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The Little Church that Could

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If you’re reading this then you’re a survivor of the total mess that has been the past year. St. Mark’s Church Kennington is another survivor that has narrowly dodged fate over the years and we’re here to give you the story. In case you don’t know, St. Marks is the church across the street from Oval tube and site of the very epicurean Oval Farmers Market. 

From the 1600’s the area where St. Marks is situated was part of Kennington Common and was a place of notorious public executions. It was also the site of public fairs and boxing matches and gained a reputation as being a pretty dissolute and riotous place. Since there were a huge number of people fundamentally just hanging about and having a party, it attracted a large number of public speakers, many of whom were there to spread the word of God and deliver these doomed revelers from an eternity of damnation. A few centuries later a different kind of reveler there would rejoice at scoring heritage Enoki mushrooms out of season. 

The Duchy of Cornwall sold this corner of Kennington Common, known frighteningly as ‘Gallows Corner’, in 1822 and work commenced on the building we see before us today. The jury is out as to whether a church being placed on this spot was coincidence or design. Over the years the church grew and evolved, reflecting the changing demographic around it. At it’s height it was a hub of the community and served by a vicar, three curates and 250 church workers.  1,500 children were taught in the Sunday Schools by 125 teachers.

Our little church was almost completely destroyed by a direct bomb hit in 1940 and only the Grecian façade, pillars and cupola survived. It was partially restored in 1949 but the Southwark Diocese found further restoration unfeasible and it was earmarked for demolition, as there were more important things to rebuild at the time.  The building remained open to the elements until 1960 when it was sensitively restored. The church now reflects the much more diverse and multicultural environment which it surrounds, and has adapted in ways we all have recently.

“A busy south London crossroads formerly notorious for death and vice has become a place of life and renewal”. 

St. Marks on the left with Kennington (Park) Common in the middle. The building on the right is the famous Horns Tavern, now ‘Job Centre Plus’.

X Mas shopping in Kennington #2

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From doggie treats to bum lifts to panettone

Before we commence with our run down of how we can treat people we know, lets think about all the Greater Kenningtonians out there who are struggling with the basics. If you would like to help them but aren’t really sure how, the Vauxhall Foodbank is a good place to start. You can either donate money, volunteer, or donate food directly at Tesco Kennington Lane or Sainsburys Nine Elms. 

UPDATE 19.12. 3:00pm. Boris is about to announce that London is moving into the unknown ‘Tier 4’. This might mean that these fine business shut in a few days. You better be quick!

And as you can imagine, our little run down of where to shop locally was only ever going to commence with items of the edible variety – 

Italo Vauxhall and Mimi’s Deli both have a range of Italian foodie gift ideas including wines, beers, spices, panettone (or as we call it ‘stale cake’), oils, cheeses and even posh sauces. Mimi’s has also turned the former seating area into a kind of pop up Christmas shop.  

Mercato Metropolitano has all of the Italian fare outlined above and also feature some Italian themed hampers and they’re also selling wreaths. They have wonderful meats and cheeses but if they sit under your tree for 10 days the smell might rather dampen your Christmas vibe. 

A number of Greater Kennington restaurants such as 24 the Oval and Amici have converted their surfeit of floor space into pop up farm shops with a few foodie gift ideas. Great craft beers at 24 the Oval.

The Beefeater Gin Distillery has a lovely but totally deserted gift shop offering unusual, limited run gins and gin accessories. You can also buy a gift voucher to tour the distillery (we can confirm it’s great fun). Perfect for your loved one who likes a nice holiday tipple or who just has a drinking problem. 

NON FOOD

Mary over at Windmill Flowers stocks not just flowers but also collectables and houseware accessories. 

Caroline and her team at Earl of Bedlam are tailors and makers of swishy clothing for both men and women, including very glam t shirts. They’re studio is open for said shirts and they can craft a gift voucher.

Max and Melia – Greater Kennington’s own Christmas shop. Check out our full review in our previous post.

In addition to books, Vanilla Black also has some nice gift ideas such as cards and masks and also a few food items. We think VB secretly hates us but we’ve moved on with our lives and are plugging them anyway. And since we have you, VB, please get cracking with your upcoming deli and wine shop, Dodi and Frank, a few doors down. We can’t wait.

As this crappy year draws to a close, have you ever thought about the gift of comedy? Our local gold star comedy club Always be Comedy are doing E vouchers for their virtual and socially distanced and live events (which are very surreal) at The Tommyfield. Recently we’ve seen Harry Hill, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and more. 

The Hound Hut in Clapham road is your one stop shop for everything canine, even refrigerated dog food. We know very little about dogs (although we have been told we resembled one once) but this place is highly regarded. 

Have you ever thought about a gift of a ‘non surgical Brazilian bum lift’? Well you can buy one for a loved one at Oracle Skin Clinic in Kennington Cross. Of course, you may never hear from that loved one again. 

Some of the shops that were ruthlessly turfed out of Elephant and Castle shopping centre in September have found a new pop up home in Elephant Street (that sketchy street behind the station). Great for you younger folk looking for baseball caps, hoodies and clothes. Happy shopping!

Zeitgeist – German beer heaven

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If we told you there was a German restaurant in Greater Kennington you’d probably say ‘get the schntizel outta here’. Well there is – and it’s a gastropub called Zeitgeist in Black Prince Road. The Ethelred estate seems like a rather implausible place for a pub geared at the German community, so we donned our Alpine headwear to check it out. 

Zeitgest has a host of German beers including Pils, Helles, Hefeweizen, Kolsch and Altbier all on draft, with some bottled beers as well. A pint came gratis with our meal, which was a bonus. Of course eating was involved, and I had the Zeitgeist Flammkuchen, which is a kind of Alsace pizza. The base was extremely thin and crumbly, and the pizza consisted simply of munster cheese with pastrami. I’m not exactly sure why it was served on a piece of torn cardboard but lets just call that ‘rustic’, shall we? 

My dining partner had the Jager Schnitzel, which consisted of a generous chunk of veal, well breaded, and a creamy mushroom sauce. The huge pile of chips beneath it, unfortunately, had spent most of their short lives in a freezer.

In summary, let’s just say that eating at Zeitgeist is an activity best undertaken when you’re not entirely sober. But that’s easy, as for the German beers they have 18 on tap varying from the big German brands to the more niche. It’s also a fun environment and usually shows German football and plays 80’s music. The free beer with a mains ends on 31 August so you better get your Gesäß in motion. 

Hem’s Kitchen

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At this difficult time we all need more carbs and sweets in our lives, and to address this we recently had a socially responsible interview with Kennington cook and baker Hema Sabina,  founder of ‘Hem’s Kitchen’.  However, before the interview we decided to sample some of Hema’s signature Turkish bread. One loaf was flecked with fennel and the other with sesame, and they were delicious. At least we think they were as we ate them in about nine minutes. And after signing a twelve page non disclosure agreement Hema even delivered said loaves to our top secret Runoff HQ. 

Hema is a true Kennington native having grown up, and still living, in Black Prince Road. Her passion for cooking derives from creating a cookbook of family recipes for her mother. The legacy of these dishes was passed down mostly orally, and with a great deal of trial and error Hema was able to record and preserve them for her family.  This was also the genesis for her other passion, food photography. As you can see by the recent attempt to photograph our takeway, where it looks as if a cat has walked across our plates, photographing food is a real skill and one that Hema has also pursued professionally. 

A few years ago Hema decided to share her crafty skills in the kitchen by creating some cooking videos which now populate her YouTube channel and are very straightforward. Never one sit idly by, when The Event happened earlier this year Hema decided to share these skills further by delivering some of her delicious baked goods direct to local folk.  The Breads that Hema currently has available are – Sourdough, Turkish Bread, Classic Artisan Bread, and Challah. For the sweet tooth, Hema has on rotation Banana Bread, Oreo Brownies, Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Rhubarb and Cinnamon Muffins.

Hema is able to safely deliver to most homes in Greater Kennington and is flexible about how she is paid (details below). Now we would have been remiss without asking Hema the million quid question, ‘ HOW DO YOU SCORE FLOUR?’. She replied that she gets most of her flour at Millars General Store. We’re on the case….

T: 07956 130 734

W: www.hemaphotography.com

I: www.instagram.com/hemskitchen

Y: www.hemskitchen.com

A taste of takeaways and pubs

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We have to face up to the reality that we won’t be eating in a Greater Kennington restaurant any time soon. And when we do, we might encounter the indignity of having to shout ‘hey, can I have some more ketchup please’ from across a socially distanced room. To address this, some local restaurants are offering a takeaway or collection service with a limited menu. The places offering this service generally let you know via social media.

One of our favourite local takeaways is unsung gem ‘Taste of India’ next to the bike shop in Kennington Road. On a recent visit my associate had lamb korai, which was heavy on the lamb and onions but a bit light on the spice. Your reporter had the prawn bunha, which had a very good mix of spices, thick gravy and full of tomatoes. On previous visits we’ve enjoyed the madras and jalfrezi, which certainly delivered on the spice front.  Side dishes are always a highlight with Indian food, and we recommend the huge, crunchy onion bhajis,  garlc naan bread, and tarka daal. 

The lamb, or ‘this is why we aren’t food photographers’
The prawn. Honestly, it tastes better than it looks.

While it might not possess the Prime Ministerial credentials or razzmatazz of Kennington Tandoori, we think Taste of India *prepares for hate mail* is better. Taste of India doesn’t quite achieve the culinary highs of Gandhi’s, but sadly it isn’t open. And if you don’t fancy Indian food but you still want to sample the fare at ‘Taste of India’, then why not plump for their…..wait for it…….sushi!  

Over the past week a few local pubs have also opened offering takeaway drinks and a reduced menu, for collection only. We’re very excited about this development and enjoyed a pint at The Doghouse on Friday night, and then another at The Black Prince.  This goes a bit to retaining a sense of normality and also helps these small businesses. We suggest you take your drinks home, however,  to avoid being known as ‘that street drinker who lives a few doors down’. Other pubs further afield might be offering this service, so again check them out on social media and eat safely. 

Blitz Children

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The other day we were on our permitted one hour perambulation in Vauxhall and stumbled across a quite poignant sculpture. We put it on Instagram (where we’re much more clever) and that started a small conversation about its origins. This spiked our curiosity, so we decided to step back from trying to remember what day of the week it is our hectic schedule of Zoom meetings, to undertake some research. 

Following the war there was a shift from commemorative to public sculpture as a way to lift spirits and add to public enrichment. However, after the war Lambeth were seriously short of cash. Equally skint was Hungarian artist Peter Peri, who was able to make works cheaply by means of applying moulded concrete onto wire mesh. When local authorities began commissioning artists to create works in newly constructed housing estates, he put has name forward and he was commissioned to create three works in Vauxhall and Oval. 

The sculpture in Vauxhall is called ‘Following the Leader’ and was created between 1949-1952. This moving composition depicts children holding hands in a spiral to the sky, as an homage to children killed during the blitz.  Fortunately it is Grade II listed. The other two sculptures are in Oval are of slightly lower quality but still very interesting (both below). ‘Boys Playing Football’ depicts a group of lads doing just that, kitted out in their awkward leather boots. ‘Children Playing’ depicts a mum playing ring o’roses with her children. Curiously, all three works face internal courtyards. Perhaps this testifies to Mr. Peri’s background as a socialist and champion of everyday folk. 

One of our goals as the Runoff is to get people out of the house and explore, but of course this is largely not possible at the moment. But if you find that your daily exercise is getting a tad bit monotonous, set these little gems as your destination:

Following the Leader – on Darley House, Laud St. 

Boys Playing Football – on Wareham House, Carroun St. 

Children Playing – on Horton House, Meadow Road. 

The pieces in Oval are very close to one another.

Wine Affairs

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In these unprecedented times drinking wine is very important. We here at the Runoff are propelled by the ‘power of the PG’s’. Namely, PG Tips and Pinot Grigio. The former we can  easily pick up at our local ‘Tesco in the car park’. As for the latter, we’ve decided to up our game while also keeping it local. This is when we discovered new wine merchants ‘Wine Affairs’. We recently sat down and had a chat (on Zoom, don’t worry) with Wine Affairs founder Marc Venverloo, who lives in Renfrew Road. 

Marc and his wine

Marc lived in France for 30 years, and it was there that he discovered his passion for wine. When he moved to London he found it hard to find quality wines which were also affordable. At the same time his friends began asking for his advice about wines and food/wine pairings. Marc quickly discovered a gap in the market; delivering good French wine while also helping people who are unsure about what wine they want to drink. 

The price point for Wine Affairs wines is £10-£30 (averaging about £15) and Marc points out that this would be much higher if it were sold in a shop, as they don’t have to pay for shelf space or rent (and this brutal calculus is what saw off our beloved local Oddbins). Navigating the world of wines can be rather intimidating, and Marc assured us that the advice they offer is unfussy and unpretentious. This can be done by emailing or just calling him. 

As moving bottles of wine around the world isn’t the most environmentally sage thing to do, we’ve picked Marc’s brain about the environmental credentials of Wine Affairs. He said that the bottles live in a warehouse in Essex, and have been sourced from independent wine makers who take care of their soil and use organic or bio dynamic methods. Some of these producers Marc knew when he lived in France and he has an established relationship with them. 

And why, you might ask, did Marc decide to settle in our shire? As it turns out his wife Laura and brother in law Gavin are that very rare breed — true natives of Greater Kennington, having grown up in Elephant and Castle. You don’t get much more local than that.

As the wine is already in the UK, Marc has informed us that they offer next day delivery, which is just what we need to take the pain away. 

Kennington goes loopy

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With the constant hand washing, waving to people out of the window and failed attempts at online yoga we are all going at bit loopy at the moment. And all of this without even a new ‘Loose Women’ to deaden the pain. However, at the Runoff we’re hanging in there.

When alighting at Kennington tube we’ve all heard a tube driver say, about 45 times,  ‘this train terminates here’. Most of you know that it doesn’t actually terminate, it just turns around. Well we are here to tell you about the strange fetishism that surrounds the ‘Kennington Loop’ which swirls beneath Kennington Park.

Kennington-Loop-287x300

Kennington loop was created in order to regulate the number of trains going southward, as our beloved station is where the Charing Cross and Bank branches converge. Passenger travel on this stretch of track is expressly prohibited, which is part of the fascination for some tube aficionados (and drunk people who’ve fallen asleep). These renegades revel in the notion of the lights flickering on and off, the screech of the tracks,  being told off by the driver, and then arriving at the station they just departed from. It seems to be the tube equivalent of scaling Kilimanjaro the way people carry on about it in online forums (yes, we have time on our hands). If you don’t believe us, the pursuit even has it’s own risqué T-shirt! 

Screenshot 2020-04-03 at 15.45.37

Most things mysterious seem go have a ghost associated with them, and the Kennington loop is no exception. The story goes that one night in 1980 a train in the loop was being held on a red signal when the driver and guard heard the unmistakable slam of interconnecting doors. When they investigated there was no one on the train other than the two of them. Other drivers have experienced the same phenomenon. As scary things go it doesn’t exactly rate up there with ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or that shower scene from ‘Psycho’ but hey ho. A ghost story’s a ghost story.

As you are stuck at home now with little better to do than pine nostalgically about the time when you could actually use the tube, you might be asking yourself ‘well how will the Northern line extension effect the loop? Will it be redundant?’.  The official line from TfL is that the loop will still be required, but used much less frequently as more trains will shoot up to Battersea. The extension is still set to open in Autumn, 2021 but that probably isn’t a reality as work is currently paused.

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