Well isn’t this as lovely thing? Our friends over at Kennington Park are running a competition throughout April to ascertain what we Greater Kenningtonians have loved the most about Kennington Park (a lot) during lockdown. Details can be found here.
A word to the wise, folks. We are not exactly the ‘target audience’ for this competition. It is very important to keep your entries clean, so no videos of you tripping over a pram after downing 7 canned Mojitos or a poem about the time you got lucky behind the cafe.
By the second half of the 19th century the rural idyll that was Vauxhall was well and truly over and replaced largely by desperate folks looking for work, and they brought their kids. Ragged schools were charitable organisations that popped up to educate destitute (hence the name ragged) children who were not allowed in traditional schools. A very significant one existed in what is now Newport St.
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Local gin/vinegar (that must have been some pretty foul gin) magnate Henry Hanbury Beaufoy funded and founded the school, opening it in 1851 and dedicating it to his wife. Like other Ragged Schools, our Vauxhall branch taught reading writing, bible studies and even ways to emigrate. On the pastoral side, the children were fed and children without parents lived there. A visitor at the time noted –
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“The attendance in the winter averages about 400 boys and girls every Sunday evening. The gentlemen who manage the Ragged School do everything they can to instruct and encourage the children in well-doing; they make them presents of Testaments and Bibles and give them occasional tea parties. In fact, everything is done to improve them in the school. The patience of the teachers is surprising. The girls are better behaved than the boys; they are the children of very poor people in the neighbourhood, such as the daughters of people selling fruit in the street, and such like, and found several children of street-beggars there”.
As the Ragged School was built to address the migration of people, the beautiful edifice above also met its fate due to people moving. It was unfortunately flattened just a few decades after its creation as it fell victim of a Vaxuall/Waterloo rail line extension. Curiously, a bit of the building was left standing and is now home to the great but almost never open Beaconsfield Gallery, and its Ragged Café. The school was restablished by Henry’s nephew Mark Beaufoy (the Liberal MP for Kennington at the time) and rechristened as the Beaufoy Institute in Black Prince Road. This building has had many incarnations but it survives.
You might find it intriguing that the handsome Doulton adorned Beaufoy Institute building below wasn’t just turned into luxury flats when a school there closed a number of years ago. This is again the legacy of the Beaufoys. Lambeth respected the Beaufoy wish that at least half of the land be sold to a non profit organisation. So the old car park in the back was sold to Bellway homes, and the institute is now inhabited by the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre.
In late 2018 a restaurant existed in central Kennington called ‘Rare Burger Co’. You’re certainly forgiven if you didn’t notice it as it was only open briefly. We attributed its demise to being off the main road, in addition to being situated next to Papa John’s Pizza, which would put anybody off their food. It was a great concept as they served things like cocktails, prawn burgers and great chips. But unfortunately their great chips tasted a bit like prawn burgers, which might have contributed to their downfall.
Like a phoenix from the ashes, or something else that rises, Rare Burger has been resurrected. A few weeks ago, in the guise of ‘general members of the public’, we got to chatting with the manager when we were passing. We bypassed the awkward ‘your chips taste like prawns’ convo and he explained that the new venue will be much like the past, but they will rely more on takeaways. There will also be an alfresco element and the front area will be refashioned into a beer garden (whoop!) selling Peroni (whoop again) and a weekend BBQ (whoop 3). Their optimism has been peaked by the reopening of Kennington Green, expected in May.
It was opening day and your noble scribe once again ventured into the realm of the prawn burger. The prawns were presented in a heafty grilled patty, and was served with dill, cabbage, carrot and onion. Delightful all around if you are a prawn fan. For a side your scribe had coleslaw which my dining partner, a self styled coleslaw snob, described as ‘outstanding in it’s creaminess’ and a hit. Both burgers were served on brioche buns.
My dining partner had the ‘Django’, which was a new take on the burger. It’s hard to be original in burger world without being ridiculous, but in addition to a standard beef patty it contained chorizo slices and blue cheese, which worked a treat. It was proper meaty chorizo and proper blue cheese, which helped. The beef patty was served a bit pink, as requested. This came as a relief as last time Rare Burger informed us, rather ironically, ‘we don’t do rare burgers’.
Rare Burger is going to slightly emphasise the takeaway market but they haven’t got their takeaway and website up and running yet. Meanwhile, you can order by pitching up of calling them on 020 7091 4360
If you’re interested in the Northern Line Extension or the upcoming Kennington Green, more information can be found here.
In these unprecedented times comfort food is so necessary that it’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t consume an entire McVities Jamaica Ginger cake daily at 3:30pm. What we really need is quality baking, so we recently tapped into Instagram our vast network of contacts to find a local person who is baking exceptionally well and is able to deliver to your door. Her name is Frances Aizlewood and we’ve had a virtual chin wag with her after sampling her bakes…..
So Frances, where do you live in Greater Kennington? – I’m just by the Duchy Arms, off Newburn St
Is that where you do your baking? –Yep! Everything is prepped and baked in my domestic kitchen!
How long has your business been running and what makes your bakes stand out? – I put up a notice in my building at the beginning of the first lockdown, and have been baking for a few neighbours ever since. I’m really focussed on maximum flavour, and on getting really professional results from my tiny kitchen!
Do you have a day job or do we have a full time Nadiya Hussain in our very midst? – Yes and No. I spent nearly a decade working in publishing, before I left to retrain in 2018. I was working freelance for bakeries, cookery schools and caterers until lockdown hit, when all my work evaporated. I answered an ad and was lucky enough to end up working for John at the Kennington bakery from the beginning of lockdown until he closed at the end of August 2020. Since then I’ve expanded from baking for my neighbours, to their friends, and friends of friends… So long story short – baking, and building up a business locally is my dream.
What is your bestseller? – My bestsellers have been sourdough loaves and croissants. My pastries are actually made with sourdough rather than commercial yeast, which I think makes them extra delicious (and means they last longer!).
Tell us about some of your other products, and do you take special orders? – I try to change my menu monthly – and I only add things I’ve tested, and that I actually enjoy baking. Aside from the classics, at the moment I’m loving my chocolate hazelnut buns, and the apple friands. My brioche milk buns are also the perfect vehicle for bacon. I do take special orders and today I made a giant cinnamon bun birthday cake – so very happy to work with any requests.
PURELY asking for a friend here, but how do you avoid throwing your dough on the wall, falling on the floor crying, and saying ‘screw this, I’m going to Paul’? – Croissants, Pain au chocolats – anything using croissant dough is tough. I use a sourdough base, so for orders delivered on a Friday, I start the process on a Tuesday night. Though there is nothing more satisfying than seeing that final rise, and the perfect layers on the final baked product. And for every bake, there are always offcuts and bakers perks… little extras that make the 4am wake up worth it!
Before the world was turned upside down due to Covid, what did you do for fun in the area? -What are you most looking forward to getting back to? – The pub! The pubs here in Kennington are brilliant and I can’t wait to get back to them all. The Duchy arms, the Black Prince, The Ship, and the Albert Arms are a few of my favourites.
Most of our readers live in Kennington, Vauxhall, Oval, Elephant and Walworth. Can you deliver to all of these areas? –Yes! For free! I have a bike and will travel! Any readers outside of this area – I will travel for a small delivery fee!
Frances can be contacted at faizlewood@gmail.com. Instagram @faizlefood. Her most recent offerings are below and will be on sale until Easter.
Since the current lockdown began there is barely a facet of our lives that hasn’t been impacted. These include the small things (not being able to go to the pub) and the huge things (not being able to go to the pub). But one thing it hasn’t impacted is our ability to cook. I know you’re thinking ‘but those Runoff people are always getting takeaways’ and, well, you might have a point there. But we also enjoy cooking, and by a mile our favourite food shop is the fascinating and slightly surreal Longdan Supermarket in Walworth Road.
Longdan is a pan Asian Market specialising in mainstream and, well, less conventional items from Thailand to Korea. They stock everything you need in terms of Asian fare such as sushi making kits, a wide variety of rices, sauces, every Asian noodle imaginable, tinned fruits, beers, sake, dumplings, buns and obscure and mainstream fresh herbs/salads. They also stock a huge volume of frozen fish. One thing they do exceptionally well is condiments, and you can bag a range of soy and chili sauces, bean curd, stir fry mixes, and good old fashioned Siriracha. Having said that, our favourite bit is at the back, where they sell a variety of Asian kitchen products which are largely impractical for western chefs but a great way to make you feel like a cooking pro and impress your friends – ‘hey Sally, you mean you DON’T have a glutinous rice strainer? Hmmmm’.
The wonderfully surreal element of Longdan is that they stock some items so specialised that it makes you feel as if you’re in a supermarket in China. These include chicken feet, snouts, nerves, testicles and, on one visit, brains*. Ever have a craving for mud fish or pangasius? Well they can sort you out. More mainstream watery things can be found in the guise of clams, anchovies and prawns. And if you ever feel that what is really missing in your life is a mini Buddhist Chinese shrine, then they’ve got you covered. The Vietnamese street food restaurant that used to be attached to Longdan is sadly now gone, but the silver lining is that you can now make this at home.
*Vegans might want to give this place a wide berth. Or just order online.
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’.
Twelve months ago the most optimistic of you lot said ‘great, I’m going to use this lockdown period to get really fit/do an online course /Run 15 times around Kennington Park’. But even in this era where time seems to be a meaningless concept, you haven’t actually done any of those things. Well here’s your chance to finally tick something off your list……getting into classical music.
‘Classical Vauxhall’ returns on 18 – 21 March and can be streamed for free on these dates. It will of course be virtual this year, and we have trusted colleagues who went to the live events in 2020 and said it was amazing. Festival Director and the brains behind it Fiachra Garvey is joined by artists Jess Gilliam (saxophone), Zeynep Özsuca (piano), Elena Urioste (violin) & Tom Poster (piano), Hanna Hipp (mezzo-soprano) and Emma Abbate (piano). We’ve never actually heard of any of these people -BUT – we have seen some of their work on YouTube and it’s remarkable. Jess and her Sax is here
The press release for this event intriguingly states that the performances will be set in closed venues ‘live in Vauxhall’. That got our grey matter working…where? Perhaps Gentlemen’s Sauna ‘Chariots’ (doubtful as all the water would wreak havoc with the instruments)? Notorious nightclub ‘Fire’ (the acoustics under a railway arch must be awful)? With a bit of research we discovered they will be held in the most more rarefied environments of St. Marks Church and Brunswick house, so easy on the eyes as well.
The streams are free and will also give you a change to learn more about music in Vauxhall and the history of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Book here: http://bit.ly/CVaux-2021
In the approximately 15,000 years that have elapsed in the past 12 months we’ve learned a few things, so let’s have a rundown. We now know what to do in those awkward seconds after you say goodbye on Zoom and actually log off. We’ve learned just how much work you can complete while wearing just a onsie and no bra. And third, that ‘meal boxes’ are really just posh takeaways. We recently decided to explore the third when we revisited Kennington Cross fixture ‘Amici’.
Back in the days when it was purely Italian we became somewhat disillusioned with the quality of the food at Amici. Shortly before the world imploded they had a menu overhaul (and presumably a chef overhaul) and now serve Meditteranean and Persian fare – the Persian coming from their much missed restaurant ‘Doost’. Your scribe started with beef carpaccio. It was a large and very finely sliced piece which came with a slightly sweet blueberry vinigrette, dabs of asparagus and thinly sliced cashews. For the mains I had calamari. It came with pureed and whole peas and had a whole sweet/briney thing going on, with a hit of black olives. The calamari was stuffed with herb encrusted Panko breadcrumbs. Both dishes were mighty fine.
And with recyclable boxes, to boot
My associate opted for the Persian fare, and for the starter s/he had the smoky, roasted aubergine mixed with tomato. It came with a haltingly generous serving of proper Persian bread. For the mains, said associate had a generous and well cooked duck breast smothered by a silky pomegrante and walnut sauce. It was as rich as it sounds and a taste sensation as the slight bitterness of the walnut contrasted nicely with the sweet pomegranate. It was served with saffron rice, and Amici/Doost have pretty much always known how to nail a rice.
The total came to £46, which ain’t cheap for a takeaway but hey, what else are you spending your dosh on at the minute?
What really put Amici firmly back in our field of vision is their new pop up shop, which covers the whole restaurant. On sale is fresh pasta, cakes, wines, herbs, beers, curry paste (?) and Italian beans, amongst others.
The jury is still out as to whether the mind boggling juggernaut that is Elephant Park is actually in the Runoff catchment area (if you live there don’t get your hopes up). However, for the purpose of this review it is, as one of the few good things to emerge from it is a social enterprise coffee and cocktail shop called ‘Change Please’, which opened in December.
Change Please is a London based social enterprise venture started five years ago by Cemal Ezel. Disillusioned with his work in the City, Ezel set up Change Please in order to help homeless people become expert Baristas by a offering them training and a London wage job. They also assist people with housing, getting a bank account and therapeutic support if needed. All profits from the company go to reduce homelessness more generally in the UK. How is this possible, you might ask? According to Ezel, ‘The margins in coffee are very wide indeed, but usually not used in the right places’. And that even goes for you, Starbucks.
There are several branches of ‘Change Please’ and our little outpost enticingly advertises cocktails as well. When we enquired about this the Barista explained that cocktails aren’t on the menu at the moment as lockdown takeaway alcohol just ain’t happenin’, but will be back. This was probably all for the best as it was 10am. For coffee, they have your standard bearer espresso, macchiato, Americana, latte, flat white, cappuccino, teas and baked goods. All of their cups are 100% recyclable. They also stock an impressive range of non coffee items such as soaps, chocolates, peanut butter, teacups and little gift hampers.
We would love to tell you that we discovered Change Please as a result of our deep and abiding contacts within the social enterprise community. We actually saw it profiled on ‘Jamie and Jimmie’s Friday Night Feast’ on Channel 4. Scroll down on the Change Please website to see what they found.
Change Please is at 131 Walworth Road and well worth a lunchtime/weekend wander.
It’s up to the oldest part of Greater Kennington once again. For some time we’ve noticed a very peculiar street name in Lambeth North parts so we’ve done some digging and this is what we’ve come up with.
Old Paradise Street runs east of Lambeth High Street and is a very rare example of ‘paradise’ being used in a London street. The name conjures up visions of things that now seem exotic and far away, like a palm strewn beach, ordering food in a restaurant, or standing at a bar. In earlier times the word ‘paradise’ was often applied to a great walled garden and was sometimes an indirect reference to a royal property.
Now that you possess that little nugget of wisdom you might ask, what’s so royal about Lambeth North? Well, long before the Archbishop got his hands on it (we’re talking about 800 years ago), the land around was the location of Lambeth Manor House. In comparison to the farmland and folks around it, the house and gardens were grand indeed and extended far beyond the confines of the current palace. Old Paradise Street therefore was the name given to the thoroughfare that led the approach to the gardens.
And while we are in that neck of the woods, when the world pivots back into a sphere of semi normality Greater Kennington will have a new, enormous library at it’s disposal! Work has just finished on (who knew) Lambeth Palace Library, just outside the Palace walls. It’s actually more of an archive and museum of treasures from the Palace, and will be a resource for academics and the merely curious. This article from The Guardian does it justice very well. When the gala opening is announced in order to bag an invite we’ll pull the ‘don’t you know we’re Kennington influencers’ card*. Afterwards we’ll give you a full review.
