Elefest, or as we liked to call it, North Kennifest, starts today

Posted on 10/02/2014 by Kennington Observer

Open House Kennington

Posted on 09/18/2014 by Kennington Observer

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

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Posted on 09/14/2014 by Kennington Observer

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Sidewalk Stories at Hotel Elephant

Posted on 09/07/2014 by Kennington Observer

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.

old photos of Beefeater Gin Distillery from the visitors centre

Posted on 09/06/2014 by Kennington Observer

Here it is in 1958, the year it opened in Kennington:

And here’s a later photo:

Our piece about the visitors’ centre is here.

Carnival del KERB at The Paperworks

Posted on 09/04/2014 by Kennington Observer

OK, The Paperworks is technically outside the borders of Kennington but it’s nearby, it’s run by North Kennington’s own Corsica Studios, and it’s great so we’re including it here.

It’s a temporary, outdoor street food, bar and music venue in a long-disused space owned by Peabody.

With a train line running along one side and the remnants of a factory at the other, it looks like something Secret Cinema would have built to host a dystopian film screening, but it’s not – the iron protruding from the brick wall is authentic industrial debris that has been there for decades.

It’s open Friday to Sunday evenings and tomorrow sees their third of four markets by street food specialists KERB (there are also more limited street food options on Saturdays and Sundays). We went along last Friday, when it was Time Out’s no. 1 thing to do in London. There were craft beers, ten or so food stalls, live music and DJs with a Latin flavour, and a cool crowd leaning young but covering all ages.

Once the weather gets cold the plan is to convert it into more of a covered space, then eventually flats will be built here, so make the most of it while it lasts.

Tomorrow’s event runs 5pm to 11pm at The Paperworks, 48-50 Newington Causeway (north of the Southwark Playhouse, on the other side of the road).

Corsica Studios

Posted on 08/31/2014 by Kennington Observer

Corsica Studios is home to some of London’s finest underground dance nights, and what many hail as the best sound system in town. It’s an intimate club located in a warehouse-style space under a railway arch on Elephant Road in North Kennington, round the back of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre.

Here’s the bar, which serves Mexico’s finest Modelo Especials amongst other drinks:

This is the stage (when we went, Snakehips were playing, the future sound of London according to Radio 1):

Visiting Corsica is a flashback to how nightclubs used to be – dark, dingy, functional warehouses where anything could happen. The clientele are invariably young and cool. It’s all rather exciting. Let’s hope it survives the gentrification of Elephant & Castle and the re-development of the shopping centre (fellow North Kennington venue The Coronet is under threat).

Corsica recently launched a new open-air venue – The Paperworks – in partnership with The Peabody Housing Trust, featuring DJs, street food, craft beers, cocktails for £6 (like in the early noughties!) and giant Jenga and Connect 4. Technically it’s outside the borders of Kennington but it sounds like such fun that we’re planning to visit and report back.