Spotlight on... Little Kingston

This week Jessica Lambert kicks it with London’s vibrant Jamaican community
p47 Spectators from the Jamaican community in Brixton, south London, react whilst watching the athletics competition Men's 100m final in a hair salon on August 5, 2012, on day 9 of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Usain Bolt defended his title as the fastest man on the planet as he sprinted to glory in an Olympic record time of 9.63 seconds.
Getty
1 November 2012

Size: 250,000, according to a survey by the International Organisation for Migration.

Age: 64 years old. After nearly 300 years of being a British colony, the first significant number of Jamaican immigrants were the 493 passengers of the Empire Windrush — who arrived in London on June 22, 1948.

Favourite parts of London: Brixton — which has had a vibrant Jamaican community since the Windrush passengers settled there — plus Hackney, Southwark and Lewisham.

Not Notting Hill? I thought that’s why the Carnival happened there.

Although the Carnival has a strong Jamaican presence, you should also be thanking the Trinidadians for starting that Bacchanalian celebration. Secondly, have you been to Notting Hill in the last decade? It’s closer to banker-ville than Rasta-ville.

So no Rastamouse on Portobello?

No, but he is still chilling on CBeebies. The crime-busting, reggae-jamming cartoon mouse attracted some controversy when he launched last year, but the editor of The Voice thinks he’s a brilliant addition to children’s TV.

What’s the editor of a singing competition got to do with it?

Not that Voice — this one’s Britain’s only national black weekly newspaper and it’s been running for 30 years.

So if I wanted to know where to enjoy the finest Jamaican cuisine, that would be where to look?

Exactly. Their top recommendation this month is a Jamaican food festival that runs from November 9-17 at the Docklands restaurant Chef Collin Brown.

That sounds perfect. Any chance I’ll run into one or two British Jamaican celebrities while I’m there?

You might — the Labour MP Diane Abbott has attended dinners there.

Exciting though that is, I was thinking more of someone like Ms Dynamite (Tee-Hee)?

She’ll be at Wembley Arena on November 7 for the third annual Red Bull Culture Clash — an epic sound battle between reggae, dubstep, grime, garage and UK house.

Sounds …very loud.

Perhaps you should start off with something a little less intense. Seventies Jamaican reggae star Barry Biggs will be playing. Brixton’s Hootananny tonight — and it’s free entry!

I’ ve definitely heard of him — and that sounds awesome.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in