5 Brixton Pounds

The Brixton Pound launched in September 2009 as a community currency for Brixton, south London — one of the first such schemes in the UK explicitly modelled on the Totnes Pound, itself inspired by the Transition Town movement. Crucially, it was designed for hyperlocal circulation only: accepted exclusively by independent traders within the Brixton postcode, and exchangeable at par with sterling. Large retailers and chains were deliberately excluded.

Rob Alexander's design work drew on local visual culture rather than generic civic imagery, which gave the series an unusually grounded identity for a community currency. The hologram strip was an early commitment to credibility — most local currency projects at the time skipped security features entirely.