Quiet London

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

We were recently given the book Quiet London by Siobhan Wall, which features “over 140 quiet places to meet, drink, eat, sleep, read or browse”.

Nine of them are in Kennington:

* The Garden Museum

* The Cuming Museum which is currently closed due to fire, but their events programme continues

* Bonnington Square Garden, a magical place which we will write about another time

* Italo Delicatessen on Bonnington Square

* The Tibetan Peace Garden in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, which also deserves its own entry here, being one of London’s nicest and quietest parks

* G Baldwin & Co., a health food shop and apothecary on Walworth Road, which according to Siobhan has “probably the largest selection of essential oils you can find anywhere in England”. Entering the apothecary side of the shop does feel like stepping back in time (it has been open since 1844).

* Siobhan Davies Studio

* Danielle Arnaud Gallery – another of Kennington’s art galleries. It is based in one of the lovely Georgian houses on Kennington Road and we can testify as to how quiet it is – when we went we were the only visitors.

* The Ragged Canteen at Beaconsfield

Quiet London by Siobhan Wall

The Kennington Oval cricket ground

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Even if you’re not a big cricket fan, you should spend a day at the Kennington Oval (so called because it is oval shaped, and in Kennington). Relative to other sports, cricket fans are a friendly, civilised bunch. Rivalry between supporters is good humoured, with fans of both teams intermingled throughout the ground. You will most likely end up in conversation with the stranger sat next to you. They may even collect your discarded beer glasses before passing them to a steward. There’s live music galore around the ground. The quality of food and drink puts even the most upmarket football ground to shame. In short, you will have a great day out regardless of what’s happening on the pitch.

If you are a cricket fan you will already know that The Kennington Oval is one of the world’s great cricket grounds in terms of the pitch, the facilities, and the historic games that have been played there. It also looks great:

Even if you never go inside The Oval, you can still appreciate the vegetation growing all over its perimeter:

(Pictures are from today’s opening day of the fifth Ashes test between England and Australia.)

Beaconsfield Art Gallery and the Ragged Canteen

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Beaconsfield, based in a former Victorian Ragged School, is the biggest and architecturally most impressive of the surprisingly large number of art galleries in Kennington, although it’s likely to be trumped by Damien Hirst’s new gallery which is due to open just up the road in 2014.

Art at Beaconsfield tends towards the modern and the conceptual, and they are funded by the Arts Council.

On weekday lunchtimes their Ragged Canteen serves really great vegetarian food (at other times they serve drinks and cakes). In an area with various good veggie cafes in surprising places – see also The Garden Museum and the Jamyang Buddhist Centre – The Ragged Canteen is the best. If only it were open more often and for longer.

The door is permanently locked – ring the bell to get in.

Dirty Burger opened in West Kennington tonight with half price food

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

Dirty Burger is a burger joint from the Soho House Group and its second branch opened tonight in West Kennington under a railway arch right by Vauxhall station (the first was in Kentish Town).

It won’t take you long to work your way through the menu, especially if you’re a vegetarian:

Let me guess, you chose the cheese burger? Good choice – juicy and tasty – even the aspiring vegetarian in our party enjoyed it. Here it is:

And for the actual vegetarian, there are always chips:

There are stools inside, or four small tables on the roadside:

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Posted on August 20, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

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The Garden Museum

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

[Update July 2017: The Garden Museum and Cafe have been redeveloped since this post]

The Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) is in the deconsecrated St Mary’s church next to Lambeth Palace in North West Kennington. Even if you’re not interested in gardening, it’s worth a visit for the good quality vegetarian cafe and the lovely garden (there’s a charge to enter the museum but not the shop, cafe or garden).

The knot garden with the walls of Lambeth Palace in the background:

William Bligh lived in Kennington, on Lambeth Road in a house that is now a B&B, and was buried at St Mary’s. Appropriately enough for a site that was to become a garden museum, his grave features the breadfruit plant which he discovered and brought back to England. Presumably whoever designed his grave was hoping he would be remembered for this, rather than for being the ship’s captain who inspired the Mutiny on the Bounty.

The well-stocked shop featuring gifts for gardeners and books:

The interior of the museum:

Kennington actress Storme Toolis breaks TV taboos

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

A sex scene in the BBC’s New Tricks is “believed to be one of the first on TV involving a disabled actress” said the Evening Standard in rather non-committal language. Storme has also appeared in The Inbetweeneers.

The Imperial War Museum has reopened after refurbishment

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

One of London’s finest museums is back. The current special exhibition is on spies – topical. We haven’t been since the refurb so more when we have.

Kennington: celebrity party zone with Cara Delevingne and Rita Ora

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

We may be a little late in covering the #DKNYArtworks party that took place at the old Lambeth Fire Station on Whitgift Street earlier this summer, but we have good reason: we pride ourselves on lack of hype here, and we wanted to make sure that when we said that Kennington hosted this summer’s hottest party, nothing was going to trump that. Now in mid-August, it’s safe to say that SE11 can take the crown, after a night that featured Cara Delevingne stagebombing Rita Ora’s set (attempting a duet and showing off her very own take on the twerk), and appearances from an array of London’s bright youngish things including Eliza Doolittle, Henry Holland, Nick Grimshaw, Professor Green, Millie Mackintosh, and Bella Freud.

The old Lambeth Fire Station is part of an historically important fire brigade complex, sitting just behind a fire practice tower, and the more architecturally remarkable art deco moderne London Fire Brigade Headquarters on the Albert Embankment.

Cycle PS

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Kennington Runoff

The Kennington branch of Cycle PS has now closed, but they do have branches in Camberwell and Battersea, and Kennington still has Balfe’s Bikes and ReCycling.

Cycle PS is a stylish new cycle shop and cafe bar at the top of Kennington Park Road, which is London’s second biggest street for cycling. On Friday nights Cycle PS stay open late – ideal for a drink before heading to the Lobster Pot.

~~Exterior:~~

~~Interior:~~

The Kennington Observer

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