Above is a ghost sign on Brixton Road in South Kennington – but what is the brand of cigarettes that were so good for the throat? And what’s the penultimate word – “THE WORLD’S PREMIER CO***** CIGARETTE”? Whoever comes first with the answers will be rewarded with a free Durning Library postcard – and we all know the real value of those.
Early this year Londonist asked “What’s the best pub in Kennington and South Kennington?“. The Dog House came out top, and it’s certainly the most visited pub in Kennington. The Old Red Lion was second and has a lot going for it, including its garden and its record player. But for lovers of traditional boozers, outside drinking, and boules, there can only be one winner – The Prince of Wales on Cleaver Square.
They offer real ales from “Britain’s oldest brewery”, Kent’s Shepherd Neame. They serve a menu of high end pub classics. If you want to be outside on the square, they will serve your drink in a plastic cup and even loan you a boules set. When you’re inside the pub, you’ll feel like you could be anywhere in the countryside in the south of England, any time in the last 100 years. Their website boasts that the Richardson gang used to hang out there in the 1960s. Nowadays the Countryside Alliance gang would feel more at home there.
Cleaver Square is one of London’s most desirable residential areas – it’s picturesque, architecturally unspoilt, closed to through traffic yet lively thanks to the pub in the corner, and conveniently located close to the throbbing heart of Kennington, between Kennington Park Road and Kennington Cross.
It’s home to leading politicians, award-winning author Sarah Waters, and a large boules pitch in its centre, surrounded by benches for spectators and outdoor drinkers. Players don’t need to invest in a boules set, they can simply lay down a £20 deposit in the very fine Prince of Wales pub and stroll outside for a game of pétanque. But get there early if it’s a warm evening, to beat the throngs of after-work drinkers, former Liberal Democrat leaders, and students from the City & Guilds art school. A couple of years ago, luxury brands all decided to congregate eagerly around pétanque, with Karl Lagerfeld hosting a pétanque party, Chanel and Louis Vuitton creating their own limited edition boules sets, and style supplements a-cooing, dubbing it ‘the trendiest game in London’. We thought the hysteria had died down, and hoped you could once again enjoy a game of boules in Cleaver Square without someone from Pernod Ricard trying to corral you into their pop-up concept event. But Lacoste took over the square recently for precisely that purpose:
The excellent Wikipedia entry on Kennington has information on the history of Cleaver Square which was once called Prince’s Square, but has barely changed for decades as you can see in this photo from 1964 (with thanks to ideal-homes.org.uk/).
Cleaver Square also plays host to the annual Kennington Village Fete.
The Cinema Museum is participating in Open House London again today, and it’s a magical place, so once you’ve given up queueing for Battersea Power Station, jump on the 344 bus towards Elephant & Castle and head there. They’re open until 5pm with free tours of the building at 2pm and 4pm on a first come basis, and refreshments for sale (they always seem to have made way too many cakes). Be warned though – it’s as hard to find as it is enchanting.
The museum co-founder Ronald Grant was a projectionist who would find out when old Art Deco cinemas were due for demolition, and would hand the demolition men a few quid to let him walk away with anything from the seats to the doors to the signs to the uniforms. Now all these items and many more are permanently housed in a building with its own relevance to cinema history – it began life as a workhouse where the young Charlie Chaplin and his mum ended up more than once. It’s basically Cinema Paradiso in the form of a museum. More history here.
The museum receives no state funding and has none of the sterility one might associate with museums that do. It’s run by volunteers who have a real passion for the cinema – expect to be asked if you’ve seen a little-known silent film from the twenties before having the plot explained to you. Wondering who the most popular English actor of 1915 was? The Cinema Museum have the answer – Stewart Rome.
There are rooms full of archive material stretching back throughout the last century. This is the magazines room:
The museum tour ends with a display of uniforms:
If you don’t make it along today, get along to one of their events. Wonder Reels: Malphino present Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria on October 17th looks good – Latin band Malphino play a Fellini-inspired set and screen his 1957 film about an endearing prostitute with a talent for mambo and hard luck. The museum occasionally plays host to more conventional gigs – Keaton Henson played his hugely acclaimed first ever headline shows there. Look out for talks from legends of cinema – the likes of Terry Gilliam and Ray Harryhausen have appeared in the past. They also sell old film posters for anything from £5 to £500.
Open House London is this weekend and Kennington is well represented.
First up, places that are varying degrees of difficult to visit outside of Open House:
60 Ambergate Street, a “small but well-crafted flat renovation” near Kennington tube
The Mobile Gardeners Park, which we wrote about here
Morley College, the adult education centre in North West Kennington. While you’re there, why not visit London’s largest guerrilla gardening site, located directly in front of Morley College in the giant, lavender-filled flower beds in the middle of Westminster Bridge Road:
Guerrilla tulips in bloom at the Guerrilla Gardening on Westminster Bridge Road, London April 2011, by Richard Reynolds
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
The Cinema Museum, a true labour of love in the former Master’s House of the Lambeth Workhouse, a Victorian Gothic building where Charlie Chaplin once stayed with his destitute mother. It can be a little tricky to organise tours of the Cinema Museum normally, and there’s a charge, so going during Open House is recommended.
Perronet House, a concrete council block on the north roundabout in North Kennington. If this looks or sounds unpromising then wait till you see the inside – fantastic views across London from two sides, outstanding use of period features, and a sun-drenched terrace full of plants. The photo of Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre below was taken from Perronet House.
Then there are these places which can be visited easily enough outside of Open House:
Beaconsfield, which we wrote about here
Siobhan Davies Studios, which we wrote about here
Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England which dates back to the 13th century, is fully booked during Open House, but you can buy tickets for future tours here.
[Update July 2017: The Garden Museum and Cafe have been redeveloped since this post]
The Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) is in the deconsecrated St Mary’s church next to Lambeth Palace in North West Kennington. Even if you’re not interested in gardening, it’s worth a visit for the good quality vegetarian cafe and the lovely garden (there’s a charge to enter the museum but not the shop, cafe or garden).
The knot garden with the walls of Lambeth Palace in the background:
William Bligh lived in Kennington, on Lambeth Road in a house that is now a B&B, and was buried at St Mary’s. Appropriately enough for a site that was to become a garden museum, his grave features the breadfruit plant which he discovered and brought back to England. Presumably whoever designed his grave was hoping he would be remembered for this, rather than for being the ship’s captain who inspired the Mutiny on the Bounty.
The well-stocked shop featuring gifts for gardeners and books:
The interior of the museum:
