David Bowie’s Face Graces the £10 Note

Finally you can pay for your daily soy latte with a picture of David Bowie's face. If you're in the London suburb of Brixton and have a couple of Brixton Pounds on you, that is. To mark the anniversary of the UK's first urban local currency, Brixton has issued a new edition of notes featuring some famous ex-Brixton residents, including the infamous face of glam-rock. A Ziggy-era picture of Bowie now graces the £10 note, while former Chicago Bulls basketball player Luol Deng and WWII lady-spy Violette Szabo appear on the £5 and £20 note respectively.

The Brixton pounds were launched in 2009 as a way to support independent business and encourage local trade and production. The Brixton pounds don't replace regular British pounds, rather they work alongside them, much in the same way Scottish pounds do.  Brixton is a notoriously volatile area of South London - one night I walked in the wrong direction and ended up there, only realising once all the street lights had been blacked out and a gentleman enquired as to how much I was charging for my 'time'. The Brixton pounds are an effort to improve perceptions of the area (perpetuated by people such as myself) and ensure that local businesses can keep afloat in the face of recession and competition from big chain stores, while working to reduce the area's carbon footprint. It's actually a fantastic strategy, and one that's worked well in several towns around the UK.

Now that they've put David Bowie on a valid form of currency, you can bet that Brixton's going to be doing a whole lot more business, because at the end of the day it's just not as exciting buying groceries with a picture of the Queen than it is with Ziggy Stardust.

[Via PSFK]