Zines, cards, and paper crafts: Brixton community cafe hosts pop-up book garden
An inclusive space with good, affordable, and nutritious food. This is what The Platform Cafe is known best for amongst residents in Brixton.
Founded in 2015 as an off-shoot of the Loughborough Farm, The Platform Cafe runs on the support of volunteers in Ridgway Road, Loughborough Junction – a busy intersection of roads and railway tracks between Brixton and Camberwell.
For World Book day, the community cafe will be hosting a Book Garden pop-up across two weeks. All books are secondhand, chosen for a range of interests and ages, and all priced at £3.
Book Garden pop-up has already toured Myatt’s Field North, and the Remakery workspace in Brixton.
Now running its third event at The Platform Cafe, the book shop will be run alongside a free paper craft table where visitors can recycle old books into zines, cards, and other paper crafts.
The Platform Cafe’s co-founder Jo Gilmour said: “We’re looking forward to hosting this event for the interesting, often unusual and rare books that Book Garden popup curates, and for the complementary activities that can run alongside.
“We’re also excited to support our baker Milly who will run her own bakery popup on the final day March 17.”
The cafe is located in the top 20 per cent most deprived wards in the country and the most deprived in Lambeth.
A cafe spokesman said: “This area is a food desert with poor access to inexpensive, healthy meals, largely offering fast-food takeaways.
“We offer free meals for those in need, and we have hosted free cookery clubs and workshops.
“The café building used to be a derelict, public toilet in Wyck Gardens, a small Lambeth park. We are proud to have activated this disused space, turning it into a valuable community asset.”
Partnered with the neighbouring community garden Loughborough Farm and Grove Adventure Playground as part of the Loughborough Junction Action Group, the cafe works to create a greener and healthier neighbourhood.
Book Garden popup bookshop will be open at The Platform Cafe on March 7,8,14,15, 16 and 17. For details of additional events visit https://www.theplatformcafe.org/
Pictured top: Paper crafts at The Platform Cafe (Picture: The Platform Cafe)
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