The Old Red Lion

If you like your pubs homely but lively, head to the Old Red Lion on Kennington Park Road near Kennington tube. It’s a grade II listed building full of nooks and crannies, with a kitchen serving superior pub grub, a nice beer garden, board games, books and more.

The Old Red Lion exterior - kenningtonrunoff.com

Music features prominently. They tend to play nineties indie music, and they once had a guest ale by the band Ellen & The Escapades despite the fact that we and Steve Lamacq may be the only patrons know who Ellen & The Escapades are (they’re good though – check them out).

Here’s a recent selection of real ales. We opted for Cornish Mutiny – if we’d wanted anarchy, we’d have gone to the Dog House:

Old Red Lion drinks - kenningtonrunoff.com

In the conservatory they have a small selection of vinyl and an HMV stereogramme on which to play it. Be warned – keep the volume low or risk hearing damage – it might look like your Grandma’s dresser but this is a seriously powerful piece of kit:

Old Red Lion record player - kenningtonrunoff.com

The conservatory can be hired for private parties at no cost, but be sure to remind them of your booking on the day.

The piano is a new arrival:

Old Red Lion piano - kenningtonrunoff.com

Their monthly events include a quiz, a folk night with jam session, a vintage clothing fair, and a rock ‘n’ roll night.

Old Red Lion events - kenningtonrunoff.com

The bar is two-sided in the eighteenth century style:

Old Red Lion bar - kenningtonrunoff.com

Old Red Lion main room - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Prince of Wales

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.

The Prince of Wales pub, Cleaver Square - kenningtonrunoff.com

Cleaver Square and boules

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.

Cleaver Square houses at dusk - kenningtonrunoff.com

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:

Boules, petanque in Cleaver Square - kenningtonrunoff.com

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-01722-750 Kennington, 1964 from ideal-homes.org.uk

Cleaver Square also plays host to the annual Kennington Village Fete.

Always Be Comedy at the Tommyfield

One of London’s best small comedy nights takes place every second Thursday upstairs at Kennington gastropub The TommyfieldSign up to their email list to find out about occasional big name attendees like Russell Howard, Russell Kane and Jason Manford, but even when the big names are absent the line-up tends to be more hit than miss. Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominee Carl Donnelly headlines this Thursday. Don’t sit in the front row unless you want to participate – last time around the actor Marc Warren was there and was roped into more than one routine. Tickets are £6 online or £7 on the door – a bargain for five acts plus some energetic compering.

That Pair at Always Be Comedy at The Tommyfield

That Pair at Always Be Comedy at The Tommyfield

Cycle PS

The Kennington branch of Cycle PS has now closed, but they do have branches in Camberwell and Battersea, and Kennington still has Balfe’s Bikes and ReCycling.

Cycle PS is a stylish new cycle shop and cafe bar at the top of Kennington Park Road, which is London’s second biggest street for cycling. On Friday nights Cycle PS stay open late – ideal for a drink before heading to the Lobster Pot.

Exterior:

Cycle PS exterior - kenningtonrunoff.com

Interior:

Cycle PS tools - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Dog House: an appreciation

We once read something online complaining about the Dog House due to its late opening and its liberal use of the pavement for seating. These are the two best things about this Kennington institution. It’s right in the heart of Kennington at Kennington Cross, and the fact that people are always sat outside enjoying themselves until the early hours of the morning makes the area feel vibrant. It’s a little rough around the edges and we rarely visit a pub past 11pm nowadays, but when we do, it’s nice to know the Dog House will be open and buzzing. They have window boxes in full bloom at present, and they lend their tables to the Kennington Association for their occasional table top sales. Regulars at the pub include Morrissey* and Steve Lamacq**.

Flowers:

The Dog House flowers - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Dog House at night:

The Dog House at night - kenningtonrunoff.com

And in the day:

The Dog House - Kenningtonrunoff.com

* Clarification here

** Steve Lamacq actually does drink in the Dog House sometimes.

Florence Welch went to South London Pacific, got drunk, and covered Daft Punk and The Gossip with the house band

South London Pacific (geddit?) is a tiki bar in Kennington. Florence Welch is a Kennington resident and front woman of Florence & The Machine. She jumped on stage while house band Sourberry were warming up, and performed Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and Standing In The Way Of Control by The Gossip. Highlights include her downing a tequila shot then discarding the glass, and stage diving off at the end.

This is the stuff that Kennington Runoff dreams are made of, and we’re not making it up.


n.b. should you read the Daily Mail?

food festival on a boat in West Kennington

Tamesis Dock, formerly known as The English Maid, is one of the best bars on the Thames. It’s a converted 1930s Dutch barge permanently docked off Albert Embankment in West Kennington. They sometimes play host to cool gigs, sometimes private parties, and the atmosphere is always good. This Thursday, Friday and Saturday night it hosts a dinner where fifteen different street food vendors all prepare a course (five each night). We recommend going along on Friday when London’s premier waffle makers Waffle On will be preparing one of the courses. Time Out has more info.