Kevin has heeded our call and says he will always have a home in Kennington.
Category Archives: culture
Karen Gillan and Dr Who: the Kennington connections
Karen Gillan, who played “Dr Who’s sexiest sidekick ever”, lives in Kennington and was spotted working behind the bar at the Pilgrim pub on Kennington Lane.
In the 2005 Christmas episode, the Tardis crash landed on the Brandon Estate in East Kennington.
Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor, was born in North West Kennington.
Bob Baker, the creator of Doctor Who’s iconic K9 robotic dog, appeared at the Cinema Museum recently.
The White Bear Theatre Pub
The White Bear, on Kennington Park Road, is a pub of two halves. The front half is an Irish sports pub with lots of regulars and rather an edgy atmosphere. The back half is an extraordinarily intimate, award-winning fringe theatre with a capacity of just 50. It was established in 1988 and actors who’ve appeared there include Emily Watson, Tamzin Outhwaite, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mark Little, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Natalie Imbruglia.
Plays we’ve seen here:
* One about Byron, the Shelleys, and their frantic sex lives.
* A play featuring objectionable middle class couples arguing and cheating on each other over barbecues – or we saw half of it anyway (the problem with leaving a theatre this small during the interval is your absence will definitely be noticed in the second half – sorry about that guys).
* A good production of Noel Coward’s Still Life, the play on which Brief Encounter was based, which is about an abortive affair.
* Recently we saw Coward, a rather unflattering depiction of Noel Coward and his sex life.
So is the White Bear the theatre equivalent of the Locker Room? No – they had a play by Ayn Rand recently so we’re guessing that was a sex free zone. Check out their programme here and get along.
Here’s a photo of Coward (that’s him, sitting down):
Durning Library
In these times of austerity, many libraries are threatened with closure, but Durning Library will never close if the Friends of Durning Library have their way. Would any politician dare to cross this fearsome organisation for fear of a cupcake at a community event being served with a garnish of cyanide? But their cause is noble – long may they reign and long may Durning Library remain open. Just don’t mention the Tree of Heaven.
The grade II-listed library opened in 1889 and was designed in the Gothic Revival style by local architect Sidney RJ Smith whose other buildings included Tate Britain and libraries in South Lambeth, West Norwood, Streatham and Balham.
Occasionally they host talks from local authors, politicians and historians – the history of a Kennington townhouse, Kate Hoey on how to kill a fox, that kind of thing.
House of Cards starring Kennington’s own Kevin Spacey
Our previous post about Kennington resident Kevin Spacey focused more on his midnight feasts than his brilliance as an actor. So we’d like to say that we recently finished watching House of Cards season one and it’s truly gripping from beginning to end. Kevin’s character is magnificently, horrifyingly compelling, much like The Locker Room.
Kevin is expected to leave his role as artistic director of the Old Vic soon, and already their programme doesn’t seem quite as appealing as it was. Don’t leave us Kevin – South London needs you (but House of Cards season two may need you even more).
Watch House Of Cards on Netflix.
Tamesis Dock
The good ship Tamesis (formerly the English Maid) is a converted 1930s Dutch barge, moored permanently between Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge. It’s a floating pub and party venue, with one of the most spectacular river views in London from its jolly, higgledy-piggledy deck.
There’s a lively music scene going on down at the Tamesis Dock, having seen gigs from bands – including Deap Vally and Bastille – who’ve gone on to grace much bigger stages than their cosy bunk.
If you’re worried about your sea legs, rest assured that we’ve never felt the barge shift much on the many times we’ve ventured aboard, and when the tide is out it’s just perched prettily on the sandy banks of the Thames. However, they do occasionally have their own version of a lock-in, involving going for an unannounced ride up to Tower Bridge, so if you’re drinking there late at night and need to get home, be prepared to make a leap for shore if the boat starts moving.
They have free wi fi, their kitchen stays open till 10pm, and the bar is open till 1am on Fridays and Saturdays or midnight the rest of the week, making this one of London’s most enjoyable after-hours drinking venues. Tonight they’re hosting a (free) Hallo-boaty-ween party for those who like their fun as murky as the Thames.
Young Fathers on Kennington’s own Big Dada Recordings
Big Dada is the UK’s leading independent hip hop label and, like its parent label Ninja Tune, it’s based on Kennington Lane. Young Fathers are an alternative hip hop group from Edinburgh and we at Kennington Runoff are big fans of their new single LOW, on Big Dada. Have a listen:
ArtsLav is open for business
For the past 115 years, Kennington Cross’s ArtsLav has been a used then disused public toilet. Now, thanks to the initiative of the local community, after a long period of development stretching back to 2005, it is an art gallery. Well done to all involved. We’ve been inside and it’s one of the most attractive disused public toilets we’ve visited – you can see why it’s grade II listed.
Painter Ryszard Rybicki’s Camera Obscura runs from tomorrow until October 24th, and they are hosting a weekend of family activities on October 19th and 20th as they invite everybody in the local community to create a painting together. Opening hours: Monday-Friday 11am-1pm and 2pm-5pm; Saturday and Sunday 11am-5pm.
Bedrock’s 15th birthday party at Fire
Nowadays, as readers of this blog will realise, we like nothing better than to spend our evenings visiting the pubs, restaurants, art galleries and yoga centres of Kennington. But once upon a time, a night out for Kennington Runoff might have involved a trip to a nightclub – and one of our favourite club nights for its amazing atmosphere was John Digweed’s Bedrock. Back then, Bedrock took place at Heaven in Charing Cross, but like many of London’s more adrenaline-fuelled club nights, it has since relocated to West Kennington. Bedrock celebrate their 15th anniversary this Saturday at West Kennington’s own superclub Fire with a seven hour set from Mr Digweed himself. We won’t be attending – the only place we’d spend seven hours for entertainment nowadays is a test match at the Oval – but we’re sure it will “go off” as the kids may or may not still say. If you haven’t got a ticket, get down by 10pm when there will be 150 tickets available on the door.
Lambeth Open
Lambeth Open sees artists and makers across the borough open their doors to the public from 10am to 6pm both days this weekend, October 5th and 6th.
Both the spaces on display in Kennington are new to us so we look forward to having a nosey around:
Three different artists are based at 331 Kennington Lane, also in West Kennington.
