Category Archives: South Kennington

The Kennington Triangle

A fellow local blog, South Kennington Partnership, has suggested that the triangle between Kennington Park Road, Brixton Road and Camberwell New Road be renamed The Kennington Triangle, with its current name The Kennington Oval being reserved for the cricket ground. We agree wholeheartedly.

Some surprising objects have appeared in The Kennington Triangle in recent times.

During the Olympics, this giant shot put landed there:

And during a recent clean-up operation, the disembodied head of Pete Waterman was found:

(photo borrowed from the South Kennington Partnership website)

For your throat’s sake smoke…

Above is a ghost sign on Brixton Road in South Kennington – but what is the brand of cigarettes that were so good for the throat? And what’s the penultimate word – “THE WORLD’S PREMIER CO***** CIGARETTE”? Whoever comes first with the answers will be rewarded with a free Durning Library postcard – and we all know the real value of those.

Dino’s hairdresser

Dino’s hairdressers is on Kennington Park Road, opposite the park. We’ve never quite plucked up the courage to get a haircut there, but a friend of ours goes, and he has excellent hair. Plus, they used to straighten out Bob Marley’s dreads for him after he’d been playing football in Kennington Park.

Anyway, here’s a photo of Dino’s from one of our favourite photo blogs, London Shop Fronts:

(It’s not hair week on Kennington Runoff, or at least we didn’t plan it that way.)

Oval Farmers’ Market

Since 2007, Oval Farmers’ Market has taken place every Saturday come rain or shine from 10am to 3pm in the gardens of St Marks Church, South Kennington. It’s cheaper than the likes of Borough Market and Maltby Street, popular but never overcrowded, and it sells a lot of things you just can’t get in Tesco.

Big news for lovers of cholesterol – the crodo AKA cronut has made it to Kennington:

Who knew there were this many varieties of basil?

taste the cheeses: fresh fish at a fraction of the price of Whole Foods: veggie roasts: cake:

The Kennington Oval cricket ground

Even if you’re not a big cricket fan, you should spend a day at the Kennington Oval (so called because it is oval shaped, and in Kennington). Relative to other sports, cricket fans are a friendly, civilised bunch. Rivalry between supporters is good humoured, with fans of both teams intermingled throughout the ground. You will most likely end up in conversation with the stranger sat next to you. They may even collect your discarded beer glasses before passing them to a steward. There’s live music galore around the ground. The quality of food and drink puts even the most upmarket football ground to shame. In short, you will have a great day out regardless of what’s happening on the pitch.

If you are a cricket fan you will already know that The Kennington Oval is one of the world’s great cricket grounds in terms of the pitch, the facilities, and the historic games that have been played there. It also looks great:

Even if you never go inside The Oval, you can still appreciate the vegetation growing all over its perimeter:

(Pictures are from today’s opening day of the fifth Ashes test between England and Australia.)

historic Kennington celebrities

Charlie Chaplin lived at numerous addresses in Kennington. If you buy a property in Kennington, the likelihood is that Charlie Chaplin will have lived there at some point. Having fallen on hard times, Charlie and his mum spent some time in the Victorian workhouse that is now home to the amazing Cinema Museum.

Van Gogh lived on what is now called Kennington Road. The madness set in only after he left.

The founder of Singapore was from East Kennington. In many ways Singapore can be seen as an attempt to re-create Kennington in Asia.

Bob Marley stayed in South Kennington when St Agnes Place was home to a Rastafari temple, and played football in Kennington Park. Beat that, Hyde Park.