Head to https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KOVNPLAN to give your thoughts on how at least £15 million of developer money should be spent in Kennington.
If you’re looking for some extra proposals, we have some for your consideration:
Cable Bakery & Roastery is a very exciting new arrival from the couple behind the Cable Bar & Cafe and Waterloo’s Scootercaffe. It’s situated at 82 Bolton Crescent, a street that runs along the side of Kennington Park and was previously most notable for an adventure playground and a bondage shop (Fetish Freak – “your fetish is our business”, but not if, like us, your fetish is for four coloured pens, although to be fair, we haven’t enquired so we can’t be sure).
The decor is every bit as stylish as their other two establishments, with vintage coffee machines scattered around the place.
As well as these stools, there are a couple of small tables. The establishment is already proving popular so you may not get a seat at busy times, but you can always head around the corner to Cable Bar instead.
They bake sourdough bread and roast coffee on site, all organic:
As well as the expected hot drinks, they serve smoothies, sandwiches, chicken and beef broth and other lunch options with plans to add more. They also have a good selection of cakes – we had an excellent slice of apple pie.
They’re open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 7pm and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm, although hours may increase in the future. Let’s hope so – this place is great.
Address: 82 Bolton Crescent, SE5 0SE.
We can highly recommend the latest exhibition at Newport Street Gallery, Who What When Where How & Why by Gavin Turk. Gavin is the Beautiful South of the (no longer) Young British Artists – not as well known as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, but when you go this exhibition you’ll realise how many of his hits you know.
Here are some snapshots. First up, classic Newport Street Gallery stuff:
We had a genuine “is it art?” moment when we saw one of these bronze rubbish bags outside the lift on the second floor. As in “is it part of the exhibition or has someone just left out a rubbish bag?”.
Identity Crisis:
This is genuinely arresting, precisely because it wouldn’t be as arresting as it should be if you saw it on the street:
Finally, Newport Street Gallery’s largest space is an amusing setting for Gavin’s greatest hit, his blue plaque titled Cave:
It’s free entry as always as Newport Street, and it’s open until March 19th (closed Mondays).
This is a big loss to Kennington and to London. We’ve never had lobster so good, and we’ve never been to a restaurant quite like it. Back in 2014 we named it the best restaurant in Kennington. Read all our past coverage here.
Their farewell email says:
“The time has come to an end… It is with great regret that our Sister Restaurant, The Lobster Pot will be closing its doors for the final time on Saturday 19th November 2016.
It has been a pleasure to serve our loyal customers for the past 25 years! If you want to enjoy it one last time, reserve a table by calling (020) 7582 5556, spaces will be limited on a first come, first serve basis.
The Toulouse Lautrec will continue for many years to come… and can cater for those exceptional “Lobster Pot Experiences” in our Private Dining Room on prior arrangement only.
Please email events@btlrestaurant.com for more information.
Hervé Régent
Chef / Proprietor
The Lobster Pot”
Maybe we’ll see you there on or before November 19th (and remember they’re closed on Sundays and Mondays).
So long Hervé, and thanks for all the fish.
Exciting new opening on Black Prince Road in the former premises of Kleen Dry Cleaners – Millars General Store is a gourmet grocery store that’s so new they didn’t have a sign yet when we were there (they may have by now).
It’s run by Kennington residents Andrew and Nina. They source a lot of their products locally, including bread from the Kennington Baker, cheese from Neal’s Yard, and these delicious Single Variety Co chili sauces (they are the first shop to stock them). They will offer you most fresh foods to taste if you ask.
They have an exotic range of fruit and veg from Spa Terminus in Bermondsey and Chegworth Valley:
They also have a steadily growing range of food in packets and tins, often organic, gluten free and unavailable in Tesco:
There were no other customers when we entered but by the time we left it was positively crowded. Please continue to support this excellent shop!
Address: 53 Black Prince Rd, London SE11 6AB
Like the Elephant & Castle, the White Bear is a Kennington pub with a very long history, which has recently relaunched in impressive style.
Thomas Ellis owned the Horns Tavern pub on Kennington Common, where Guy Fawkes stored his gunpowder in the cellar. Mary Cleaver leased White Bear Field to Ellis in 1780, and he laid out Cleaver Square, the earliest London square south of the Thames, and built the White Bear (read more Kennington history on their blackboard).
We first knew The White Bear as a rather edgy, although rarely busy, Irish sports pub, with the White Bear Theatre feeling very incongruous in the back. It was bought by Young’s around 2012, after which there was a short-lived relaunch (bye Irish sports fans, hello not many other people), then it closed for a long time for a much more thorough overhaul.
Now it’s huge – Kennington’s biggest pub – with two dining areas where the theatre used to be, plus a garden stretching the width of two properties.
The theatre (which we’ve not visited since the relaunch) has relocated to the first floor – the bear will show you the way.
The new White Bear has the feel of a country pub, and we can’t think of another like it in central London. Perfect for Kennington Village!
They serve food which is good if pricey. Mains at launch ranged from toad in the hole for £11 to black Angus sirloin, mushrooms and tomatoes, chips, Bearnaise sauce for £21. Being mostly vegetarian we haven’t tried either of their specialities yet, which are beef Wellington, black cabbage and chestnuts (£21) and steak and kidney suet pudding, calcannon (£20). But we have tried rainbow chard, pine nut and blue cheese quiche (£13):
And the roasted pumpkin cobbler, purple sprouting broccoli, not entirely successful but relatively cheap at £12:
The Queenie and monkfish scampi, chips, peas cost £16.50:
And the ale battered cod, chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce are £13, which is £2 more expensive and not quite as good as the Duchy Arms’ equivalent:
Nonetheless, we keep going back there to eat and find the service exceptionally friendly and helpful. They have a good selection of ales on tap, and it’s always busy in the bar area – great to see after years of emptiness. Well done The White Bear and Young’s brewery.
Address: 138 Kennington Park Rd, London SE11 4DJ.
There are so many interesting, little known establishments in Kennington and we’re still discovering new ones. Did you know the rather unpromising looking Tiffany Bar on the West end of Kennington Lane is a karaoke bar and rather good Korean restaurant? Or at least it was when we scheduled this post, but now it’s under new ownership, with a new name, Jihwaja, although still doing Korean food and karaoke, and it’s opening tomorrow.
Anyway, in case you want to read about what Tiffany was like…
The very friendly owner is a big fan of the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast At Tiffany’s, hence the name, and an interior decoration theme that is almost as incongruous as Pop Art Sushi’s.
If you ask nicely and they’re not too busy they will seat you in a private karaoke room for dinner, even if you’re not planning to sing.
Naturally we ordered a Korean pale lager called Hite, and a sweet drink (if only we could remember what that was).
The vegetable kimchi was really good and spicy.
The seafood noodle soup was so rich we struggled to finish it.
We mentioned Pop Art Sushi above and there are some similarities with Tiffany Bar – both are in West Kennington, undiscovered, rather odd as concepts, but with really superior food. Give them a try. (It’s too late to try Tiffany Bar – it has closed)
Address: 353 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5QY
The Elephant & Castle pub in North Kennington has been on quite a journey these last 250 years but we’re confident its present incarnation is the best it has been.
Back in 2015 it had its license revoked after a series of alarming incidents. Then it was occupied by squatters and mooted to become a branch of Foxtons, which would have been the ultimate unwelcome symbol of the scorched earth gentrification of the area. Then it was declared an asset of community value and taken over by Antic Pubs who also run The Old Red Lion, and they’ve done a mighty fine job on it. It’s certainly a symbol of gentrification but a tasteful one that reflects the character of the building and the area. I mean, it has an actual sewage waste pipe exposed beneath the ceiling – how North Kennington is that?
A lot of love and care has gone into the seventies-inspired interior:
They have some good real ales on tap.
The kitchen is now open and the food is a different level to any other pub in the area, somewhat filling the gap left by The Duchy Arms whose menu seems to have gone more lamestream recently.
We had a starter of potato, leek and cheddar frittata:
The Sunday menu has all the expected roasts but also plenty of veggie options including this mushroom, cheddar and parsley stuffed aubergine with trimmings including an excellent Yorkshire pudding:
And these English vegetables with goats cheese, almonds and rapeseed oil:
The Wolseley would been proud of this breaded chicken schnitzel with fries and lemon & sage butter:
The beer garden certainly has atmosphere, although it could be London’s least green and most polluted.
See here for more on the history of the pub and the area:
And if you’re wondering where this pub is, it’s on what was the North Roundabout, now The Bend. Look out for their rather amusing A-boards:
Address: 119 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN.
Telephone 02074038124
Move over Giorgio Locatelli – we went to Mercarto Metropolitano in the former Paperworks and Hotel Elephant sites on Newington Causeway and had the best pasta we’ve had outside Italy- this tortelloni stuffed with pumpkin in butter and sage sauce (not sure why we needed a ciabatta with it but still):
Mercarto Metropolitano is huge, 45,000 square feet, with two halls full of food stalls, mostly variants on pizza, pasta and sweet stuff, but recently completed stalls include French and British food. The gelato stall is also excellent, with an array of sophisticated flavours, including a black sesame of which we have heard tell from our North Kennington stringer but which always seems to be in production whenever we visit.
Move over Borough Market – there’s also an Italian food market featuring rows and rows of produce that would not otherwise be available in London.
Many of the prices in the market are as eyewatering as the products are mouthwatering. £5 for a 330ml bottle of Italian craft beer for example, or these organic pastas:
There are also bars and street food in the outdoor gravelly area where Paperworks used to be:
There’s a coffee van and juice bar in front of the market (finally somewhere to get a proper vegetable juice). Above the market there is, apparently, a barbershop, boxing gym and shared working space. There’s also an “urban garden” (i.e. flowers planted in crates):
Mercarto Metropolitano originated in Turin. The Evening Standard report that the owner Andrea Rasca has invested £1.2 million in this London venture which is believable based on its scale, but the initial lease is only for a year so get down there and support – we want this to stay!
They’re open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 11pm.
Mercato Metropolitano, 42 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6DR.
We’ve been blogging less recently but we will be back, and meanwhile we remain active on Twitter and Instagram.
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Also check this out for some great photos of Kennington in bygone eras. This is 317 Kennington Road (where Barnard Marcus is now, and not 317 Kennington Lane as the archive says) in 1966. What was Barron & Shepherd? A Google search suggests it might have been a timber yard.
