Young Fathers won the Mercury Music Prize tonight. They are signed to the most interesting hip hop label in the UK, Big Dada/Ninja Tune, which is based right here in Kennington. It’s the fifth time Big Dada have been nominated and their second winner.
They have two of the twelve nominations so they’re already winners in our eyes.
Kate Tempest is the second favourite at the time of writing:
and Young Fathers are outsiders in more ways than one, but Low is great:
The Imperial War Museum marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I by closing for refurbishment, briefly reopening, then closing again without much explanation. Anyway, they managed to reopen for good in July, and we finally made it along a couple of weeks ago.
The cafe has relocated to the Kennington Road side of the building and now has outdoor tables in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth park which is a big improvement.
The food was good too – it’s run by Peyton & Byrne (not Ottolenghi but right up there), and we had a deliciously moist marinated herb fed chicken with slaw for £8.50.
They also have a good selection of cakes:
We were less impressed with the new look atrium, designed by Foster and Partners, which is slightly less spacious and seemed darker.
There are fewer vehicles on the ground floor to get up close and personal with although, thanks to Jeremy Deller, there is the arresting presence of a bombed out civilian’s car from Baghdad:
Admission to the museum is free but at busy times (most of the time), you’ll be a given a ticket with timed entry for the World War I exhibition, which includes a recreation of a WWI trench. That’s the huge queue in the photo of the atrium above – and one thing you can say for the new look museum, so far it seems to be even more popular than before.
The Londonist have a more detailed review of the museum itself.
…in this video by the indie rock group Catfish & The Bottlemen. His performance is rather good – well done Steve.
Update (Nov 11th 2014): the Sticky Paws Coffee Van is no more – it has been stolen!
Kennington is the home of Costa Coffee but despite or perhaps because of that, it was hard to get a great coffee here until recently. Then Sally White arrived, then the Coffee Mob van outside St Anselm’s Church, and now there’s another exciting development – Sticky Paws Coffee Van outside Kennington tube station.
A very colourful sign will point you in the right direction from the tube:
Mr Sticky Paws will be there every weekday from 7am to midday, engine trouble not withstanding. He claims to only use local products from independent suppliers which is not strictly true but sounds like a step in the right direction.
And, in a commuter-friendly touch, he offered to add a little cold water to our herbal tea so we could drink it during our tube journey. Not bad for £1!
Open House London is this weekend and the following Kennington places are participating:
Lambeth Palace, but all the tours are booked up there
Mobile Gardeners Planting Station, which is the new incarnation of the Mobile Gardeners Park in the former Shell garage, 137-149 Walworth Road, SE17 1JZ. Help them construct the garden on Saturday from 1pm. More info here.
Morley College (Sunday only)
Perronet House (Saturday only – more info here)
Roots and Shoots (Saturday only)
Siobhan Davies Studios (Saturday only – more info here)
The Cinema Museum – more info here
Last night we went to a screening of a wonderful, moving film, and it’s coming to (near) Kennington on Friday.
Sidewalk Stories is a largely forgotten silent film from 1989 that inspired the director of The Artist. Imagine The Kid by Kennington’s own Charlie Chaplin, but set in the New York of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. It features great performances from writer/director Charles Lane and his very cute young daughter, and a truly impactful ending.
Read more about the film here and buy tickets for the screening at Hotel Elephant on Friday at 8pm here.
Here it is in 1958, the year it opened in Kennington:
And here’s a later photo:
