If you have a spare 14 minutes (and we know you do) have a listen to a delightful podcast about the current life and history of Kennington Park by Blue Badge tour guide and Walworth resident Isobel.
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Kennington goes loopy
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 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!
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.
Amelia St, Walworth
The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 6 – Kuma
As said previously, we’ve decided to plow on, bull like, with our top ten list but not with the intention that you will rush out tonight and put yourselves at risk. Rather, you might consider takeaway or indeed write them down in your bejewelled pocket diary for future attendance. Importantly, these venues are mostly small businesses which are in acute risk without our ongoing support at some time,.
The newest kid on the Greater Kennington block gets the number 6 prize due to its menu of Japanese and Korean fare at good prices. When it opened we had a mild panic that Kuma was going to feature fusion food (imagine the horror of kimchi sushi) but were assuaged when the menu featured a clear distinction between the cuisines. They were also able to pull off the two cuisines in equal degrees, which is no mean feat.
My dining partner had the tonkotsu bento box, the main feature being breaded pork katsu. Said partner would have liked a bit more slop of the tangy sauce but it was very well proportioned and the sauce even managed to make the bean sprouts better than usual. Your reporter had prawn gyoza which were grilled well and had definitely not had part of their lives wasted by a freezer. I then had the chicken bulgogi (say it like a pro…..Boo-GOH-gee) which are very thin strips of meat grilled on a BBQ. The chicken had a very good sauce and featured spring onion. It was billed as ‘hot’ and it certainly was. And so generous that I couldn’t finish it.
Korean and Japanese restaurants are the new gospel in London and don’t seem to be going anywhere, and Greater Kennington certainly has caught the bug (oops, sorry). Kuma holds its own by giving highlights of both cuisines without being too experimental. I went downstairs to go to the toilet and ‘accidentally’ walked into the kitchen. I could not see any sign of notorious sous chef Mike(rowave) and it appeared that everything was made on site. The bill, with four beers, came to £50 which was reasonable. When the bill came we tried to pull the ‘but we’re Kennington INFLUENCERS’ trick, but they were having none of it.
Self Isolating in Greater Kennington? You’re not alone!
We’ve just been contacted by a group of volunteers around Kennington looking to help members of our community (that is, Greater Kennington) through the Covid-19 crisis. They’re goal is to make self isolation a bit easier for you. They ask nothing in return, but just want to help the more vulnerable in our ranks during this time of crisis. They can help by
- Picking up shopping and medication
- Topping up electric and gas
- Posting mail
- Urgent supplies
- A friendly phone call
- Dog walking
The volunteers are not medical professionals, and are in no place to offer medical advice. For this use the NHS 111 online service which can be found here. If you would like general, local inormation about the crisis then check out their Facebook group here. This is a mutual aid and support group but has handy links for local support. A great deal of other information can be found on the AgeUK website.
To contact the volunteers directly just ‘leave a reply’ to this post. It won’t be published on this site but we’ll connect you to the volunteers.
The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 9 – The Hercules
The number nine slot goes to new kid on the block ‘The Hercules’ located across from Lambeth North tube. The first of three gastropubs on our list, it’s made the list mostly due to it having the best selection of beers for a gastropub in Greater Kennington, with no fewer than 24 to choose from , and an impressive selection of spirits and wines. And a curious LED sign telling you about the rotating selection of beers on offer.
We thought it appropriate to go The Hercules with some tourist friends, as the crowd is a mix of thirty somethings with a melange of visitors wondering how the hell they ended up in Lambeth North when their hotel across the street is called ‘Waterloo’. We went for Sunday roast, and one of us had beef and the other two pork belly. The portions were generous and the meat well cooked. The roast potatoes were also browned and just the right side of charred. The cauliflower cheese was commendable and the Yorkshire pud was huge and crispy.
Aside from roasts, The Hercules offer other dishes that are more varied than most local gastropubs, and commendable bar snacks. On another visit we snacked on spicy squid and Vietnamese chicken wings, and had some very juicy burgers and hake with chorizo. The place also opens at 8am if you fancy a fry up or a quick Merlot on the way to work. The atmosphere is the upmarket ‘old school meets new school’ of the White Bear and is relatively good value for money.
Finally, *expects egg throwing* we are conscious that The Hercules is part of the Fuller’s pub chain, but even soulless chains can sometimes get things right. If it is just beer you fancy without the food, we recommend Mother Kelly’s under the arches in Vauxhall.
The top ten best places to eat in Greater Kennington – no. 10 – Cafe Van Gogh
Welcome to our almost annual run down of the best places to eat in Greater Kennington. Let us start with a few caveats. You might notice that we generally give good reviews to eating places here. This not due to lack of scrutiny as we eat out in Kennington all the time. Rather, we choose to promote the places we enjoy and feel passionate about, as opposed to the places which aren’t up to standard (and you know who you are..we can hear your microwave humming). Also, there are many places which we know are wonderful (such as Bonnington Cafe) but we just haven’t been able to make it there recently, so we apologise if your favourite hasn’t made the cut.
Number 10 is Cafe Van Gogh. a glorious vegan cafe on cusp of the KR catchment area in Brixton Road. Not afraid of being lauded, it was recently anointed as one one of the Guardian’s best vegan friendly restaurants in London . We visited on a weekday during half term, and the place was full of people working on laptops and folks with kiddos. We chose the vegan mac-n-cheese partially as a challenge, as it is pretty hard to pull off in a vegan joint. Our server explained that the cheese is achieved by a mixture of mustard, garlic and onion powders. We were very sceptical about this but the result was delicious. Those around us had a butternut squash pasta dish and a plant based based burger with chips. On the other table a mum told us that she just had an aubergine stuffed chapatti with dhal. It should be noted that the menu is concise and well curated.
Cafe Van Gogh is a not for profit social enterprise who work in conjunction with a range of local Kennington/Oval/Brixton charities. They provide paid employment for people who have faced challenges in life and who want to get back into the realm of employment. We are not vegan ourselves, but having lunch here was a truly delicious eye opener and even more valued with the knowledge that we’re giving something back to the more vulnerable in our shire.
Vincent himself was not present for this dining experience, but if you want to experience his work without even seeing anything he actually painted, then you might want to check out the totally bonkers Vincent Van Gogh experience just up the road at the Southbank..
Greater Kennington in 1970 – And the Upcoming top 10
We’re still in Cuba where disaster has struck..The umbrella has just fallen out of our cocktail….But in the meantime please titillate yourselves with this British Pathe video from 1970. The clip starts at minute 11, on top of a bus going down Baylis Road towards Lambeth North and the spire of Surrey Chapel (now Oasis Hub), then various other clips past St. George’s Circus (?) toward the Elephant. The estates created in the 50’s ands 60’s still look new, and still in evidence are signs of bomb damage…The video then moves on to less interesting places like Westminster.
In a few days we will awe you (or depress you) with number 10 in our annual roundup of ‘top ten places to eat in Kennington’. Unlike in years previous, this list will cover both dinner and lunch venues and could even include the odd pub or two. The reason for this is because our predecessors ate out a lot more than we do we appreciate that people work at different times of the day or their free times vary.
Marks to Prove it
The secretive mandarins at Kennington Runoff finally signed our leave card so we are currently in Cuba. Of course we would never leave our readers without top flight infotainment, however, so if you’re lonely please watch ‘Marks to Prove It’ by the Maccabees from a few years ago. The fascinating video was shot almost entirely in Elephant and Castle. If you don’t fancy the sound of young white guys screaming, you can mute it and catch Elephant Park being built, our our soon to be dematerialised Elephant Shopping centre. If you’ll look closely you’ll also see Waterloo, and perhaps where you live!
Now where’s my mojito?
Collective in Kennington Park
The café in Kennington Park has experienced a number of permutations over the years, almost to the point of us assigning the designation of it being a ‘jinxed property’. It was resurrected in July of last year as a lunchtime pizza place called ‘Collective’. We went for the pizza, but as they open at 10am they also have croissants, coffees, muffins and teas. If the mood takes you, you can even have, umm, a morning ice cream.
Pizza seems to be the current vogue in Greater Kennington (with barbershops a close second), supplanting estate agents, which is a good thing. We’ve been meaning to visit Collective since last summer but gave it a miss as it interferes with Loose Women our healthy daytime regime. It bats above it’s weight from the outset by having a large, wood fired pizza oven.
A good pizza is all about the base, and we had a basic marinara to maximize the experience. The dough is definitely sourdough, and thin almost to the point of being transparent. True to Neopolitain pizzas, it is blistered and slightly charred, but not to the finger blackening gorgeousness of Theo’s in Elephant. The marinara was good but we encourage you to branch out to the ‘spicy boy’ or the several veggie options. Vegan cheese is also available.
The place is especially good for kids as it is spacious and the kiddos can even run outside without the fear of the number 3 bus mowing them down. If you’ve been in a coma for the past 5 months and you’re presently reading this in July, the outside space is great and even BYOB. In our estimation the only downside is that many people do not want to devour an entire pizza in the middle of the day so it might be bountiful to invite your colleagues or take some home, which is an option. They are also open at weekends. Very good, but will it be in our top 10?*
*The final plug, honestly.
