We’d always assumed this place, in between houses on Kennington Road, was derelict. Then a BT Sport banner appeared outside:
Soon followed by an advert for an event:
Now we have so many questions.
What’s it like inside?
When does it open? It never looks open.
Can anyone go, or do you have to be a member?
What does L&R stand for?
Is it on brand for Kennington Runoff? (Do they serve Kernel beer?) We fear not, but as you may have guessed, we’re running out of places to write about that are.
Join Kennington cycle warrior Charlie Holland (the force behind the Kennington People on Bikes blog) on an Alphabetical Adventure in the Greater Kennington area this Sunday 27 April. Taking in the districts formally known as Vauxhall and Waterloo, Charlie has planned a route with 26 stops of historical, cultural, scientific, or other significance across his patch, all traversed in alphabetical order. These look set to include the grand entrance to Necropolis, and the well-hidden North-West Kennington William Blake mosaics.
We note that the letter X has been left with apologies, presumably for lack of inspiration. In light of this, Kennington Runoff would like to suggest a couple of possibilities in X for Xanax at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and X for Edward Cross, the man who brought giraffes and tigers to Kennington Park Road.
Book a free place on the ride at Cycle Confident and then meet at 10am on Sunday for a quick bike check before departing by 10.15am, to finish by 1.30pm. The ride starts on the segregated cycle track by Lassco, 30 Wandsworth Rd, SW8 2LG. Would recommend eating breakfast first before embarking on the ‘dozen or so’ miles, but not at Brunswick House or you’ll miss the ride.
We predicted that Sally White would provide mindfulness training for all staff – we are very touched to see they now have a book on their counter about mindfulness, although we have noticed occasional lapses in mindfulness towards closing time.
We predicted that Kernel Brewery would open their first pub in the site next to the Old Red Lion – watch this space for something even better for Kennington-based Kernel fans.
We predicted that Waitrose would expand in Kennington; they had their eyes on the site of the Kennington Post Office until that was saved from closure.
We predicted that The Imperial War Museum would reopen with catering from Ottolenghi. We should have said ‘The Imperial War Museum will briefly reopen then close again shortly afterwards for no apparent reason’. Fingers crossed they are just concluding negotiations with our man Yotam for their July relaunch.
We predicted that Russell Brand would perform at Always Be Comedy; it can only be a matter of time.
We predicted that Damien Hirst’s gallery would open in West Kennington – chop chop Damien.
We predicted that Dirty Burger would introduce a veggie burger. This happened! So for our next trick, we predict that Dirty Burger will introduce a veggie burger without mushrooms in BECAUSE MUSHROOMS ARE DISGUSTING, OK.
We predicted that Kevin Spacey would return to the Old Vic – and he will.
We predicted that Florence Welch would launch her guest column for Kennington Runoff by performing Addicted To Love at the Kennington Runoff pop up shop. That was a hint Flo. 300 words please on why you love Kennington to kenningtonrunoff@gmail.com. Deadline December 31st, else we’re giving your slot to Dot Allison.
Florence Welch with Sourberry at South London Pacific, warming up for her Kennington Runoff party performance
http://kenningtonrunoff.com/kennington-predictions-for-2014/
If, as evening draws in on Easter Sunday, you’ve dropped a couple too many of Sally White’s Speckled Praline Quail Eggs and you’re looking for some vigorous physical exercise within staggering distance, let Hula Boogie come to your rescue. The award-winning 1950s-obsessed night will be celebrating Easter at the South London Pacific Tiki Bar with a Bunnyhoppin’ vintage dance on Sunday 20th April, where they hope to form the longest bunny hop line ever. Oh, and there’s also an Easter egg hunt in case you haven’t yet over-indulged.
Club founder Miss Aloha will be on hand at 7.30pm to lead a 1950s jive/rock ‘n’ roll taster class, followed by a class in the exotic Hawaiian hula dance, the Hukilau, at 8pm.
Free Easter eggs and £1 off the entrance fee for those who attend wearing bunny ears (entry without bunny ears is £7). Or FREE ENTRY for one lucky Kennington Runoff reader and their friend with our exciting competition. To win two guestlist places just tell us which Kennington musical celebrity performed onstage last year at the South London Pacific:
a) Morrissey
b) Florence Welch
c) Chilli from Palma Violets.
Send the correct answer via email to kenningtonrunoff@gmail.com by midday on Good Friday, please.
Hula Boogie is held at South London Pacific Tiki Bar, 340 Kennington Road, London SE11 4LD. 7pm to midnight.
No, us neither, but it’s worth going to visit the Garden Museum while the Fashion & Gardens exhibition is on (until April 27th) to see floral artist Rebecca Louise Law’s installation called ‘The Flower Garden Display’d’. She has hung over 4,600 flowers from the roof of the museum (a former church), and it’s quite something.
Join Rebecca Louise Law under ‘The Flower Garden Display’d’ for a discussion with photographer Rachel Warne about The Beauty of Decay, dying flowers and the afterlife of gardens, on Tuesday at 6.30pm (tickets £10).
The museum is open every day and admission costs £7.50 for adults, but it’s free if you just want to go to the cafe, which is good and vegetarian, and you’ll walk under ‘The Flower Garden Display’d’ on your way through.
On your way out, you can check out The Garden Museum’s expansion plans, which involve re-creating part of Tradescant’s Ark. Tradescant’s Ark was Britain’s first museum open to the public, started by John Tradescant and his son John Junior, who are buried in what is now the garden of the Garden Museum. The original Tradescant’s Ark was in North West Kennington and featured a stuffed dodo, drums from Africa, weapons from Java, and a series of complaints from Walworth.
Back to London’s Latin American Quarter to visit La Chatica, a Colombian cafe, deli, bakery, and bar on Elephant Road in North Kennington.
La Chatica seems to have started as a business importing Latin American food before opening this cafe. They “use the finest South American ingredients” to make their version of the “much-loved” Pan de Bono (cheese bread), Pan de Yuca (another type of cheese bread) and Empanadas (the Latin American equivalent of a pasty).
So how does Latin American food shape up? Mexico and Argentina are justly famously for their cuisines. Brazil has some great restaurants. But elsewhere in the continent, it can be hard to find great food besides meat, fish, rice and salad. So La Chatica definitely feels authentic, with its baked goods wrapped in cellophane, rich in sugar and caramel. But if you don’t fancy those, you can just window shop the product displays. You’ll soon forget you’re under a railway arch in London:
La Chatica is open seven days a week, and they serve 100% Colombian coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice, freshly made baked goods every day, and they have free wifi.
If you get beyond the intimidating entrance of Greengrassi/Corvi-Mora gallery, you’ll see this rather splendid illustration of London, Westminster and Southwark on their wall. Unfortunately we can’t read the date but we’re guessing 1854?
This time they are all safe for work.
An illicit cookbook (mushrooms are banned in Kennington remember):
An Atlas of the New Testament:
FT III:
Road and Rail Links Between Manchester and Sheffield:
Preston Bus Station:
Selwyn’s Law of Employment (but is it art?)
Ex-library book and 1 Day Diary:
Everything is about to happen is “an ongoing archive of artists’ books selected by Gregorio Magnani” showing at the Greengrassi/Corvi-Mora gallery until April 26th.
You could live in Kennington for decades and never happen across Kempsford Road. You could live on Kempsford Road and have no idea there’s an art gallery there. But there is – Greengrassi, AKA Corvi-Mora. Even the doorbell is hard to reach – presumably short people aren’t big art buyers.
If you can find the gallery, we recommend visiting between now and April 26th as the main room downstairs is showing Everything is about to happen, “an ongoing archive of artists’ books selected by Gregorio Magnani”.
All the books and pamphlets are either self-published or from small publishers. So yes, what we’re talking about here is a load of art books by people you’ve never heard of, laid out on a huge wooden table. It’s much better than it sounds because so many of the books are intriguing and/or beautiful, like the room in which they’re displayed.
These books celebrate the mundane, cheap jokes, puns, sloganeering, and porn… all the classic themes of modern art are here. If you want to read them in depth you are supposed to take them into the reading station and don white gloves.
Or rubber gloves if you want to look at the top ones below (n.b. this next image is NSFW, unless you work in a modern art gallery or The Locker Room):
Opening hours: 11am to 6pm Tuesday to Saturday
Address: 1A Kempsford Road (off Wincott Street), London SE11 4NU
There are plans afoot to fill in the subways at the north roundabout in North Kennington. With our focus on the finer things in Kennington life, you might think we’d say good riddance to subways. You’d be wrong. Subways provide extra space for pedestrians. Without them, locals will face long waits at pedestrian crossings or, more likely in our case, dangerous dashes across up to six lanes of traffic. Where they’re confusing or aesthetically challenged, let’s have more signs, more lighting, and a fresh lick of paint rather than filling them with tonnes of concrete.
So we’re backing the Save Our Subways campaign.
This is our biggest foray yet into campaigning, but we’re brimming with confidence following the success of our campaigns to bring veggie burgers to Honest Burger, Waitrose to Kennington, and mindfulness to Sally White staff. Only this time we need your help.
Have a look at the “Boris Bodge” proposals here and register your opinions here, paying particular attention to question 4.
Photo courtesy of saveoursubways.org
