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The action was taken following a local campaign to save the site from redevelopment. In 2007, the land on which Brixton
Market stands in south London was sold to a property company, which proposed to redevelop the site.

Campaign group Friends of Brixton Market campaigned that the market was an iconic location within black
British history. The market has been a focus for Brixton's African and Caribbean communities ever since the 1950s. In fact, Brixton was once regarded as the unofficial capital of the African-Caribbean community in London, the so-called Windrush generation.

Electric Avenue

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) agreed to a Grade II listing of the market on the advice
of English Heritage, the Government's statutory adviser on the historic environment.

A listed building is considered to be of sufficient historic or architectural interest to merit special protection. The property will also be subject to planning restrictions.

	Brixton: Epicentre of Afro-Caribbean Britai

The market comprises of three areas - the open-air Market Row, containing Electric Avenue, which inspired the title of Eddy Grant's 1983 hit single, and two covered arcades dating from the 1920s and 1930s.

A DCMS spokesman said: "The secretary of state is persuaded by English Heritage's opinion, set out in the 2010 Review Advice, that the Brixton Markets are the most architectural manifestation of the post-war Caribbean presence in Brixton. "Given the significance of black
history to post-war Britain, this establishes some clear claims to historic interest."

'Hard campaigning'

Campaign group Friends of Brixton Market said it was "overjoyed" that the market had been given the status.

An earlier campaign to list the buildings by Friends of Brixton Market, which was set up 2008, had been rejected by the DCMS.

Friends of Brixton Market founder Alex Holland said: "After years of hard campaigning Friends of Brixton
Market sees this as a victory, not just for the market but for the whole of Brixton.