Category Archives: shops

Free Weekend Fun, 10 – 11 June

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As frequent readers are all too aware, we here at the Runoff love nothing more than anonymously sticking our noses where they don’t belong. And you too can take part in our passion/dysfunction by attending the great Pullens Yard Open Studios weekend happening this weekend (10-11 June) in Walworth.

The studios at Pullens Yards are usually not open to the public, but twice a year they fling their artistic portal open to give us a glimpse into their creative universe. The artists are more than happy to show you what and how they create, and of course you can buy what’s on show. And of course buying is by no means compulsory, as at the end the day these folks just want to show off how creative they are and it’s totally free. Have we mentioned how much we love free?

If you’re feeling spiritual, the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in Renfew Road are having an open day on Saturday from 10 -4 and we’re all invited. The building that houses Jamyang is an old courthouse dating from 1869, in its latter days used as a maximum security court for special remands including IRA terrorists and the Kray twins. One of the activities on the day is a tour of the building. Other talks include discovering more about Buddhism and meditation, and something we find curiously alluring called a ‘Death Café’. The event is free but you need to register and it can be done here. 

If you’re feeling vocal, the folks at Be In Vauxhall are once again hosting ‘Bearpit Karaoke’ this weekend. The press release describes it as ‘attracting huge crowds each month of both professional and non professional singers’. We walked by it last month and at first didn’t know if was Karaoke or some kind of weird spiritual revival. But it looked fun, and this year Mother Kelly’s and Bokit’la (Oval Market) French Caribbean will be on board with stalls. 

Bear Pit Karaoke takes place this Saturday (10th) from 3 to 7 and then on every second Saturday of the month over the summer. It’s located at that sketchy bit at the end of the Pleasure Gardens where you indeed might be accustomed to seeing people singing, but for once it won’t be men on their own bursting into song while gripping a bottle of ‘White Lightning’. 

We’ve been told that this is not, in fact, Catherine Tate

Mystery of the Vacant Lot

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Ever wondered about the existence and future of that giant gravelled eyesore of a vacant lot next to the Beefeater Distillery in Montford place? Well we’ve just been on a tour with the developers and we’re here to fill you in on what’s in store

For many years the site was occupied by Hayward’s pickle factory until it was partially destroyed in 1944. The bit that survived lives on as the Beefeater Factory. After changing hands a number of times, the lot next to it was purchased by TfL in order to have a place to store equipment and lorries working on the Northern Line extension. TfL have now partnered with Grainger Homes to deliver 139 homes, 40% of which will be dedicated to affordable living. It will be 11 floors and occupy most of the footprint of the site, with grasses and trees included. Construction will started by the end of 2023 and it will be called Montford Mews

Not what it will look like, This is the pickle factory

My first question to very peppy and well informed TfL developer Susanne is probably the question that almost all Runoff readers are thinking right now. Namely, what do you call ‘affordable’ and why is it that only people in high earning jobs appear to be living in these allegedly affordable flats? She said that Lambeth Living determine what is affordable and it is usually between 40 to 60% of the market rate. She added that people are allocated the flats based on their earnings the previous year and preference is given for people already living or working in Lambeth. 

  • Gripping site photos

On our previous tours of Oval Village across the road we asked about access to the general public and if people will offer a short cut between Kennington Lane and the Oval. They confirmed that it will, and Susanne confirmed that the public will be able to walk through the Montford site as well. There will be businesses on the ground floor, but they will be light industrial (ie offices). We were heartened to discover that the affordable living people living in the affordable flats will have access to the same amenities (gym, etc) as folks paying the full whack.  

Susanne also mentioned another very similar project that will see 450 (!!) new homes built above Nine Elms tube station. However, dear reader, it was long ago we became unable to keep up with the vertical insanity of Vauxhall,  so if you want more details click here.

Planning permission has been granted for both the Montfort and Nine Elms sites. But please don’t ask us to weigh in on planning consent as we did that once and we still can’t get that toothpaste back in it’s tube. 

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Sausanna and Nine Elms Laundry

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Next time you pop over to the big Sainsburys at the top of Wandsworth Road in Vauxhall, look across the street and beyond the soulless high rises that surround you. If you were in that spot 150 years ago you would have been met by raucous female ex convicts and the smell of starch and soap. This is all due to an extraordinary enterprise by a campaigner named Sarah Meredith, and we’re about to tell you what she did. 

When forced deportation of prisoners to Australia was outlawed in 1857, the government had to decide how to reintegrate people who had served their time. Work for men was plentiful in places such as factories, but a unique dilemma was posed for females. People didn’t want them working in their homes for reasons of trust, and Susanna was aware of this. She started Nine Elms Laundry in a disused and shabby Victorian building with a goal of giving jobs exclusively to women who were trying to piece their lives back together. 

Some women lived at the laundry and others commuted to their daily 10 hour shift. The rules of the laundry were prominently displayed but not enforced punitively. These included no alcohol or money on site, and the expectation that they would not leave the premises without permission. Women who served a subsequent sentence were not judged and welcomed back into the fold after they’d served their time. Women from all denominations were accepted, which was unusual at the time. 

The laundry was arranged as a self financing enterprise with mostly middle class patrons. Such was the success of the business that Sarah was able to offer to clean the clothes of poor people in Vauxhall at a discounted rate. This was crucial at a time in which your appearance alone could determine whether you could put food on the table. Susanna was also able to off free laundry services to people living with infectious diseases. 

Records show that Susanna and her sister were living in South Lambeth Road at the time so were close enough to keep an eye on the shop and give a little extra support to the vulnerable women in her employ. We all need a Susanna Meredith in out lives now and again, and we hope there are more folks out there like her. 

Thank you to the good people over at Vauxhall History who wrote most of this article. They are a great place to explore.

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Ginger Provisions

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By @milestothegallon

Today we hand over our exceedingly slippy reins to guest editor and noted vegan Miles. Miles is apparently another of our work experience staff here at the Runoff who must be lost in our labyrinthine complex beneath Kennington Cross as we’ve never met him in the flesh. We appreciate his erudite review, below, and hope he’s found his way out.  

So following their remodelling of the Zeitgeist  and the creation of sandwich bar Simply Bread, the team at the Jolly Gardeners have bought what was Millar’s General Store… and rebranded it ‘Ginger Provisions’ – maybe another sly fanboy wave at titian lovely Mick Hucknall? Or maybe not. 

Either way, I was finally allowed on my first mission out of Runoff Towers, having spent the first six months of my placement in the ‘reprographics suite’ – or the photocopier on the fourth floor. 

To my and a lot of my neighbours shame, we had kind of thought that Millar’s General Store had given up the ghost during the lockdown, as we huddled outside the various Sainsbury’s Local, and Tesco Express, waiting for Ocado to start delivering again. 

As it happens, Millars thrived across this period (they told me), but as the labour of love of one chap (presumably Mr Millar), when the Jollys came a-knocking , he was interested in selling. This wasn’t before he had introduced an Ecover refill station, sourced a delicious bread supplier in Tottenham (which I guess counts as local these days) and maintained the best stock of fresh veg this side of New Covent Garden Market. 

Millars was also the purveyor of an excellent range of vegan foods –  with real thought into what was available, from ready meals, to vegan cheese, to basics like yeast flakes and vegan fish oil. Along with a wine section and regular cheeses, Millar’s packed a huge variety into a tiny space, and was very reasonably priced – especially when you realise that most of fruit and vegetables was organic. 

So how is Ginger Provisions any different? Well since the sale was announced, the stock of Millers was being run down – as a weekly visitor, I would see things that I had bought not being replaced.  Following the reopening, the old shop has been moved forty five degrees counter clockwise, so that the counter is now at the back, bread on the other side of the window.

This has allowed them to squeeze in another fridge, which is going to be used to sell ready meals made by the kitchens of the Jolly Gardeners. There was only one available when I popped by, which was roasted vegetables and giant couscous. That was delicious, but being the rookie reporter that I am I forgot to take a photograph, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. 

Other than this and the big ‘EasyJet’ coloured sign outside, there wasn’t much else changed, certainly in the case of stock. The shop rearrange has made the space more negotiable and make more sense, but there didn’t seem to be anything else new bought in – they promised me that they would be continuing a ‘full vegan range’. The refill station had been dumped behind a display unit, and I was just able to refill my multi-surface cleaner bottle.

Brunswick House, the great survivor of Vauxhall

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From the archives, the fifth edition of our month of best history posts

Beyond the soon to be demolished Vauxhall bus station and nestled in the midst of the behemoth known as St. George Wharf lies a beautiful Georgian building that has survived encounters with oblivion, in an area that has become unrecognisable in recent years. 

Brunswick House dates from the mid 17th century but was rebuilt in 1758. The back of the house had sweeping views to the Thames and the front overlooked the then booming Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and market gardens of Oval. Just 32 years after being rebuilt the house suffered the ignominy  of being split into to, and would never be a single home again.  

The destiny of Brunswick House, and indeed Vauxhall, was profoundly affected by the arrival of the railways in the 1840’s in ways both good and bad. The railway was the final nail in the coffin for Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, and poor Brunswick House had its access to the river permanently cut off by a railway goods yard. In the 1850’s the house ended up in the hands of London and South Western Railways and this is when its journey became particularly interesting. 

In 1860 a fire almost destroyed Brunswick House, and after being repaired it was used by the railways as a staff canteen for workers, a library, a concert hall, a scientific institute, a bar, and a caretaker’s cottage. In WW2 an army unit lived in the building and, according to legend, in the 1950’s it was used by MI5 and MI6 for secret meetings as they feared that their own HQ was bugged. It was threatened by the wrecking ball on several occasions but was saved from this fate by being listed in 1973. 



The house remained in railway hands for over 150 years when it was sold as the railways were being privitised and sold again in 2002 to a property developer. Some readers might remember this period as the building quickly declined as a result of vandalism and was in a pretty sorry state. It was purchased in 2005 by architectural salvage firm ‘Lassco’, who carefully restored the building and filled the rooms with its products, many of which are Georgian themselves. 

Next time you are going for your hour of exercise pop over to Brunswick House and marvel at the fact that it’s still there.  Lassco is very much open to the public (well, not right now) and a fascinating place to explore. They also have a critically acclaimed cafe. If you’re willing to sell a kidney, or your name happens to be Elton John, you might even be able to buy a doorknob there! 

Simply Bread

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In the guise of overly curious members of the public, we recently paid a visit to brand new sandwich joint Simply Bread in Black Prince Road. Simply Bread is a few doors down and run by the folks who operate the Jolly Gardeners Pub. The manager explained that all of the sandwich fillings are created in the Gardeners kitchen by the same trained chefs who make the meals, and contain the same quality of sourced ingredients that you find in their meals. So, your coronation chicken is the same chicken found in their Sunday roast. And their bread is purchased at Alby Bakery in Vauxhall. Looking good so far…

The sandwiches at Simply Bread are the same day on day but the specials change, and our intern Kate had the aforementioned coronation chicken. It was very generously filed with juicy and moist chicken in an authentic tasting coronation dressing, and appetisingly sunny in colour. Of course it also featured a wealth of raisins, so if they’re not your thing you’ve been warned.  Your scribe had the tuna loin sandwich in a sub roll which was well filled with large pink tuna chunks and a waist expanding amount of mayo just this side of decadent. And the bread was slightly sweet and very fresh. With all sandwiches a range of toppings (onion, salad, tomatoes etc) can be added. 

  • These sandwiches look
  • much more appetising in the flesh

We give Simply Bread our stamp of approval as a solid, independent lunch spot.  In the morning they also serve coffee, tea, pastries and sausage/bacon rolls. (or vegan).  When I pointed out to the manager  that the name of the shop rhymes with a certain washed up band from the 80’s with a lead singer who nowadays resembles Little Orphan Annie, he responded with a puzzled and somewhat worried expression. But don’t fret, he’s much more adept at sandwich making. 

  • Mick Hucknall
  • Annie
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Fareshares – The Opposite of a Supermarket

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Do you ever wake up and think ‘I really need to buy some food today’ but the thought of going to Tesco makes you want to stick a pencil in your ear? Well we’ve recently come across what is in reality a well established food cooperative called ‘Fareshares’ in Walworth and were here to tell you all about the place.  

Fareshares emerged from the thriving squatting movement established in the Pullens Estate in the 1980’s (and we wrote about it a few years ago) and continues as a volunteer based experiment to provide mutual aid and as a counterbalance to capitalist shopping. Most items are sold at 15% above cost and overheads are kept to a minimum, as there are no shareholders or profit, and the place is run more or less like a cooperative. All foods sold are animal, sugar and GMO free. And, when possible, organic and locally sourced. 

In the shop we had a conversation with volunteers Chloe and Holly as regulars popped in and out for a shop and a chat, with real feeling of unity and camaraderie apparent. We asked them what staples shoppers can expect, and they led us to rices, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, and barley. Also a selection of sauces, herbs, oat milks, grains, and an ever changing list of veg. on offer. The best place to find out about their current offerings is their Instagram feed. And at the end of the day, wouldn’t you find fishing your pulses out of giant bins strangely rewarding?

As Fareshares is volunteer based, I asked Chloe and Holly how our illustrious readership can get involved. Before even finishing the question Holly replied ‘money’, which means ‘please do at least part of your weekly shop with us’. However, there are also ways to get involved by working the till, stock taking, or helping to clean up. They can be contacted by their social media feeds or just by popping into the shop and talking to them. But be aware that they trade for only a few hours at the end of the week. Hours below. 

Finally, we asked Chloe and Holly if all hell would break loose if a person rocked up with a Tesco bag for life. They confirmed that this would be acceptable, and in a strange way even collectively embraced by the family of customers.

X Mas Shopping in Greater Kennington

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From doggie treats to panettone 

Before we commence with our run down of how we can treat people we love, lets think about all the Greater Kenningtonians out there who are struggling with the basics. If you would like to help them but aren’t really sure how, the Vauxhall Foodbank is a good place to start. You can either donate money, volunteer, or donate food directly at Tesco Kennington Lane or Sainsburys Nine Elms. 

If you’re anything like us, you’d rather have a pencil crammed  into your ear canal than face the throngs of Oxford/Regent Streets right now. And if you like to hold objects before you buy them you can do this in our very own manor, and we hope you find our little guide useful. 

FOOD

Italo Vauxhall and Mimi’s Deli both have a range of Italian foodie gift ideas including wines, beers, spices, panettone (or as we call it ‘stale cake’), oils, cheeses and even posh sauces. Mimi’s has also turned the former seating area into a kind of pop up Christmas shop in the back, not visible from the road. 

Mercato Metropolitano has all of the Italian fare outlined above and also feature some Italian themed hampers and they’re also selling wreaths. They have wonderful meats and cheeses but if they sit under your tree for 10 days the smell might rather dampen your Christmas vibe. Don’t forget they have a new shop at 1 Walworth Road.

Ever thought about buying an edible Christmas gift our own beloved Oval Farmer’s Market? They stock many things that won’t perish under the tree such as chocolates and wine. You have one more Saturday before Christmas! 

The Beefeater Gin Distillery has a lovely but totally deserted gift shop offering unusual, limited run gins and gin accessories. You can also buy a gift voucher to tour the distillery (we can confirm it’s great fun). Perfect for your loved one who likes a nice holiday tipple or who just has a drinking problem. 

NON FOOD

Now, when you think Christmas shopping the first thing you say to yourself probably isn’t ‘ooh, lets go to the place behind Elephant Station where they keep the bins’. But, if you venture there you will discover a clutch of independent shops in Castle Square that used to exist in the shopping centre. Great for you younger folk looking for baseball caps, hoodies and clothes.

If you are in Elephant pop over to the new SoLo Craft Fair which is a collective of artists and creatives who now run a bricks and mortar shop. 60 small businesses have their work shown on rotation and during our journey we saw affordable jewellery, handbags, baskets, cards, scarves, bath salts, prints and T-shirts.

From the chains, cages and chew toys in the window, for many years we thought Hound Hut in Clapham Road was actually a bondage/S&M shop. However, it is your one stop shop for everything canine, even refrigerated dog food. 

Next to the (not S&M) Hound Hut sits new kid on the block “Pretty Shiny Shop’ which swaggeringly exudes itself to be Greater Kennington’s Christmas Shop (steady) and they stock a range or cards, houseware items, Christmas tree goodies, and small pieces of jewellery. 

Mary over at Windmill Flowers stocks not just flowers but also collectables and houseware accessories. 

In addition to books, Vanilla Black also has some nice gift ideas such as cards and masks and also a few food items. We think VB secretly hates us but we’ve moved on with our lives and are plugging them anyway. And since you are over there, I Due Amici has some fine looking panettone hanging in their windows (no that isn’t a rude euphemism).  And if at this very second you are thinking ‘what happened to Didi and Franc’. Well, we have no idea but try asking in VB.

As a second joyless year comes to a close, have you ever thought about the gift of comedy? Our local gold star comedy club Always be Comedy are doing E vouchers for their virtual and socially distanced and live events (the virtual being very surreal) at The Tommyfield. Recently we’ve seen Harry Hill, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and more. 

Most importantly, this has been yet another shitty year for almost all of us. So you have the Kennington Runoff seal of approval to treat yourself during the 2021 festive season! 


Elephant Stores

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We’re not entirely proud of being seduced by the new shops in the dystopian juggernaut that is ‘Elephant Park’, but in our defense some very interesting and totally independent shops and restaurants have been opening up there such as pizza joint ‘400 Rabbits’ and video game pub ‘4 Quarters’. The latest kid on the block is ‘Elephant Stores’ which houses a craft/gift shop, a bike repair shop, an antiques market and (keep up) an outlet of Walworth dining staple ‘Louie Louie’. So if you woke up this morning thinking ‘wow I really need to get my hand brake fixed while shopping for a handmade lampshade and a refurbished chair while also eating a vegan mushroom toastie’ then you are in LUCK!   

The SoLo Craft Fair is a South London collective of artists and creatives who pitch together through their website, workshops, popups, and now promote their makes through the bricks and mortar shop at Elephant Stores. The 60 small businesses have their work shown on rotation and during our journey we saw affordable jewellery, handbags, baskets, cards, scarves, bath salts, prints and T-shirts.  The staff on hand are usually creators themselves and more than happy to give you advice. If you are the crafty type yourself you can even apply to sell your wares via SoLo by enquring here. 

Vintage Matters is a small company based in Camberwell (so, close enough) who specialise in vintage homeware, typography, architectural salvage and, by looking around the place, a slight obsession with tables and chairs. So much so that you can walk away with the very chair you sat upon to eat that vegan toastie. Most of the accessories around the Elephant store, from giant letters and numbers to mirrors and  seltzer bottles, are available to take away on the day or just to admire. So think of it as a kind of ‘try before you buy’ exercise. 

While not exactly independent, Fix Your Cycle is a small chain who both repair problems with your bike and also offer regular bike servicing at different tiers. You can do tasks as simple as  pumping up your tyres and getting friendly advice to solving major, oily breakdowns. They even offer an ebike hire scheme. Of particular interest to us is their social enterprise ‘Recycle Your Cycle’ scheme. Working with HM Prison Service, they refurbish abandoned bikes for charity and this work is undertaken by prisoners at seven prisons, giving them valuable skills once they are released, and the bikes are then sold for charity. This aspect gave us so many thumbs up we nearly poked our eyes out. 

We will review Louie Louie’s offshoot ‘Little Louie’ in a separate post in a few days you lucky devils. 

Shopping Fun in Oval

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Today we attended the opening day of independent gift shop ‘Pretty Shiny Shop’ in Oval. We toyed with the idea of interviewing the owners in an official KR capacity, but given that local businesses have a niggling habit of going bust just after we interview them (including the place which used to inhabit this exact premises) we didn’t want to send bad karma their way. So instead we swanned in pretending to be curious and amused members of the pubic just looking for a bit of ‘early Christmas inspiration’. It worked. 

The stock at Pretty Shiny Shop is an eclectic selection of affordable jewellery, clever greeting cards, candles, soaps, socks, fabrics and mugs. The left hand side of the shop is dedicated to baby and toddler items such as visual books and games. We were particularly intrigued by what appeared to be a face covering for teething toddlers. Very clever if that is it’s purpose. The friendly staff informed us that the jewellery is still being stocked but should be available in a few days. Basically, the place is chock full of gorgeous things you have absolutely no need for but nevertheless want to own. Or give as a gift. 

As we were down in that neck of the woods we thought we’d check out PSS’s neighbour, ‘The Hound Hut’, which for the longest time we mistook for an emporium specialising in S&M/Bondage/Fetish gear.  As it turns out the array of collars, leads, chew toys and tiny cages are not for humans at all but indeed for canines, and there are items for all sizes and breed of dogs.  They stock a large range of meat based treats and training sticks which looked delicious even to this human. Doggy toys are dominant, but the real feature is gourmet dog food, with a whole wall dedicated to the stuff in a kind of mash up of Iceland meets Harrods Food Halls. The staff at Hound Hut are huge dog lovers and can offer advice on just about everything.

Pretty Shiny Shop and The Hound Hut are Clapham Road just beyond Oval Tube and near 24 the Oval. Of course these independent shops have a strong online presence and you can also show your local pride by shopping there.