Another of our Kennington predictions for 2014 comes true – Russell Brand tours Kennington from 3 minutes 30 in this video:
Author Archives: Kennington Observer
Bob Marley, Elvis Presley and The Beatles in Kennington
Bob visited and played football in Kennington Park in 1977. We recently came across this photo:
Plus, quite a coup for the North Lambeth L&R Club – they’ve only got Elvis and The Beatles performing tonight:
Invader in Kennington
Is this a genuine Invader piece above an estate agent at Kennington Cross?
How long has it been there?
Some kind of trailer for the Damien Hirst Gallery perhaps?
And how about this huge one above the Windmill Pub in North West Kennington, just behind Albert Embankment?
Kennington apocalypse at Beaconsfield: We Are History by John Timberlake
We love Kennington, we love big art, and we love the apocalypse, so the current show at Beaconsfield Art Gallery could almost have been designed with us in mind. We Are History by John Timberlake features a giant painting of West Kennington in three parts, with a mushroom cloud behind. “The perspectival position suggests that the target may have been High Wycombe”. Damn it, we were thinking Clapham.
You are encouraged to take photos and the installation really comes alive when you take photos of people walking in between the three parts. We’ve not done that because we wanted to preserve our anonymity, but you should:
The show is open until August 30th, Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm. Get along on Wednesday. Thursday or Friday lunchtime and you can sample the wonderful food of the Ragged Canteen, the third best restaurant in Kennington.
Kennington architecture features in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition again this year
Apartment tower, West Kennington, London by Keith Williams Architects. Behold those children transfixed by its beauty:
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is open for another week, until August 17th.
Here was Kennington’s contribution to last year’s exhibition, which is being built at present.
The Dog House’s hay bales
We have been critical of The Dog House under its new management so we thought we should point out one thing they’ve got magnificently right for summer: hay bales! The hay bales have disappeared since we wrote this post. Ho hum.
Damien Hirst Gallery: update
It’s not opening any time soon. The latest rumour we’re hearing is March of next year. Here’s how it’s looking:
And here’s how it’s going to look:
Vauxhall Street Food Market
This week saw the opening of the new Vauxhall Street Food Market.
It’s an ingenious weekday use of the outside space behind Fire and The Lightbox nightclubs, hence the entrance is under a railway bridge right by Vauxhall station. You don’t normally get bouncers at street food markets, but this one was friendly:
Molly’s Pizza have the most colourful outlet:
Here’s their menu, only spoilt by the use of mushrooms. Molly’s Special is intense:
This is Seven Bridges New York Street Food Deli:
This is Ayam Happy, an Indonesian Street Food stall, and they really are happy. Plus they do a really delicious tofu with noodles which is welcome in a market that is quite meat-heavy (although there’s also a vegan cake and quiche stand):
This was the menu for Tucker’s Exotic Meat Shack when we went, although it changes regularly:
And finally, The Croque Monsieur, for all your grilled French sandwich needs:
You can eat the food in the beer garden, although sadly the beer on offer is more suited to clubbers in the early hours of the morning than discerning foodie types in the daytime (Stella and Magners rather than Kernel):
Beefeater Gin Distillery
Kennington is the Home of Gin – Burnett’s White Satin gin was made in West Kennington from 1750 onwards, and London’s last surviving gin distillery, Beefeater, has been located on Montford Place since 1958 when it left Chelsea in a bid to move upmarket.
As part of their ongoing commitment to Kennington, Beefeater recently opened a visitors’ centre, so naturally we went along for a tour.
The museum part of the tour has plenty about the dark history of gin in London, when it was known as mother’s ruin.
Here are some different eras of Beefeater bottles:
Only four people know the recipe for the Beefeater blend – the master brewer Desmond and his three stillmen, Keith, Maxim and Leeroy. They all have to have their noses insured and under no circumstances are they allowed to visit Walworth. The visitors centre are happy to tell you the flavourings anyway, and let you sniff them: Seville orange peel, lemon peel, bitter almond, liquorice, orris root, angelica seed, angelica root, coriander, and of course juniper:
Then you step through into the distillery itself:
Beefeater are aiming to make 36 million bottles this year, all of it distilled here, although then they transport the highly alcoholic distilled liquid to Scotland to mix it with water there.
Naturally the tour begins and ends in the gift shop, which plays heavily on the patriotism:
They have a new brew called London Garden which is inspired by the flower garden in Kennington Park, and is only available from the distillery.
The visitors centre is open every day except Christmas Day, and costs £12 for adults, £10.80 for concessions, and is free for under 18s, although they miss out on the free gin and tonic at the end. From mother’s ruin to kid’s day out.
BeeUrban – Kennington’s own honey brand
We’re not just saying this because it’s from Kennington, but BeeUrban’s honey is the finest we’ve ever tasted. It’s so flavoursome and lemon-y, it’s not even comparable to the bland stuff you get in supermarkets. We’d go so far as to say you haven’t really tasted honey until you’ve tasted Kennington honey.
If you’d like to pick some up, and find out more about it, then get along to one of their Keeper’s Lodge open days at the Keeper’s Lodge in the middle of Kennington Park. They’re on July 26, August 30 and September 20 from 11am to 5pm.
They’re also running an introduction to beekeeping on August 17th. This lasts from 11am to 4pm and costs £50. Go to their website for more info.
