Author Archives: Kennington Runoff

Local Heroes of Kennington

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This Saturday (5 October) is London Guiding Day, and we’re here to guide you about a fascinating walking tour around Greater Kennington that will be undertaken throughout the day, brought to you by the good folks at Lambeth Tour Guides  

Local Heroes Kennington is our representation for Guiding Day, and reading from the press release ‘The Kennington tour will introduce you to suffragette art students, the son of a slave who rallied the working classes, a Black Prince and a little tramp, ending at Oval with some trailblazing cricketers’. The press release also encourages people to leave the area in order to ‘discover more tours around London’. We don’t encourage this. 

The tour will include notable and notorious denizens of Kennington including Jemina Durning Smith, Charlie Chaplin, the Black Price, and a whole bunch of ancient people on Instagram who we don’t recognise but who must have been very important. We’ve been notorious in Greater Kennington for over a decade now, so it’s curious that no one knocked on the door of our subterranean bunker to interview us. And we, unlike the lot above, even have the distinct advantage of still being alive. But we’ll get over it.  

There will be six identical tours running on the hour and they meet at Kennington Station and can be booked here.  They are free, but these people are professional tour guides and a tip (a fiver will do) will go a long way to expressing your satisfaction. 

Fun Event This Weekend at Bee Urban

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We might be taking the word ‘fun’ a bit far here but this event on Saturday certainly sounds bonkers so of course we’re interested. Of the information available by the QR code, the event ‘is grounded in spoken and written and spoken language’ with live performances including a jazz band. This is all sounding a bit New Agey to us, which begs the question of bees actually getting involved in the event. We’re thinking along the lines of synchronised stinging.

Multipolyscripttoscribble (?) takes place this Saturday at Bee Urban in Kennington Park

The Lambeth Fringe 2024

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Frequent readers are aware that we make recommendations to travel outside Greater Kennington very rarely and do so with a profound amount of caveats. However, we’ve recently stumbled upon something that is both entertaining, localish, and supports up and coming independent creative types. 

The Clapham Fringe has been running for eight years and, based on its success, earlier this year they made a decision to expand its borders and rebrand it as The Lambeth Fringe. The spiritual home of the Lambeth Fringe is the Bread and Roses Theatre pub in Clapham North. However, with the expansion to over 150 shows, the venues now include a church, a bookshop, and a film school, in addition to purpose built theatres in Waterloo, Clapham, Norwood, and other Lambeth areas. The one local venue is a series of shorts being shown at the best museum we bet you’ve never been to, the Cinema Museum.  

Some of the writing at the Fringe is new, some adapted from Edinburgh Fringe shows, and others making the tour of fringe festivals.   In the mix at Lambeth are traditional plays, standup, drag, storytelling and music. We challenge you to take a punt on a show or two and you might be pleasantly surprised. Of course you might walk out thinking ‘what the hell was THAT’, but that’s half the fun. Anyone care joining us for Guru Dave’s Cosmic Shamanic Tantric Ego Trip?

The Lambeth Fringe is on now until 20 October. Explore the programme, including Guru Dave,  here. And you better act quick, as those Runoff wannabies Time Out are on to it! 

The School of Historical Dress

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If you’ve never heard of the School of Historical Dress across from the Imperial War Museum then you’re in very good company. It’s very rarely open to the public but we were able to tour the building during London Open House weekend, and over the next few weeks they have a petite, pop up exhibit that will allow you to see a portion of it as well. 

The School is not for profit and operates as both a school and a resource for textile professionals to research how garments were made. They also publish books about the history, cut and construction of garments through the years and have a database of books (lots of them) and material/outfits accumulated over the years. We’ve also accumulated a huge amount of old outfits over the years, but this relates more to the fact that the management at the Runoff pay us in vapour and we can’t buy anything new. But we digress. 

Over the past few years the School has had small, one room exhibits dedicated to colour and until 13 October the exhibited colour is red. On display are vestments, undergarments, and small maquettes which at first we thought were dog outfits but are in fact studies for larger pieces. Included in this exhibit is Jude Law’s Henry VIII outfit which they created for the very current film Firebrand. If one of the volunteers is present they can detail how the fitting was undertaken and the research required to create the garment. 

The building that houses the School is as interesting as the edifice across the road from it. Built in 1841, it was originally the medical dispensary for the Royal Bethlem Psychiatric hospital (from where we get the name ‘Bedlam’), which is now the Imperial War Museum. Latterly it was utilised as a home for shell shocked men after WW1, a canteen for doctors, and until 2016 a residential facility for adolescents. Staff at the School are very proud of their digs, and on our tour proclaimed that the reason the building is a form of gray is that this is how all of the buildings of the time would have originally looked,  the ‘Dulux White’ colour of other homes in the terrace being a 20th century conceit. We have put this in the ‘who knew’ filing cabinet at Runoff towers.  

If you want to attend one of the periodic events held at the School, follow them on Instagram or join their mailing list at info@theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk. The little show is open Friday from 4pm to 8pm and Saturday/Sunday from 1pm to 5pm

Free Culture Week 3 – Open House London 2024

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It’s that time of year again and one of our favourite activities here at the Runoff…..sticking our noses where they don’t belong! From this weekend (14-15 September) to next weekend (21 and 22 September) is the Open House London Festival, celebrating London’s housing, architecture and neighbourhoods by flinging open doors and streets not usually open to the public. We have a few suggestion for you and they are all FREE, and we love free. 

Most Open House venues have friendly staff on hand to tell you more about what you’re seeing and there are often things to read. If you look on the website you’ll see some local bookable things, but we’re afraid you’ve missed the boat on those babies. The localish venues listed below are open to the public on specific dates, so look at opening times. However, if you possess the audacious gaul to travel out of Greater Kennington you might find there are hundreds more free things to stick your head into around the capital. But we couldn’t possibly encourage that kind of behaviour.

London Fire Brigade Memorial Hall Vauxhall (we’ve been, recommended)

St. Paul’s, Walworth Walworth (we’ve been, recommended, pic above)

Florence Nightingale Museum – Waterloo (usually not free but it is for Open House)

Anderson WW2 Bomb Shelter – Oval

The Beaufoy (Diamond Way Buddhist Centre) – Vauxhall (we’ve been, recommended, pic below)

St. Giles Parish Church – Camberwell

Southwark Heritage Centre and Library – Walworth (we’ve been, recommended)

Beaufoy Institute

Free Culture Week 2 – City & Guilds MA Show

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We’ve just donned our crimson berets and sunglasses and attended the opening of the MA show over at City and Guilds. For the unfamiliar, City and Guilds is our own world beating arts school in Kennington Park Road, and twice a year they fling open their painterly doors to allow us a glimpse into what their students get up to. And you can buy what you see, but buying is by no means obligatory. 

The MA show is a celebration of the work of current students as well as current work from fellows of the institution. It tends to be more circumscribed than the huge and quite zany BA show in the spring and concentrates its efforts primarily on painting. Themes often dominate these shows, and this year’s themes appear to focus on decadence and fornication. And there’s something about ducks, but we couldn’t exactly pin that one down. 

Along with the exhibits there are handy notes offering a bio of the artists and their approach to their craft. And if you don’t like what you’re looking at keep it to yourself, as the artist might be nearby – but very handy if you want to ask them anything. And if you have no idea what you’re looking at but what to look as if you do, take a long dramatic breath, look at your friend, and say ‘It’s about IDENTITY’. Then throw that crimson beret to the floor and march out of the room.  

The City and Guilds MA Show 2024 is on now until Saturday, 14 September. Hours are 11:00 to 18:00 and open until 20:00 on Friday. They often have a bar on a Friday which is great fun. And of course, it’s free. 

And if your little has left with you with unmitigated thrill, Durning Library in Kennington Cross is having an illustrated talk about the history of City & Guilds and current use a resource for artists. This talk is on Monday (16.9) at 18:45. Details can be found here.

Free Culture Week 1 – Covi-Mora and Greengrassi Galleries

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In the first instalment of our three part free culture crawl around Greater Kennington, we find ourselves in the highly acclaimed yet little known Covi-Mora and Greengrassi galleries,  located incongruously in a kind of alley behind the towers of the Hurley Estate. Commercial galleries can sometimes seems a daunting to normal folk such as us, but rest assured these galleries not only want you to visit but require it to stay afloat. And by looking at the many staff on hand scrolling through their DM’s, they welcome the diversion that your custom and mere presence offers. 

Covi-Mora is located on the second floor are currently showing work by American artist Myra Green.  The show is called A New Pattern, and she explores the way we perceive colour by the use of the ombre dye found in fabric. The results in these round works are captivating and create figures out of what look like random splashes.

Downstairs in Greengrassi we come across the work Irish born and London based artist Anne Ryan. On the right are ceramics which look at first like random pieces of discarded and painted pottery but on closer inspection morph into mass heaps of humanity. On the left are small canvases which look as if they were ripped out of larger, French genre paintings. Everything from a carriage and horses to strolling soldiers are depicted in her miniatures. 

The galleries also operate a pop up gallery called ‘NEITHER’ at 2 Wincott Parade in Kennington Road. It is currently showing works by artist Anika Roach. Access to this site is by arrangement but as it’s in a shop front you can just see the paintings on your way home from the pub. 

Covi-Mora and Greengassi galleries are located at at 1A Kempsford Road SE11 4NU. The entrance looks not unlike the doors to a prison or a sex dungeon (not that we’d know), but once buzzed through the staff are very merry and helpful folk. The three gallery spaces are showing the current exhibits until the first week of October. 

Collective in Kennington Park

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With a sense of unencumbered shock we recently realised that it’s been over four years since KR visited the pizza and cake establishment Collective, which occupies the lovely cottage at the back of Kennington Park and owned by three locals. So we recently made another trip in order to see how they size up to the increasingly competitive Greater Kennington pizza market.  

The day in question was ‘stapling day’ for Karen from Finance, so we asked her to join us to break up the tedium and avoid RSI. . She chose the Tuxford Tommi blue, perhaps the most indulgent pizza on the menu featuring tomato sauce, quality mozzarella, Napoli salami, Tuxford Tommi blue cheese, garlic and Bee Urban (which is behind Collective) rosemary. Organic, sustainable and free range are all buzzy words for Collective so you can tell the focus is in ingredients, and we found that to be true with the pizzas that we enjoyed

Your scribe ordered the Napolitana, which was an umami kick of anchovies, capers and black olives, augmented by mozzarella and tomato.  It was a proper, thin Neapolitan crust with raised blistered edges, almost to the level of Theo’s, which KR adore. All ingredients were good quality and this creative combination worked very well, provided you like a pizza with a bit of punch and salt. 

We also ordered a Caprese salad. It was very generously sized and one could be shared. It offered abundant segments of tomato, combined with torn buffalo mozzarella pieces, basil and olive oil. The tomatoes were slightly, lets say ‘Tescoesque’ (even if organic) and the buffalo mozzarella less creamy than some, but overall with the basil and olive oil it hit most of the right notes and was good alongside the top notch pizza. 

Collective if you are reading this (and why wouldn’t you?) we love your, well, collective nature as its nice to see a place where folks can easily work on their laptops, catch up with friends, and where dogs are celebrated. However, what we don’t love is your lack of recycling bins. We were compelled to schlep our recyclables back to Runoff towers, but others were just chucking their cans in the bin. So we’re wagging our oily, pizza engorged finger at you! 

Collective is open daily and until 20:00, so is a viable dinner option. The pizzas are midsized, mostly individual affairs, so Karen and I could have our own. And of course, if you don’t fancy pizza they also have a keen looking selection of pastries. 

Unseen Vauxhall

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Lets be honest, we’ve all probably walked through Vauxhall and seen things that we wish we’d never seen, but we’ve just unearthed two fun walking tours that explore hidden elements of history that transpired there which we wished we had seen, but missed by a hundred years or so. 

Unseen Vauxhall – the Vanished and the Unseen is a two part, stand alone set of talks around Vauxhall and the Thames foreshore. The press release is tantalizingly short of detail, but states it will not be centred on the fabled Spring Gardens, which has been celebrated in books, Bridgerton and, most importantly, by us. These walks usually cover areas such as local discoveries, scandals, famous residents, notable architecture and political protests. 

Unseen Vauxhall is taking place on Tuesday, 3 September from 15:30 to 17:15. It is such a large topic that there is also an Unseen Vauxhall part 2 on Friday, 13 September from 13:30 – 15:30, so you’ll need to bunk off early from work. Tickets are on sale now for £12 but won’t be for long as the sale ends on 1 September. 

These two events are part of the larger Lambeth Heritage Festival taking place throughout September, many of which are free. We would happily send you over to the Lambeth but the links on their website *coughs and stares out window* aren’t working. We did unearth this .pdf, as we love you almost as much as you love us.

SKVP (Shree Krishna Vada Pav)

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Here at the Runoff we pride ourselves on promoting small business, and while new arrival SKVP in Vauxhall may be the most recent outlet of a small chain, we’ve paid them a visit because a) we all need to be eating more vegetarian food and b) it is located in what we call a jinxed property and we feel sorry for them. Plus, anywhere that has a Bollywood movie corner with a VHS machine (kids, ask your parents what this is)  can’t be all bad. 

Considering the petite nature of SKVP, the length of the menu is mind bending. Gwen the intern pondered and then went for the Weekday Deal of vada pav and pav bhaji The pav was a delicious spicy fried potato fritter inside a soft toasted dinner roll, served alongside a bhaji: a traditional Mumbai street food of mashed spiced vegetables again with what looked like school dinner rolls. Research tells us this is actually authentic, but next time Gwen wants to seek out an option with what we understand better to be Indian breads, such as paratha or roti. Please do this in your own time, Gwen. 

Your scribe opted for the mutter paneer with rice an and added soft drink. The mutter paneer was a good example of this rich, spicy pea and Indian cheese favourite and the rice was fluffy, as it should be. And it gave your scribe a flimsy excuse to eat cheese in the middle of the daytime. You might want to research the menu ahead of time so as not to panic when confronted with so much choice. 

We hope SKVP succeeds in spite of its funny name and jinxed location along from the Nandos in Vauxhall. You might recall that location was a Dirty Burger and a sub sandwich place, among other things. And on most Sunday mornings where you can find people crawling out of nightclub ‘Fire’. We call them ‘Fire Damage’.