Category Archives: events

Amici Summer Party

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At the Runoff we pride ourselves on making our reviews totally anonymous, sometimes to the frustration of business owners, and don’t ask for freebies. So we lay our cards on the table and admit to kind of knowing Houman and Seti who run Kennington Cross restaurant staple Amici, and we’re here to tell you about their upcoming summer party because it’s fun and good value for money. 

Let’s face it, few restaurants in Greater Kennington appear to be flourishing at the minute and Amici is no exception. Amici has survived the dual indignities of a pandemic and a basement flood (three if you count the time they decided to sell clothes and jewellery) resulting in its closure for almost two years, leading to it almost going under. They’re back with a mixture of Mediterranean and Iranian dishes and a few events to get more people through the door. 

The Amici summer party is on Thursday, 21 September at the restaurant and costs £10. We think this is good value for money as it gets you two drinks in their cute pop up stalls in the back previously sponsored by Lillet and Beefeater, but apparently now with a rum twist. Houman and Seti will also be walking around with some of their Iranian greatest hits.* Additionally there will be a band and a host of neighbours to talk to. Tickets can be purchased here and the fun kicks off at 7pm. Your ticket also entitles you to 25% off future meals.

*We stand casually yet strategically near the kitchen to grab said delicacies as the platters emerge. 

Feel Good Festival

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Under the guise of us refusing to admit that summer is actually over, we have yet another fun and free festival happening this weekend (2 September) in Embassy Square in Vauxhall, and its called the ‘Feel Good Festival’. Now before your naughty brain gets the wrong idea (we know what you’re like), it is about wellness and not those other things that make us feel good. 

While most festivals we promote on the Runoff involve abusing your body in some form, the Feel Good festival is a whole day celebration of wellness including outdoor pilates, fitness classes, live music, well being workshops, healthy food and drink (read…no bar), market stalls, and games. While this event is free some of the courses being offered are more labour intensive and there is a fee, and tickets can be scored here

The Feel Good Festival is in Embassy Gardens this coming Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00 and is free, just turn up. If you’ve never heard of Embassy Gardens you can be forgiven because it only came into existence a few years ago, and is behind the US embassy. 

Victorian Vauxhall

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Fun Things to do Over the Bank Holiday #1

In the past we haven’t really covered this annual Greater Kennington event in Spring Gardens in Vauxhall because we thought it looked a bit corny and was geared towards kids. However, it seems more interesting this year by the breadth of activities and the involvement of the great pub  Jolly Gardeners and the lovely (but overpriced) beer hall Mother Kellys. 

The press release states that Victorian Vauxhall will ‘recreate the magic of the past with captivating performances, vintage displays and fun for all ages’. Also holding fort will be jesters, acrobats, a regency hair salon (!), and someone intriguingly called a ‘Bubbleologist’. And we’re sure many good local food stalls will be available to keep you full.  The press release also excitedly mentions the chance to go sky high in a hot air balloon. But to be honest, if you want to see people sky high in Vauxhall all you really need to do is stroll over there on any random Saturday night. 

Victorian Vauxhall is this Saturday, the 26th from 2 to 7 and is totally free. When we were sent the photo below our initial thought was that these men must be promoting some new fetish night at a Vauxhall nightclub. As it turns out, they’re portraying Victorian bodybuilders and they will also be present. 

City & Guilds Foundation Show

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Another milestone has arrived on the Greater Kennington cultural calendar (it’s a thing, trust us).   City and Guilds of London Art School is having its annual show and we’re on the case. These artists are completing their Foundation year, so the work is less advanced than the much grander Degree Show (we’ll get on to that in a tic). The students are studying a more proscribed range of styles than their more advanced counterparts but are much more experimental (read, slightly mad but very interesting). The themes this year seem to be 1. Saving the planet 2. Dirt 3. Saving the planet through dirt 4. Rocks. If you want to impress your friends, bring them along and when they invariably  ask ‘well, what DOES it mean’, try rolling your eyes and saying ‘it’s about IDENTITY’. Or make it newsworthy by saying ‘what’s wrong with you, it’s about THE PRICE OF EGGS’. 

24 to 30 June brings the mighty (we’re talking huge) Degree Show in the main buildings of the college. It showcases a range of up and coming artists arranged in small rooms, so you can see a larger selection of their works. What we find most interesting is that you can see the work of historic wood and stone carvers in the back garden area. Also of interest are the upper floor areas dealing with conservation and restoration. And if you don’t care for something keep your trap shut as chances are the artist is behind you. And there is an even bigger MA show from 2 to 9 September. 

`The Foundation show is open 18,19 and 20 May from 10 – 5 in the old telephone building in Kenning’s Way and is totally free. Of the three, we find this the most fun as you never know what you might encounter when you turn a corner. For example, an armchair sprouting grass (below) or fake children worshipping broken glass (also below).

Coronation Fun in Greater Kennington

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If you look around Greater Kennington some might say that there’s a palpable and languid disinterest in the upcoming coronation of the King who is already a King. But at the end of the day we’re getting a day to bunk off for what is in essence a church service followed by a pop concert, so don’t we owe it to the King to celebrate in a tried and true manner?

Celebration in Aukland Street, Vauxhall, 1937. The street no longer exists and is now Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

Because we care about our readers, we’ve unearthed a selection of street parties and other activities to occupy your time after watching a man of a certain age walking slowly down the nave of a church. Some of these events appear to be aimed at people living in adjoining streets, but as they are on public property they are technically open to us all. And as they are selling things on site as opposed to giving away freebies we’re sure they would invite our custom and it adds to community cohesion.

The Kennington Residents Association is having a knees up on Sunday, 7 May from 6 to 8:30pm. There will be a cake stall, slow roast pork, a cash bar (!), and a raffle. This will take place at the corner of Methley and Radcott Streets. The flyer mentions bringing a chair, but just wandering around will probably not be discouraged. There is also a prize for the best costume, which sounds more than exciting. 

Cleaver Square is having more of a ‘DIY’ lunch, on 7 May from 2:30 to 4:30pm. They always push the boat out in Cleaver Square (let’s be honest, they have to spend it on something) so expect loads of bunting and pretty looking things. Drinks can be purchased at the Prince of Wales pub. Or in our case, the corner shop. 

We also have intel about a coronation craft animation activity for kids on Saturday, 13 May from 12-4pm at Durning Library. We’re a bit puzzled as this is being put on a week after the event but there you go. 

If you are seeking some visual aids to get you on the mood, Tesco are offering a selection of patriotic yet strangely depressing flags, hats and napkins. And if you manage to make it home with them following a day of posh debauchery in Cleaver Square, you can repurpose your Union Jacks for Eurovision the following week. As always, we’re here to help. 

Paul Gambaccini @ Cinema Museum

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On Sunday 30 April the first granddaddy of pop, the award winning Paul Gambaccini, will be interviewed at the Cinema Museum on a one off night called ‘Desert Island Flicks’. So instead of talking about his passion for tunes, he’ll be chin wagging away about the movies that made him the DJ he is today and why he cares passionately about films. This will be presented in an interview format with film clips and a chance to ask questions to the great man at the end.  And there’s a bar…

In case you’re not in the loop, the Cinema Museum is housed in the former administration block of Lambeth Workhouse, which we wrote about in 2019.   The building would have been the dropping off place for a destitute Charlie Chaplin and his mum and many others on hard times, but for the past 24 years has served as HQ to the museum. The museum has a packed collection of film related ephemera including posters, projectors, scary mannequins, scripts, costumes and lights. Your ticket to this talk will allow you to whiz through some of the museum, which is rarely open to the public. It’s like being dropped into particularly tense episode of Scooby Doo*.

Paul Gambaccini’s ‘Desert Island Flicks’ is on Sunday, 30 April at 19:30, with the doors flying open at 18:30, and tickets can be purchased here. As it’s a couple of weeks away don’t forget to put it in that sparkly pocket diary that we’ve been nagging you good lot to buy for a number of years now. Did we mention there’s a bar? 

* If you’re too young enough to get this reference please ask your parents. 

Eco Chamber Free Event

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Like a pig to a truffle, you can be assured that we here at the Runoff are always sniffing out free stuff for you to do. St. Mary’s Eco Church has been created by Lambeth Palace and Southwark Diocese in response to the climate and biodiversity crisis. Once a month they organise free and mind expanding talks called the ‘Eco Chamber’ and the next one is coming up right here in our manor. 

The upcoming Eco Chamber will be chaired by Radio 4’s Point of View Presenter Tommy Shakespeare and he’ll be joined Green Peer Baroness Jenny Jones and Professor Joanna Haigh. The topic will be the elimination fossil fuels and carbon emissions and questions if Net Zero initiatives will be sufficient to do this. Their talks will be followed by a group discussion and all are encouraged to ‘join is with juice, a glass of wine or a beer’. The venue is the Duchy Arms pub in Sancroft Street. 

The Eco Chamber takes place on 18 April and free tickets can be obtained here. And it’s a good thing that it is being held at the Duchy Arms, as the place seems go through more management changes than the Tory party and we’re a bit concerned about their future. 

Email Sharon if you have any questions: hello@stmarysecochurch.org

Getting Classy in Vauxhall

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OK people, now that you’ve completed that new year’s resolution of running around Kennington Park six times, it’s time to work on your grey matter. It’s that time in the Greater Kennington cultural calendar (it’s a thing, trust us) to enlighten you about the ‘Classical Vauxhall’ series of concerts at St. Mark’s Church in Oval from 2 to 5 March. The press release boldly describes it as ‘a four day festival of live music and song, featuring top artists and four centuries of composers’. While the revival of dead white men might not sound like a merry blast, it seems that these artists have their own unique twist on things. 

The concept behind these five concerts is to put on shows that are varied, lively, and accessible to people who (like us) are not habitues of the Royal Opera House and might otherwise be a bit intimidated by this genre.  Each night is set to a theme, from jazz in Hollywood to finding comfort in chaos (very hard to do in Vauxhall) and feature a range of artists performing short pieces. The last day is a freebie and is dedicated to young artists learning their trade.  

The director of the festival and the brains behind the whole thing is Fiachra Garvey and he is joined by artists Clifton Harrison, Tamsin Waley, Rakhi Singh, and the Julian Bliss Septet. To be honest we have no idea who any of these people are – But– we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s beautiful. Rakhi and her amazing violin are featured here.  

Tickets are £22.15 so not exactly cheap, but a great way to support local culture and artists who have probably didn’t have much work during the pandemic. Some folks from KR towers went in 2022 and they described it as both amazing and great fun.  A nice way to get a little culture in your life without venturing much further than your local pub. 

Only 10 days to go until our ‘Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington (+ 1 Sunday Roast)’ countdown, people! 

Christmas Fun in Bonnington Square

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Yes, dear readers, we are notifying you of two Christmassy happenings in a row. We only have the press release to go by, but we are all invited to ‘Christmas at Italo’, a celebration sponsored by Italo Vauxhall in Bonnington Square. For those not in the know, Italo is a locally owned, pint sized delight of a deli, sandwich and Italian food shop. On Wednesday it will be open until 20:00.

From Italo – 

‘On Wednesday 21st December, Winter Solstice, there is a big local party. Starting at 4pm with country dancing in St Annes Hall, on the corner of Vauxhall Grove and Harleyford Road, 2 minutes walk from the shop. Then there will be the usual solstice pagan carols outside the shop, officiated by our local pagan priest David Spofforth, from 6.30… with mulled wine. Then there is a ‘Bring Food (Vegan and Vegetarian only) and Drinks to share” community party in the Bonnington Centre. Then upstairs at the Bonnington Centre. And everyone is very welcome to come, and bring many family and friends…’

We’re acutely aware of the renegade tendency of Runoff readers, so we implore you to respect the solstice, pagan and vegetarian nature of this event. To put it bluntly,  don’t pitch up in a nun’s habit with a giant gravy double bucket from the new KFC in Vauxhall.   We will certainly plan to abide by this. 

Christmas Tree Time!

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At Christmas can you guess who the busiest man in greater Kennington might be? Is it Santa Claus? Perhaps the great man Jesus Christ himself? Of course it’s Abraham over at Bouquets and Beans in Kennington Cross who is about to take delivery of a biblical hoard of Christmas trees on Saturday (10 Dec) and more after that.

Abraham’s informed us that his trees are £35 for 3-4 feet, and £75 for 8-10 feet. The latter option being for people with huge homes or those who’ve consumed too much mulled wine. He is also selling wreaths. And he’s confirmed that said trees can be delivered. It helps to order in advance, but he also has trees on hand.   

And if you’re tree shopping why not treat yourself to a tea, coffee, croissant or a bouquet of holiday flowers?