Open House Kennington

Open House London is this weekend and Kennington is well represented.

First up, places that are varying degrees of difficult to visit outside of Open House:

60 Ambergate Street, a “small but well-crafted flat renovation” near Kennington tube

The Mobile Gardeners Park, which we wrote about here

Morley College, the adult education centre in North West Kennington. While you’re there, why not visit London’s largest guerrilla gardening site, located directly in front of Morley College in the giant, lavender-filled flower beds in the middle of Westminster Bridge Road:

Guerrilla tulips in bloom at the Guerrilla Gardening on Westminster Bridge Road, London April 2011, by Richard Reynolds

Guerrilla tulips in bloom at the Guerrilla Gardening on Westminster Bridge Road, London April 2011, by Richard Reynolds

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

The Cinema Museum, a true labour of love in the former Master’s House of the Lambeth Workhouse, a Victorian Gothic building where Charlie Chaplin once stayed with his destitute mother. It can be a little tricky to organise tours of the Cinema Museum normally, and there’s a charge, so going during Open House is recommended.

Perronet House, a concrete council block on the north roundabout in North Kennington. If this looks or sounds unpromising then wait till you see the inside – fantastic views across London from two sides, outstanding use of period features, and a sun-drenched terrace full of plants. The photo of Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre below was taken from Perronet House.


Then there are these places which can be visited easily enough outside of Open House:

Beaconsfield, which we wrote about here

Siobhan Davies Studios, which we wrote about here

Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England which dates back to the 13th century, is fully booked during Open House, but you can buy tickets for future tours here.

Mamuśka Polish milk bar

Mamuśka, in Elephant & Castle shopping centre, is pretty much the Polish equivalent of a diner. It’s actually a “bar mleczny” – a milk bar – and the interior feels authentic, not least thanks to the Polish clientele, newspapers and television. As in the milk bars of Poland itself, the food is very reasonably priced, and they emphasise that it’s made fresh every day. Try the dumplings, the Borscht, kotlet z soczewicy (crispy lentil and potato cake), washed down with a Polish beer or vodka. To go here is to experience a slightly bizarre but very enjoyable, almost theme park-like notion of what another country is like, not unlike the Lobster Pot’s take on France. Get along while you still can.

Mamuska - kenningtonrunoff.com

Inside City & Guilds of London Art School

Kennington Runoff presented itself at the Private View of the MA Fine Art Show tonight, a giddy high point in the Kennington art world calendar. If you’ve never been inside City and Guilds Art School, housed in a row of Georgian buildings along Kennington Park Road, the final shows are an excellent opportunity to poke around this labyrinthine space.

The show, titled Red Thread, runs from 12th-15th September, and is so-called because ‘in East Asian mythology the gods tie a red cord around the ankles of those that are destined to share the same fate – be it death, love or working on the 2103 MA Show at London’s City&Guilds Art School.’

The Kennington Runoff Prize goes to Mark Morgan, for tricking us more than once with his clever excavations. Special mention also goes to Jelena Bulajic and her mammoth-scale portraits. Go and see the show in person, because these photos don’t really do it justice.

Tarek Tuma:

by Tarek Tuma at City & Guilds MA show - kennigtonrunoff.com

Anja von Kalinowski:

by Anja von Kalinowski at City & Guilds MA show - kennigtonrunoff.com

Jelena Bulajic (this is impressively huge in real life):

by Jelena Bulajic at City & Guilds MA show - kennigtonrunoff.com

Mark Morgan:

by Mark Morgan at City & Guilds MA show - kennigtonrunoff.com

farewell Elephant & Castle shopping centre?

Elephant & Castle shopping centre and Strata viewed from Perronet House - kenningtonrunoff.com

The latest news from the London SE1 website suggests that the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre will now be demolished as part of the regeneration of North Kennington.

This is good news for anyone wanting to see North Kennington successfully regenerated – there’s no denying the shabbiness of the building.

On the other hand, it’s one of London’s most vibrant and culturally diverse shopping centres and it will be missed. We don’t need another Westfield.

Some of our favourite things about it:

– Palace Superbowl – the only bowling alley in London where you can always get a lane, and at a reasonable price as well.

– When The Royal Court opened a theatre in a vacant shopping unit on the first floor.

– Mamuska, the Polish milk bar, which we review here.

– Table tennis:

table tennis at Elephant & Castle shopping centre - kenningtonrunoff.com

– And, as well as the various Latin American bars and restaurants in and around the shopping centre, we like the fact that North Kennington now has not one but two Oriental supermarkets. This one is called Little Orient:

Little Orient oriental supermarket - kenningtonrunoff.com

Kennington curry houses

We can highly recommend two curry houses just outside the borders of West Kennington: Mumbai Delight on South Lambeth Road which makes a point of using natural ingredients and has a good vegetarian selection, and Hot Stuff on Wilcox Road, a family-run, BYOB restaurant that gets very busy thanks to the reputation of its food and its low prices.

Kennington itself has two renowned curry houses: Kennington Tandoori and Gandhi’s. Both trumpet their celebrity fans. Gandhi’s displays Seb Coe, Richard & Judy (whose Channel 4 show used to be filmed in Kennington), regular Kennington Oval visitor John Major, Kennington residents Ken Clarke and Jack Straw, former Kennington resident Geoff Hoon, Gordon Brown, Jerry Springer, Neil and Christine Hamilton, and a former prime minister of Bangladesh in its window.

Richard & Judy, John Major, Jerry Springer, Ken Clarke in the window of Gandhi's, Kennington

Kennington Tandoori has a more discreet rotating selection featuring Matt Lucas, Jon Bercow and various cricket players. The whole front of the restaurant opens up which is welcome on a warm evening. And the owner responds to criticism on TripAdvisor which makes for an interesting read.

Kennington Tandoori - kenningtonrunoff.com

A plot to oust Gordon Brown as prime minister is believed to have been hatched by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt in a private room at Gandhi’s, which perhaps inspired its new colour scheme of black and blood red, not to mention the LOOK RIGHT sign on the pavement outside.

Gandhi's - Kenningtonrunoff.com

Bouquets & Beans (now called Kennington Flowers by Tomorrow’s People)

Kennington Flowers is the flower and plant stall outside St Anselm’s church in the heart of Kennington. It’s a social enterprise from Tomorrow’s People – they provide unemployed young people with paid work and work experience, and the stall provides a nice complement to what was already one of London’s most colourful areas.

Kennington Flowers by Tomorrow's People - kenningtonrunoff.com

The prices are low, and right now you can get a memento of BBC Television Centre – when it closed, the BBC gave Kennington Flowers hundreds of large plant pots to sell. They’re down to the last few, and they start at £5 for the small ones.

pots from BBC Television Centre at Kennington Flowers by Tomorrow's People - kenningtonrunoff.com

They’re open from Tuesday to Saturday so get down there today if you fancy a pot, but make sure you go towards lunchtime because they arrive late and leave early.