawrence, founder of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, through New York luxury real estate agent and Selling the City Netflix star Eleanora Srugo, to rogue trader turned financial investigator Nick Leeson, they will offer free masterclasses in developing your own “successful mindset” backed by ambition and confidence.

Brixton library will host a celebration of the life of Alex Wheatle, the Brixton Bard, in February. When he passed in March 2025, the literary world lost one of its leading lights. Alex Wheatle was an award-winning novelist who wrote for both young adult and adult audiences. His early years in a care home and later time in prison, as a result of his involvement in the Brixton Uprising of 1981, never dimmed his creativity or drive and he went on to become one of Britain’s most celebrated writers, receiving an MBE for services to literature.

Brockwell FreezeFest, the lido’s first cold-water swimming championship, promises fast races, freezing water and a brilliant mid-winter atmosphere, say the organisers, Brockwell Swimmers Club. The “bold new winter swimming event” is at the lido from 10am to 1pm on Saturday 24 January. Swimmers can enter via brockwellswimmers.com, and spectators are warmly invited to come along, cheer from poolside and enjoy the atmosphere — entry will be free.

A wellbeing day at the smart new Brockwell Hall will offer tasters of various activities on offer there on Saturday 24 January. You can drop in at any time between 11am and 3pm. Activities include yoga, tai chi, storytime for under-5s, Singing Mamas, health and wellbeing stalls. More here: tickettailor.com/events/lambethcouncil2/2025748 The hall’s regular weekly activities include: Tai Chi: MONDAYS…

Brixton House kicks off 2026 with theatre from pioneering artists and a call out for new stories which celebrate the voices of its community. Described by the Guardian as “Captivating and powerful”, Roots Mbili Theatre’s Far Gone is a powerful one-man performance which traces a young boy’s journey from innocence to survival. Latinx women from South London take centre stage in My Uncle Is Not Pablo Escobar, and dare you to call them invisible in this humorous yet politically urgent work. As Alejandra, Lucia, Honey and Catalina risk everything to expose a multinational bank, they confront the audience with what it means to be both a Londoner and Latinx.

Lambeth Youth Justice Service (YJS) has been rated as “Good” by an inspection of its work with children and victims of crime by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMP). “There were many examples of encouraging practice at Lambeth YJS,” said Martin Jones, Chief Inspector of Probation. “Diversity and lived experience were well understood and practitioners knew what services were required to support children’s needs.”

Brixton House theatre’s campaign to promote Black Power Desk – a musical produced in September as part of its Uprising Festival – has won a top award. It headed the campaign of the year category in the Stage Awards 2026. Judges said the campaign by Brixton House and PlayWell Productions “combined cultural authenticity, creative boldness and real impact”. Leaning into the show’s…

Brixton’s Tate Library is currently host to an exhibition of photographs by people who have experience of homelessness. Organised by the Royal Photographic Society, Our 2025 Journey is a large collection of streetscapes, landscapes, portraits, action shots and frozen moments in time. Quirky, witty, intimate with the occasional bit of technological wizardry, the show is interesting, inspiring and fun. Our 2025 Journey is open daily and runs until 31 January in the Brixton Tate Library, Brixton Oval, SW2 1JQ

The Soul Awakes is Claire Brennan's new show in Kennington’s Durning Library. Claire has explored a number of different techniques and media on her eclectic artistic journey.  Her current show consists of large organic shapes made from paper and card and reminiscent of the sun. Bold or delicate colours sprinkled with shards of mirror sit at the centre of each work. The effect is to capture fragments of the room and the viewer as you pass by which makes for a constantly changing and slightly kaleidoscopic image. The Light Within is a particularly successful example as the shards reflect back the coloured glass of the gallery window.

The Temperance Billiard Hall on Brixton's Coldharbour Lane today Temperance is not something associated with Brixton’s Coldharbour Lane in recent years, yet it is home to a important landmark for the temperance movement and features in a book on the subject published today (9 January). Historic England, the official guardian of the country’s built heritage, chose Dry January to highlight the.

Renowned British painter and local resident Hurvin Anderson, whose major Tate Britain exhibition opens in March – has been commissioned to create 10th annual mural at Brixton Tube. The new artwork will launch in November, succeeding the current mural by Rudy Loewe. The Tube commissions respond to the history of murals in Brixton from the 1980s, and to the wider social and political history of mural-making.

Pie Hard returns to Club Silly in Valentia Place on Saturday (10 January). Club Silly and 6FootStories will, once again, be showing the classic Bruce Willis Christmas action movie Die Hard while audience members hurl custard pies at each other in the Brixton HQ of the Bureau of Silly Ideas. Watch all your favourite Die Hard scenes re-enacted in front of the screen – with shaving foam instead of guns and cardboard boxes in place of ventilator shafts.

Eddie Tan Tan Thornton playing with the band Kitty. Daisy & Lewis. Image: Wendy Collings/Wikimedia The death has been announced of trumpeter Eddie ‘Tan Tan’ Thornton who played in Brixton with many of the musicians who have made it such a centre for jazz and reggae. Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, in 1931, in 1960s London he played on hits including the Beatles’ …

Brixton Road was brought to a standstill this afternoon (5 January) by the collision of two buses. At 2pm a 109 – which was pulling out – crashed into a 133 to Holborn which was pulling in at the box-junction opposite TK Maxx. Ambulance workers arrived at the scene after 10 minutes but nobody was injured. Both buses sustained minor damage.

Annual music events in Brockwell Park are not a temporary use of the park, but “part of an obviously prolonged and recurring use with lasting effects beyond the event period”, says a major objection to planning permission sought for this year’s Brockwell Live events. The Protect Brockwell Park (PBP) campaign today (5 January) published a detailed submission from its planning consultants.

Lambeth council is preparing to increase car parking charges in Brixton and elsewhere in the borough by up to 49%, raising a projected extra £2.8m in revenue. The total council income from parking fines in the 2026/7 financial year is projected to be near £12m (£11,857,909.83). Parking for the largest diesel vehicles will approach £20 an hour. A council report says the increases are part of plans to ensure parking spaces are used more efficiently by discouraging all-day parking, improving parking for short-term visitors, and supporting local business by facilitating a steady flow of customers, especially in high-demand areas such as high streets, hospitals, venues and shopping areas.

The colours from the shops and traffic lights were reflected in the street floor, still wet from the evening’s rain. “That was fun.” Alex side-stepped someone as they hurried into the entrance of Brixton Tube. “The encore was incredible.” Lacey clutched onto her bag as someone bumped into her. “Yeah. It was really fun … But … I guess it’s going to be hard to keep this going long distance.”

Lambeth council leader Claire Holland Lambeth council leader Claire Holland was awarded an OBE for services to local government in the 2026 new years honours list announced tonight (29 December). The borough of Lambeth was recently named as the London borough of the year in the New London Architecture awards. Other Lambeth figures honoured include Edison David, executive headteacher of Granton Primary School, Streatham Vale, with an MBE for services to education.

We held over last week’s blog dog slot to bring you a special Christmas double dose of photogenic mutts. Although the pair aren’t cohabiting, they do hang out together regularly at Brockwell Park and clearly enjoy each other’s company. The majestic mammothalike on the right is Malka, a seven-year-old Briard, or Berger de Bries. She is a comparatively small example of her breed, French sheepdogs so ancient they are depicted keeping the 8th-century Frankish ruler Charlemagne company in tapestries and paintings of the period.

Brixton prison's Clink restaurant The Clink restaurant at Brixton prison is safe for a further five years. There had been fears that a competitive tendering process would see The Clink Charity that runs it forced out of the prison. “This is a significant milestone and a strong endorsement of the impact the programme has delivered over the past 11 years,’ the charity said today (16 December).

Parts of Brixton may not receive mail six days a week, Royal Mail said today in a regular “movement of mail through our network” announcement. Postal code SW2, which covers the South of Brixton and reaches as far as Tulse Hill, is included in list of “a small number of local offices” where six-day-a-week delivery “may not be possible. “We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week,” said the announcement. “In a small number of local offices, this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.

Drone shot of Brockwell Park in June 2025 showing the extent of festival use of the park Lambeth council has published planning application documents for the 2026 Brockwell Live events in the park and opened consultation on them that runs until 31 December. It allows for 32 days of set-up, events and de-installation, including “wet weather buffer days”. Protect Brockwell Park (PBP), the campaign group that opposes large events in. the park, said this meant that, as opposed to the 2025 event, the community would be “part of the discussion” and that there would be a prior full assessment t of the impact of the events on “amenity, ecology, access and noise”.

Lambeth council has asked the government to reform laws governing tenant management organisations (TMOs) following serious concern about the Loughborough Estate. The former council estate is run by a TMO, which receives several million a year from the council to do so. Earlier this year, the news website London Centric reported that tenants of the estate had asked Lambeth council to overthrow the “corrupt” management board of the TMO.

The Protect Brockwell Park (PBP) campaign that opposes large music events in the park today (6 December) expressed its “delight” that Lambeth council has withdrawn its appeal against the High Court ruling PBP won earlier this year. The court ruled the council should have undertaken a full application for planning permission for the five Brockwell Live events that took place in the park in 2025.

Lambeth council today (5 December) announced the cancellation of the annual Lambeth Country Show which has run uninterrupted for several decades. The move came as the council abandoned at the last minute its appeal against a High Court ruling in May 2025 that it  should have undertaken a full planning permission process before approving work on infrastructure for five “Brockwell Live” festivals in Brockwell Park.

Santa will be making himself at ho-ho-home in the grotto at Slade Gardens Adventure Playground this Saturday, 6 December. And if a sighting of Mr Claus himself isn't enough, there will be free crafts and activities for kids, including rabbit petting. The inspiring community behind SW9's treasured urban park is pouring its collective creative juices into five festive fun-filled hours for all the family, with an exciting range of stalls selling everything from hotdogs and cake to homewares and candles.

Silas Armstrong Silas Armstrong, who for two and a half years worked both as a singer and as marketing manager for the Brixton Chamber Orchestra, is getting back together with the BCO over the festive season. He has been working on his own projects, including headlining at The Bedford in Balham and performing at a festival with Peter Andre and B*Witched – “not names I'd ever expected to share a line up with!” he says.

Reload Brixton’s Ritzy cinema rolls out the red carpet on Friday (5 December) to celebrate the best and brightest talent among local young filmmakers. Organised by the Ascension Agency and other local production companies and film collectives, the young stars will be competing for Best Feature, Best Short Film and Best Documentary in the Festival. “And the nominees are …” Hot on the heels of its world premiere, best feature is…

A long-awaited vision for Windrush Square is gathering pace, as plans to convert the derelict former public toilets, closed for decades, into a dynamic new arts bar take a significant step forward. At a recent meeting of the Windrush Square Arts Bar Working Group, held at Squire & Partners’ Ferndale Road headquarters, Ros Griffiths, chair of Friends of Windrush Square and of the working group, described a key discussion with Lambeth council’s chief executive Ian Davis as “positive and productive”.

Lambeth town hall in Brixton will host the Brixton Community Gospel Choir’s annual Christmas concert on 11 December. A Gospel Christmas! Promises a special evening of music, celebration, and community in true Brixton style – with powerful gospel harmonies, uplifting carols, and joyful praise, all performed by local voices united in song and celebration. “This concert is more than just a performance – it’s a heartfelt celebration of hope, love, and the joy of Christmas,” say the choir.

Brixton Village launched its Christmas season today (29 November) with Santa and an elfin helper, plus the Wonder Window – celebrating the mix of gifts and celebratory buys on offer in the Granville Arcade and Market Row. A special attraction for each weekend in December before Christmas will be the Wrap Bar, offering a free gift-wrapping service for every BrixtonVillage purchase with wrapping designed by artist 

Fusion Lifestyle, which runs Brockwell Lido, yesterday (28 November) declined to respond to requests from the Blog for details of a meeting over a £13m loan that it is trying to renegotiate. A spokesperson said that the loan – which is due to be repaid in May 2026 – was just one issue that the organisation, which runs a total of about 60 leisure facilities, was dealing with.

Fans of Acre Lane’s Aries bakery will be excited to see its signature focaccia recipe included in a mouth-watering new cookbook, launched this week. Order Up is a compilation of recipes from some of London’s most popular cafés and restaurants, whose sales will benefit hospitality workers in the UK, via the charity Hospitality Action.  The book is divided into North, South, East and West.