Author Archives: Kennington Observer

About Kennington Observer

Surreptitiously observing Kennington, including the suburbs Vauxhall, Oval, Walworth, and Elephant since 2012. We're fiercely independent and never boring.

The Kennington/Oval Gas Holders

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Frequent Runoff readers will be aware that over the past two years we’ve taken a keen interest in the development at Oval Village, or as we call it ‘UpTown KenVo’. On our visits we’ve challenged an architect who was exhibiting the buildings by use of wooden blocks to a game of Jenga, and during an illustration of how the flats will look inside the remaining gasholder we asked another architect if their design aesthetic was to give residents a taste of life behind bars. 

Last week we had a tour of the Oval Village site and please see the highly professional video below. This involved a lateral flow test, hazmat suit and the indignity of  donning what appeared to be Ugg boots from 2010. Our primary objective was to ascertain when the new Tesco would be open and whether it will have a cheese counter the fate of the two Victorian gas holders and how much noise will be created as the site is levelled. We need to accept that Oval Village will soon be a part of our cherished terrain, but hopefully it can be improved with a bit of your helpful feedback.

Our tour was conducted by the community engagement officer and the project director. They explained that the two smaller gas holders (circa1873) will be removed over the next few weeks and the wrought iron will be recycled. The beautiful Phoenix seals will be removed and preserved in some fashion. The officer would not be drawn on where or how this would happen, however. The tanks are full of millions of gallons of sludge and they will be sucked out and removed. And in case you’re not aware, the gasholder that will remain is the largest one that overlooks the cricket ground. It is now listed and will have flats built inside of it. Hence our comment about life behind bars. 

When you enter the site the first thing you notice is just have massive it is. It’s also raised several metres higher than the land around it and the project manager explained that the elevation was created in order to accommodate the gas tanks. Over the next few years this soil will be incrementally removed and taken away via Montford Place and then up Kennington Lane to the river. This will take place in the daytime, apparently. And for those of you wondering about the height of the buildings, the tallest will be 17 floors. The building underway now, Phoenix Court, is not quite topped out (check us out with the lingo) but will be in a few months. We were assured that the buildings will have a community feel and the space between Kennington Lane and The Oval will be open to the public. 

If you want any more information the community engagement officer Richard Daley at richard.caley@berkeleygroup.co.uk or project director Graham Cook at community@berkeleygroup.co.uk

And for those of who still have the yearning question of ‘when will be new Tesco be open’, the answer is 12 AUGUST! The site manager would not be drawn about the possibility of a cheese counter, however. Enjoy our nifty video below.

The Jolly Gardeners

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Some of you might remember a curious German themed sports pub called ‘Zeitgeist’ at the top of Black Prince Road. We reviewed it last year and described the fare as ‘food best consumed when you’re not entirely sober’. Shortly afterwards it went under. It has now been resurrected in its original guise –  ‘The Jolly Gardeners’. We had a clandestine and very pleasing meal there a few weeks ago and then caught up with the current proprietors to find out how they plan to please us Greater Kenningtonians. 

The Gardeners was purchased late last year by five mates from Essex, Dan (who now lives next to the Gardeners), Nick, Jonathan, Ryan, and Rob. All come from different professional backgrounds but are rooted in running restaurants and pubs. As the pub is enormous, I asked one of the guys how they plan to use the space. They explained that part of it will be a reservable restaurant in a ‘family sharing vibe’ (think Sunday roasts, bloody Mary’s, scotch eggs, etc.) the other 70% will be more of a traditional pub. They’ve also built an outside area (which rather resembles a ski lodge) which will be useful in the summer, if that ever happens.

On the food and drink front, the boys informed us that over 50% of the food items will be vegan but ‘more interesting than you might think’. They are trying to source things locally and are tapping into local producers. On the subject of tapping they are not tied to a brewer and are trying to use localish brewers such as Coalition. Pub snacks will also be on the menu, featuring items such as confit potatoes and cauliflower wedges. According to the boys, they acknowledge that dining and drinking habits have evolved over the past 18 months, for instance with more people working from home, and they are keen to address this.  

One of the issues with the Gardeners is that it does not have a great deal of footfall and people might forget that it exists. When I asked the guys how they plan to address this niggling issue they replied ‘by serving excellent foot at a reasonable price point so people don’t forget us. 

The menu below might have changed but gives you a sense of what they do. The pub is open now for drinks and food. Even if all the boys aren’t locals, lets embrace them as one of our own! 

Coffee Shop at Park College

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Congratulations! If you’re reading this then you’ve probably survived until 17 May. But let’s be honest here, Britain has actually enjoyed ‘being British’ over the past few months. You know you have a secret survivalist thrill when it comes to eating a salad nicoise in 10 degree weather with horizontal rain knocking over your glass of Pinot, or sitting on a bench in Kennington Park drinking your Espresso while getting concussed by tiny hailstones. But all good things must come to an end.

While we all yearn to return to our favourite dining establishments if we can get organised enough to book, we’ve found a lovely café/coffee shop where you don’t have to book and you can also make a difference. The Park College is a local educational institution dedicated to helping young people with autism obtain hands on skills that might turn into paid employment. On our trip we saw students gardening, repairing bikes, and working in a design space. However, the purpose of our visit was to visit the coffee shop, which is open Tuesday to Friday from 9:30am to 3pm. 

The coffee shop at Park College offers breakfast fare including croissants, toasties, cakes and vegan sausage. For lunch, fare included jacket potato, falafel/hummus wrap, and chili jam and goat’s cheese roll among others. Your scribe opted for a mozzarella and tomato sandwich with black olive pesto, served on ciabatta. The students were making the sandwiches with the close guidance of mentors. The work in the café was obviously geared to the interests of individual students, with some in the open kitchen and others on the serving and collecting money side of things. 

As you can see, on our visit inside eating just wasn’t gonna happen,  so we ate our very generously proportioned ciabatta in their outside area. And while we’ve all enjoyed the character building elements of eating in a gale, it will be nice to eat inside again, and especially with the knowledge that you are helping to build careers for vulnerable people.  

The Park College can be found in Kennington Park Place. 

Damien Hirst at Newport St.

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We originally posted this in October 2020, and this thought provoking exhibit closed just a few days afterwards. Newport St. Gallery is opening on Wednesday of next week, again with little fanfare. Once Time Out (if they still exist) and others review this it will sell out very quickly and we cannot reccommend it enough. It is totally free and available for now, but not for long!  Book here.

Without a great deal of fanfare, on Wednesday Newport Street Gallery reopened with  a survey of Damien Hirst’s early work called ‘End of a Century’. The timing of this retrospective might be a coincidence or an intentional and very prescient observation of the world around us in 2020, as Hirst’s early work explored themes of death, healing, life saving medication, infection, and anatomy.  We checked out the show on it’s opening day. 

In the first gallery we were introduced to one of Hirst’s trademark dissected animals; this one being a baby shark in formaldehyde. Moving into the main galleries you might think you’d just wandered into aisle three at Iceland, as there were several freezers stuffed with frozen cow heads (we asked, and they are real). Also on show were Hirst’s trademark medication cabinets and a variety of medical implements. After an enormous anatomical model we’re left to ponder the slightly humorous ‘Shut Up and Eat Your Fucking Dinner’ (pictured at bottom) which was fashioned as a butcher shop window featuring a variety of meats encased in formaldehyde. Is meat murder? 

On the first floor we got to grips with several of Hirst’s spin and dot paintings, with one actually spinning in the room. Surprisingly, there were several cubist inspired collages of found materials which Hirst created before he was a student at Goldsmiths, even then showing his early interest in mortality and resurrection. The most arresting work upstairs was ‘A Hundred Years’, in which a bloody severed cow head is being eaten by maggots who turn into flies who then get executed by  an insect-ocutor. We’re not making this up. 

Some of these works are almost 30 years old and don’t have the shock value they once possessed. But if your artistic taste embraces decapitated cow heads, meat, pills, blood, dead flies, and medical implements then this show will be right up your street. Vegetarians might want to steer clear. And lest you don’t give your mortality much of a thought during the pandemic, this show is a reminder of the profound fragility of organic matter. 

Getting Curious in Walworth

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We’ve experienced an inordinate amount of giddy thrill at the recent opening of Walworth Library and Southwark Heritage Centre in Walworth Road. Granted, when the biggest thrill of the day involves matching Tupperware containers to lids the threshold is pretty low. But this is a library with a difference. 

The library offers your usual library accessories in an open and quiet environment on several different levels. These include quiet places to read or work, bookable PC’s, a kids area, a curiously large travel section, and individual rooms to book. On our visit all of the seating was occupied as some chairs had been removed for obvious reasons. Intriguingly, set amongst the books are curios and artefacts from Southwark’s collection that very cleverly match the subject matter to the books around them. 

As we know you inhale your Runoff articles like a freshly baked brownie from Sally White’s, you’ll be aware that last year we wrote about the most curious man in Greater Kennington, Richard Cuming. The man collected everything from Egyptian mummies to rail tickets to harpoons. Upon the death of his son the collection was bequeathed to Southwark where it was mothballed for several years following a fire. A number of pieces have now been resurrected and form the backbone of the Heritage Centre It’s a fascinating collection of artefacts and artwork from around the world, interspersed with more recent history from Southwark’s past. In future the library will also have rotating art exhibitions. Check it out and maybe you can be the next most curious person in Greater Kennington.

Yard Cafe at Jamyang Buddhist Centre

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PERMANENTLY CLOSED. SADFACE!

Some of you might remember the vegetarian/vegan café at the Jamyang London Buddhist centre in Renfrew Road. It sadly went under just before we had a chance to review it, which is unusual as most places we review go under just after we review them. Well, it is now back with a vengeance and has just been taken over by the gastronomically acclaimed restaurant Louie Louie, curiously located in the less than gastronomically acclaimed Walworth Road. The new venture is called The Yard, and is open for lunch on weekdays, 10 to 4. 

The menu continues to be totally vegetarian and vegan and they also sell ice cream sandwiches and a few groceries. They also sell…..wait for it…..ice cream for dogs. Your scribe had a feta, labneh, roast carrot and tomato sandwich with rocket, with a bread that also rocked. My dining partner had a salad of chickpeas and chard with baba ganoush, roast carrot and tomato, green beans and leaves. Bagels and toasties were also available and looked good. 

The building that houses Jamyang is an old courthouse dating from 1869, in its later days used as a maximum security court for special remands, including IRA terrorists, the Kray twins, and members of the gang who seized the Iranian Embassy. Despite that, when the sun is shining, Kennington has nowhere more peaceful to eat your healthy lunch. 

Kenny, the Kennington Bowl Skatepark

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If you’ve ever walked into Kennington Park from the Kennington tube end you might have noticed a large concrete edifice on the right. It’s a rare survivor of what used to be in many parks in the 70’s and 80’s, a skatepark. Our unloved relic, affectionately known as ‘Kenny’, was one of the earliest and opened in 1978. Unfortunately, Kenny was fitted out with poor railings and skaters had the inconvenient problem of falling out of Kenny and injuring themselves (which we thought was half the thrill but there you go). It was opened and then closed by Lambeth for a number of years afterwards.  

Fast forward to 2012 and Converse arrived to refurbish and renew Kenny under their ‘fix to ride’ scheme, and this included resurfacing the concrete. While the spiffy looking Kenny was great PR for Converse, it wasn’t so wonderful for poor Kenny. After Converse had their moment the resurfaced concrete soon became chipped and cracked and it was worse than it was before. Lambeth were forced to send Kenny into skatepark purgatory. A Youtube video of Kenny in its Converse heyday can be found here. 

Fast forward to 2021 and the Runoff are having a socially distanced and intriguing conversation with Friends of Kennington Park Secretary Rita Sammons. The Friends, working in partnership with Lambeth, are currently undertaking exploratory work to restore Kenny to its former glory. Lambeth has funded an initial survey to inspect the concrete plates that hold up Kenny (which is why at the moment Kenny has a giant hole in him). If it is stable the goal is try to find a way to gently skim off the concrete that Converse left behind. 

Rita explained that the vision of the Friends and Lambeth is to create a skate area that can be enjoyed by everyone, not just skaters. The could include a viewing area or a ramp up to the bowl, enabling access to people who can’t climb the stairs. In addition to recreating a free amenity for all Greater Kenningtonians (well, those who don’t mind having broken ribs), Rita and the Friends are also trying to preserve a piece of local history. One of the best features of Kenny is some very fine retro street art on the sides. Here is a sample but there are plenty more for you to discover. 

At the moment the Friends are not undertaking a fundraising campaign for Kenny but this might change. For more details and to get involved email skatebowl@kenningtonpark.org/. For other things the Friends are doing have a gander at the flyer below. 

2021_FoKP_Make a diff_08.04.2021_PMDownload

Greater Kennington Opens Up – Above the Stag

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The last in our series brings us to LGBT+ theatre ‘Above the Stag’ in Vauxhall. They are a small, independent but highly acclaimed theatre that has, as you can imagine, been more or less shut for over a year. Over the past few weeks we have watched them build a large outdoor area and it opened over the weekend for drinks and nibbles. The clever idea is that now you can go to the venue and enjoy a drink without seeing a show. 

Saturday night we just walked up without a reservation. As it turns out the servers are often actors themselves and they knew what was going with the place. The crowd was an eclectic mix of young women taking Instagram shots of their cocktails and lads who’d just finished football practice. We’re going to assume this is not the precise Above The Stag demographic. Our point being that it really doesn’t matter what your sexuality is, if you have one in the first place, to have a good time there. 

The terrace is open Thursday to Sunday from 5 – 10 for drinks and nibbles. They have Heineken on tap, bottled beers, wines and they make cocktails. The also had several enormous umbrellas so you can drown your sorrows even if its raining. 

Positives –  It is very open and has sweeping views across Vauxhall

Negatives –  It is very open and has sweeping views across Vauxhall

Greater Kennington Opens Up – The Duchy Arms

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We’ve always felt a little sorry for the Duchy Arms and have developed a soft spot for the place. Located off the main drag, its never enjoyed the passing trade of other venues and has seemed a bit, well, lost. However, it has benefitted from one quirky trait not enjoyed by other pubs…..it has a car park. The car park has now been transformed into an umbrella strewn beer garden, so it’s moment has arrived. As it is truly outside the area has more space and circulation than the Dog House and you do not feel fork to fork next to your fellow diner. Although more spread out, it still has a lively ‘we’ve just come from football practice’ vibe about it. And great staff. 

Your scribe and a Runoff colleague enjoyed the lamb kofta with couscous, flatbread and little bowl of tzatziki. It was well spiced lamb and they brought more tzatziki when requested. Another colleague had beer battered haddock with mushy peas and hand cut chips. It was described as ‘lovely, nice and fresh with a crisp batter’. As for the chips, they were definitely made fresh and had not visited the north pole. Our French colleague had the pie of the day, which was creamy chicken and leek. When asked to describe the quality, the colleague shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. We’ll interpret that as ‘pretty good’. 

If you are planning an outing to a Greater Kennington pub in the next week or so if it is within popular hours we strongly suggest that you book first. And after our sub polar dining experience we think it might good to idea to book earlier in the evening.  And please remember to bundle up. Humans can do many great things, but eating dinner in a 7 degree car park requires a degree of forward thinking. 

Greater Kennington Opens Up – Vauxhall City Farm

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On it’s second day of opening we paid a lunchtime visit to glorious local institution Vauxhall City Farm. In case you haven’t been, VCF is a charity and home to over 100 farm animals. They have a breeding programme, a riding school, education programmes, work experience and school tours, amongst other things. 

One of the invaluable things about the Farm is that it allows, for free, young people in Greater Kennington to experience farm animals who they might have otherwise never seen. It’s also fun for adults just to stroll around, but right now you can’t feed them (the animals, not your fellow adults). On our visit we saw chickens, lambs, sheep, turkeys, rabbits, goats, pigs, ducks and birds. They additionally house larger animals such as donkeys and horses. Later in the spring they will be selling fresh eggs from the chickens. They are actually green, and wonderful. 

In addition to the animals, the Farm also has a café/gift shop which are vital sources of revenue for them. So after comingling with the critters we sat down for a bite to eat. The food unfortunately is not vegetarian, but fortunately it is not made onsite. It would be a little distressing to build up a relationship with little Louie the lamb only to later encounter Louie in a kebab format. They do have homemade cakes, however, and the nice man at the counter assured us that in a few weeks their regular onsite kitchen and menu will be up and running. 

The Farm is totally free and as a registered charity VCF relies on donations from the likes of us to keep it afloat, and as you can imagine the past 12 months have been pretty grim times for even the most upbeat bunny. There are several ways to donate onsite by text message, or multiple ways you can get involved financially by clicking here. Moooo!