Brixton People's Kitchen developed community lunches in unexpected places car parks, parks, and schools so that people could congregate, cook and converse and share knowledge. In 2014 BPK won a Nesta Award to design the first mobile bike kitchen enabling us to bring the food into the heart of the community. Since then we have run several community pop-ups, Community Cafe's and regular community get togethers. In 2022 after running a COVID food hub from our cafe and a successful community shop, we were evicted for a more commercial venture.
The People's hub on Lambeth Walk represents our first permanent space with a long lease and the ability to set roots. It's one of the most deprived places in Lambeth and our hub is more needed now than ever.
From here we plan to ensure that every local knows they have a place they can go to every day of the week, cook or share a meal, ideas and nourish themselves as part of the community. We will also be able to continue our offer of volunteering roles, trainee programmes, workshops for local people, unemployed and between jobs as well as young people who just need a bit of work experience under their belts. In holidays we'll be offering intergenerational activities curated by local people and our annual Street Party.
"I think it’s very important to have community events as it brings people together and growing up children so learn more about togetherness from taking part in them." - Surya Parent of 4
We are fundraising to get this project off the ground. We need to raise funds for a Hub manager to co-ordinate the range of activities we will be planning with the community to be delivered with and by them and our rent for the first year. Once we get going we will be able to generate long term funds through partnerships, grants and other sponsorships and day to day income
Alongside this we'll be working with the local community garden to encourage local food growing and engage people with food grown in the area, encouraging local young people to grow food on their balconies and providing a space to share this at the hub.
“You are really amazing and we love the activities you do for children and their families. Without you, we would struggle to get through the holidays. We love you!” - Denise
Over the next year we plan to run workshops led by the community to reduce our affect on the environment and reduce climate change. We will be doing this through delivering a series of workshops teaching people how to fix and reuse items, instead of replacing; reduce domestic waste by repairing and creating things like clothes; and cooking with all the food and wasting less at home, saving money in the pocket.
We will be bringing in our popular sharing library with books, clothes and will be working towards developing a Library of Things to reduce the need for buying items only used once in a while.
Please donate to this project and together we can support the community and create something truly special for everyone