Electric Avenue by Baron Corvo, The Sketch, 1895

Electric Avenue is a street in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Built in the 1880s, it was the first market street to be lit by electric lights (The first street to be lit by an

incandescent lightbulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxidat ...

was Mosley Street, in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

). Today, Electric Avenue contains various food and domestic provisions retailers, and hosts a part of

Brixton Market Brixton Market comprises a street market in the centre of Brixton, south London, and the adjacent covered market areas in nearby arcades Reliance Arcade, Market Row and Granville Arcade (recently rebranded as 'Brixton Village'). The market sell ...

which specialises in selling a mix of African, Caribbean, South American and Asian products. It is located just around the corner from Brixton Underground station (1972). The street originally had elegant

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

Victorian canopies over the pavements which were removed and destroyed in the 1980s.

History

The road is referenced in

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Af ...

's 1983 single "

Electric Avenue Electric Avenue is a street in Brixton, London. Built in the 1880s, it was the first market street to be lit by electric lights (The first street to be lit by an incandescent lightbulb was Mosley Street, in Newcastle upon Tyne). Today, Elect ...

", which reached #2 on both the UK and US singles charts. The song itself was inspired by the

1981 Brixton riot The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a series of clashes between mainly black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London, between 10 and 12 April 1981.J. A. Cloake & M. R. Tudor. ''Multicultural Britain''. Oxford Unive ...

. On 17 April 1999, the neo-Nazi bomber

David Copeland The 1999 London nail bombings were a series of bomb explosions in London, England. Over three successive weekends between 17 and 30 April 1999, homemade nail bombs were detonated respectively in Brixton in South London; at Brick Lane, Spitalfiel ...

planted a nail bomb outside a supermarket in Brixton Road with the intention of igniting a

race war An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's positio ...

across Britain. A market trader became suspicious and moved the device to a less crowded area of Electric Avenue, where 39 people were injured in its explosion. In 2016, Eddy Grant was invited to switch on a new illuminated street sign, installed as part of a £1 million refurbishment. Afterwards, Grant was given one of the previous signs as a keepsake.

Notes

References

Brixton local history with photos
Streets in the London Borough of Lambeth Brixton History of the London Borough of Lambeth {{London-road-stub