Campaign launched to save Brixton cash and carry from millionaire DJ landlord

Brixton’s Nour Cash and Carry is fighting an eviction notice from DJ Taylor McWilliams, having been told it needs to vacate the property by 22 July 2020.

The South London food staple has been selling produce from the Caribbean and Africa for 20 years, and is being ordered by McWilliams’s Hondo Enterprises to make way for an electricity substation.

An excellent report in The Quietus last month highlighted landlord McWilliams as a member of DJ collective Housekeeping, which also includes Tape London club founder Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe.

This has caused outrage within the local community, as well as from musicians and figures in the food world who stress that Nour is a vital part of the market, with it serving 90% of its restaurants.

A photo posted by @save_nour has been doing the rounds on social media, showing a white artist signed to Housekeeping’s label wearing fake dreadlocks, who has just put out a track called ‘Bruvva’ sampling Jamaican patois speech.

“Shutting South London’s premiere Jamaican food shop with one hand, commodifying the culture for cool points with the other?” the caption reads. “This is cultural erasure, this is harm, this is whitewashing. The mood among Nour’s customers is sombre today, as we enter 6 weeks til eviction date. This man cannot be allowed to erase Brixton’s history!”

We have emailed this video to multimillionaire Taylor McWilliams with this message:

‘Taylor,
If you carry out this eviction, you will not be welcome in Brixton. It is you who is not wanted here. It is you who is not needed.’

Watch in full to see why. #savenour pic.twitter.com/eX1qkQ7lYw

— Save Nour Save Brixton (@SaveNour) June 10, 2020

Sign the petition here.

UPDATE (31/10/20): Hondo Enterprises has been collecting signatures via local forums in favour of “a new market space,” seemingly without mentioning that the proposed development includes a 20-storey office block.

A planning application meeting has been scheduled for Nov 3rd – details on how to attend are here.

HONDO ARE USING FALSE INFORMATION TO GET ‘SUPPORT’ FOR TAYLOR TOWER.

This person is on local forums collecting signatures in favour of ‘a new market space’. They do not mention that there will be 20 floors of offices on top.

It gets worse… [1/6] pic.twitter.com/rivUR5pOWk

— Save Nour #FighttheTower (@save_nour) October 28, 2020