can you elaborate a bit baboon? i'm assuming you mean it's lost some of its community feel? things change so quickly it's hard to keep track. someone back there saying there's a good buzz about tottenham yet i've a mate from west belfast who scoffed at the idea of even going there. it can be confusing for someone who hasn't lived there before. Obviously i want somewhere accessible til late and cheap (around 400pm would be nice), good mix of people, a good range of cheap places to eat would be great and nice pubs..i'm not put off by "dodgy" areas. what about Stepney Green, Brockley, Forest Hill?
While Leo is definitely right, then I think in Brixton's case it's getting pretty undeniable. Obviously Foxtons opening their first branch in a neighbourhood is a pretty massive clue as to what's happening, but even before I left two years back, it was becoming steadily gentrified (where gentrification to me means, at least in part, opening services that exclude through price and design large swathes of the community, rather than the good kind of modernisation that improves existing services/opens things up to more people).
Brixton used to be 400pm territory - couldn't say for sure but I very much doubt it now. As to Tottenham, don't be put off -first of all it's a pretty large and diverse place. I personally think Haringey around Green Lanes is a good area (and I think Mr Tea among others would back me up here) - going from your desiderata (is that the right word?), loads of cheap food, great pubs, genuine diversity (as in, unlike Brixton, different kinds of people to be found
inside places, sharing space and not just on the street), good access to most places including central (it's on the Piccadilly line, goes straight to Holborn). I've never shared a house there, so not sure what costs there would be for that, but I think it would be reasonable.
@luka - Tooting is really nice, but I'd never ever live on the northern line (if I needed to take the tube). Hellish in the morning.