what part of Kennington should you live in?

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Kennington Runoff

What could you eat forever?

A) coconut and tamarind fish curry
B) double Ginger Pig-bred cheeseburger in a brioche bun
C) ceviche
D) lemongrass sesame pork rice vermicelli
E) quinoa and camargue red rice salad
F) spicy hot beef and okra stew on injera
G) McDonald’s happy meal

What is your jam?

A) Heaven Is A Place On Earth by Belinda Carlisle
B) Slave To The Rhythm by Grace Jones
C) Windowlicker by Aphex Twin
D) Pass Out by Tinie Tempah
E) Vindaloo by Fat Les
F) You Got The Love by Florence & The Machine
G) Timber by Pitbull feat. Ke$ha

Which is your favourite Kevin Spacey?

A) House of Cards Kevin Spacey
B) LA Confidential Kevin Spacey
C) The Usual Suspects Kevin Spacey
D) Seven Kevin Spacey
E) Late night dog walking Kevin Spacey
F) American Beauty Kevin Spacey
G) K-PAX Kevin Spacey

What’s on the top of your Kennington bucket list?

A) watching Florence from Florence & The Machine do an impromptu drunken covers set at a tiki bar
B) dancing till the sun comes up then comes down again
C) going to Radiohead’s Boiler Room takeover at Corsica Studios
D) exploring urban forests and soaking up ruin porn before it’s too late
E) attending a private view at Damien Hirst’s new gallery
F) going to a test match
G) watching Millwall play at home

How did you score?

Mostly A’s – you should live in Central Kennington
Mostly B’s – you should live in West Kennington (formerly known as Vauxhall)
Mostly C’s – you should live in North Kennington (formerly known as Elephant & Castle)
Mostly D’s – you should live in East Kennington (formerly known as Walworth)
Mostly E’s – you should live in North West Kennington (formerly known as Lambeth)
Mostly F’s – you should live in South Kennington (formerly known as Oval)
Mostly G’s – you should not live in Kennington; would suggest Fallujah, or Clapham

Kennington predictions for 2014

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Kennington Runoff

An exciting year for North West Kennington with the opening of Damien Hirst’s gallery and the new Buddhist centre in the Beaufoy Institute.

Sally White will dramatically expand their range of food, open in the evenings, and provide mindfulness training for all staff.

Kernel Brewery will open their first pub in the site next to the Old Red Lion.

Waitrose will take over Tesco’s Kennington “superstore”, The People’s Supermarket will take over Tesco on Kennington Park Road, The Super Store on Kennington Lane will take over Tesco on Kennington Road, and no new Tescos will open anywhere in Kennington.

Ace Hotel will open their second London hotel in the former Days Inn on Kennington Road.

The Imperial War Museum will reopen with catering from Ottolenghi.

Lambeth Palace will open to visitors all year round.

Russell Brand will perform at Always Be Comedy.

Dirty Burger will introduce a veggie burger.

The revitalisation of North Kennington will continue with the Elephant & Castle shopping centre being listed, a Curzon cinema replacing the bingo hall, and a bunch of exciting new bars and restaurants moving in on the Brixton Village model (thanks to Oliver Dee for the suggestions).

Florence Welch will launch her guest column for Kennington Runoff by performing Addicted To Love at the Kennington Runoff pop up shop.

The heroic Mr Kennington People On Bikes will be named London’s new Cycling Superczar. His first action in this new role will be to implement fully segregated cycle lanes (with a physical barrier between car and bike) along all Kennington’s main arteries, which then spread out to Hyde Park, the City and beyond. By summer 2014. If they can build a cable car across the Thames in less than a year, then this is but a moment’s work.

LASSCO will realise the decimal point has been in the wrong place all this time and will start selling their beautiful items for one hundredth of the price.

excellent new single from South Kennington resident Kyla La Grange

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Kennington Runoff

It’s called Cut Your Teeth

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Kennington Park Skate Bowl

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Kennington Runoff

Kennington Park’s skate bowl is London’s oldest, having been here since 1978. It was closed soon after due to a design flaw that made it easy to fall through the safety rail, which of course made it hugely appealing to skaters. Then in 2011 Converse came along and ~~ruined everything~~ refurbished it, making it safer, and it reopened in 2012.

Meditation at the Jamyang Buddhist Centre

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Kennington Runoff

Happy new year.

Are you starting the new year in need of spiritual sustenance? Get yourself down to the Jamyang Buddhist Centre on Renfrew Road in North Kennington, one of two Buddhist centres in Kennington with a third one on the way in the former Beaufoy Institute.

On January 6th from 7.30pm till 9pm is one of Jamyang’s regular Introduction to Meditation sessions. We’ve been to one of these sessions before. What can we tell you about it?

– You’ll have to take your shoes off.
– It’s not a brazen attempt to convert you to Buddhism – Buddha barely got a mention.
– There are opportunities to ask questions. Someone else asked the question we should have asked – how to stay awake during meditation? The instructor did provide some practical suggestions but also said it doesn’t matter if you fall asleep, at which point we nodded off.
– They do a nice quiche and salad in the cafe during the day.
– It’s free but donations are welcome.
– Meditation is scientifically proven to boost concentration, reduce stress, depression, anxiety and addictive behaviours, and can even help with physical problems like heart disease and chronic pain (sorry we can’t lay our hands on the scientific proof right now).

So, all in all, an ideal opportunity to have a look around the Buddhist centre – which has a nice, welcoming vibe whatever your religious beliefs – and to try ~~napping~~ meditation.

Read about the history of the building – and old courthouse – here.

The Courtyard Cafe, featuring a Buddha in a glass cage made from pure Nepalese gold:

Kennington Runoff is dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones we used to know

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

The cannons outside the Imperial War Museum in the snow:

Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park and Lambeth Road in the snow, with Perspective Building in the background, a building which is heavily inspired by ski jumps.

West Square in the snow:

Happy Christmas to all our readers.

Mimi’s Italian Deli

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Stuck for a Christmas present for that special food lover in your life? Get along to Bon Vivant Boulevard (AKA Brixton Road) and assemble a hamper from all the delights that are on offer.

South Kennington institution Mimi’s Deli is a good place to start. It’s a family-run deli and cafe selling Italian foods and wines, many of which would otherwise be hard to find in London.

Meats and cheeses:

Italian wines, starting at £7.50 per bottle:

If in doubt, there’s always Panettone:

They open till 7pm every day except Sundays when they close at 3pm. Still not sure? Let inspiring testimonials from the likes of Joanna Lumley, Kevin Spacey and Will Self convince you.

Malinka Continental Delicatessen

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

We need to think of a name for the northern stretch of Brixton Road to reflect all its foodie delights. Bon Vivant Boulevard? Gourmet Ghetto?

Anyway, Malinka Continental Delicatessen has been at 58 Brixton Road for at least six years but people are still discovering it. From the outside you could mistake it for a standard Polish delicatessen, and the aesthetic of the cafe area is rather utilitarian, but they make up for it with a great range of products – some Polish but mostly not – and a five star hygiene rating from the Food Standards Agency (we are sticklers for hygiene).

Teapigs tea – hurray:

Cheeses:

They also do sandwiches, lasagne, pierogi and such like, and they have a comically bad website which claims they are closed on the weekends but we think this is wrong.

Malinka is a village in Northern Poland and has several meanings in Polish: raspberry, or love bite, or person who is prepared to pay wildly over the odds for nicely branded tea. Yes, we’re a pair of malinkas here at Kennington Runoff.

The Three Stags – Kennington’s most ethical and Charlie Chaplin-ish pub

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Other Kennington pubs boast Charlie Chaplin connections but The Three Stags trumps them all. It has a Chaplin’s Corner where Charlie’s errant father used to drink – Charlie wrote in his autobiography that this is where he saw his dad for the last time. If you can set its morbid history out of your mind then it’s worth securing the table in Chaplin’s Corner on the right in the photo below – it’s enclosed in dark wood and frosted glass for extra privacy.

We recently visited for the first time since a refit. It’s a good quality gastropub with table service and a selection of real ales, but what marks it out are its ethics. It was rated as a Three Star Sustainability Champion for the second year running this year, meaning it scored highly for sourcing local, seasonal food, focusing on animal welfare, and engaging with the community and the environment.

Plus they have 50,000 bees living on their roof, surrounded by pots of herbs such as lavender, thyme, basil, mint and sage, and flowers such as calendula, poppies, nasturtiums, cornflower and sedum. Honey can be purchased for a minimum of £20 per jar, all of which goes to fund a charitable project in Bali. Their queen bee is nicknamed Mae West and their drones are named Barack Obama.

The Three Stags is located at the junction of Kennington Road and Lambeth Road so it’s ideal for a drink or meal before or after visiting the Imperial War Museum, and good for a Sunday roast in winter.

Winter Screen

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

The spirit of the pleasure gardens is seeping back into West Kennington, if not quite reaching the decadent heights of its prime when Duchesses (including Georgiana of Keira Knightley fame), Princes and other notables – including Samuel Johnson, Handel and Dickens – would flounce around what is now Spring Gardens in hot air balloon races, watch cats dropping by parachute, and marvel at the Lilliputian King in the human zoo.

Spring Gardens was also the setting for a series of summer film screenings earlier this year, such a success that they are being reprised this week in the arches of Vauxhall station with a festive Christmas theme. Complementing the Winter Screen series is a Christmas market dishing up mulled wine or cider to raise your body temperature before you sit down, and blankets to keep you from going numb while you watch the film. We are hoping that local author Will Self will honour the spirit of Dickens and Thackeray and the original pleasure gardens and settle in to watch Elf with a mega bucket of popcorn.

Full programme:

December 2013

Thursday 12th – Miracle on 34th street (7pm)
Friday 13th – Elf (7pm)
Saturday 14th – A Muppets Christmas Carol (2pm) Scrooged (7pm)
Sunday 15th – Home Alone 1 (2pm) Home Alone 2 (7pm)

MK II:

MK I:

Ticket proceeds are going to ‘Thames Reach’, a charity who operate a local homeless shelter.

Location:

Arch 50

South Lambeth Place opposite Starbucks

London SW8 1SP

The Kennington Observer (formerly Kennington Runoff)

Surreptitiously observing Kennington, including the suburbs Vauxhall, Oval, Walworth, and Elephant since 2012