Karen Gillan, who played “Dr Who’s sexiest sidekick ever”, lives in Kennington and was spotted working behind the bar at the Pilgrim pub on Kennington Lane.
In the 2005 Christmas episode, the Tardis crash landed on the Brandon Estate in East Kennington.
Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor, was born in North West Kennington.
Bob Baker, the creator of Doctor Who’s iconic K9 robotic dog, appeared at the Cinema Museum recently.
The White Bear, on Kennington Park Road, is a pub of two halves. The front half is an Irish sports pub with lots of regulars and rather an edgy atmosphere. The back half is an extraordinarily intimate, award-winning fringe theatre with a capacity of just 50. It was established in 1988 and actors who’ve appeared there include Emily Watson, Tamzin Outhwaite, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Mark Little, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Natalie Imbruglia.
Plays we’ve seen here:
* One about Byron, the Shelleys, and their frantic sex lives.
* A play featuring objectionable middle class couples arguing and cheating on each other over barbecues – or we saw half of it anyway (the problem with leaving a theatre this small during the interval is your absence will definitely be noticed in the second half – sorry about that guys).
* A good production of Noel Coward’s Still Life, the play on which Brief Encounter was based, which is about an abortive affair.
* Recently we saw Coward, a rather unflattering depiction of Noel Coward and his sex life.
So is the White Bear the theatre equivalent of the Locker Room? No – they had a play by Ayn Rand recently so we’re guessing that was a sex free zone. Check out their programme here and get along.
Here’s a photo of Coward (that’s him, sitting down):
The Ship pub on Kennington Road is celebrating its 250th birthday tomorrow with a pirate-themed evening. 250! Ten generations of Charlie Chaplin’s family have drunk in this pub.
The Ship underwent refurbishment recently and it’s really rather nice inside now, not to mention outside thanks the hanging baskets and picnic tables you can see below. They have an extensive selection of real ales, board games, live music twice a week, decent local-sourced food, and best of all, they have a bar billiards table, which is great fun if you can figure out the rules.
Dino’s hairdressers is on Kennington Park Road, opposite the park. We’ve never quite plucked up the courage to get a haircut there, but a friend of ours goes, and he has excellent hair. Plus, they used to straighten out Bob Marley’s dreads for him after he’d been playing football in Kennington Park.
Anyway, here’s a photo of Dino’s from one of our favourite photo blogs, London Shop Fronts:
(It’s not hair week on Kennington Runoff, or at least we didn’t plan it that way.)
Black Prince Road is the scene of much transformation right now: a theatrical carpentry workshop is in the midst of a rebirth that will see it open its doors next year as a grand Museum of Damien Hirst, an old ragged school has been carved up to become part luxury apartments, part Buddhist centre, but no building has seen such a dramatic remodelling as the Haus of Hair.
Some readers may remember a dark, Dickensian cobblers just past the Jolly Gardeners pub on Black Prince Road, staffed by a foul-tempered elderly man who would sooner abuse you than fix your shoes. It is hard to believe that this is the same place as you enter Haus of Hair, surveying the gilt mirrors, the latest copy of Vogue on a coffee table, the cappuccino on tap, the antique armoire:
The spirit of the grumpy cobbler may live on in the form of Rupert, the in-house terrier, who likes to yap as you enter his property, but head stylist Fabian, who runs the salon with Jarmane, couldn’t be more charming. He used to work at Marylebone’s Michael Van Clark salon, but struck out on his own when he opened Haus of Hair. They do cuts and colours, use products from a line owned by Katie Holmes, and will be the official private view hair stylists for Damien Hirst once his gallery opens.
Here’s Rupert:
In these times of austerity, many libraries are threatened with closure, but Durning Library will never close if the Friends of Durning Library have their way. Would any politician dare to cross this fearsome organisation for fear of a cupcake at a community event being served with a garnish of cyanide? But their cause is noble – long may they reign and long may Durning Library remain open. Just don’t mention the Tree of Heaven.
The grade II-listed library opened in 1889 and was designed in the Gothic Revival style by local architect Sidney RJ Smith whose other buildings included Tate Britain and libraries in South Lambeth, West Norwood, Streatham and Balham.
Occasionally they host talks from local authors, politicians and historians – the history of a Kennington townhouse, Kate Hoey on how to kill a fox, that kind of thing.
from today’s Evening Standard, in an feature titled “Where the bright young things are…”
Our previous post about Kennington resident Kevin Spacey focused more on his midnight feasts than his brilliance as an actor. So we’d like to say that we recently finished watching House of Cards season one and it’s truly gripping from beginning to end. Kevin’s character is magnificently, horrifyingly compelling, much like The Locker Room.
Kevin is expected to leave his role as artistic director of the Old Vic soon, and already their programme doesn’t seem quite as appealing as it was. Don’t leave us Kevin – South London needs you (but House of Cards season two may need you even more).
Watch House Of Cards on Netflix.
The good ship Tamesis (formerly the English Maid) is a converted 1930s Dutch barge, moored permanently between Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge. It’s a floating pub and party venue, with one of the most spectacular river views in London from its jolly, higgledy-piggledy deck.
There’s a lively music scene going on down at the Tamesis Dock, having seen gigs from bands – including Deap Vally and Bastille – who’ve gone on to grace much bigger stages than their cosy bunk.
If you’re worried about your sea legs, rest assured that we’ve never felt the barge shift much on the many times we’ve ventured aboard, and when the tide is out it’s just perched prettily on the sandy banks of the Thames. However, they do occasionally have their own version of a lock-in, involving going for an unannounced ride up to Tower Bridge, so if you’re drinking there late at night and need to get home, be prepared to make a leap for shore if the boat starts moving.
They have free wi fi, their kitchen stays open till 10pm, and the bar is open till 1am on Fridays and Saturdays or midnight the rest of the week, making this one of London’s most enjoyable after-hours drinking venues. Tonight they’re hosting a (free) Hallo-boaty-ween party for those who like their fun as murky as the Thames.
