For more on Sally White, see our earlier post.
Brunswick House and LASSCO
LASSCO is an architectural reclaim company based in Brunswick House, a cavernous Georgian mansion on the gyratory in West Kennington. If architectural reclaim doesn’t sound much fun, it really is – imagine a museum where everything’s desirable and everything’s on sale. A whole room of taps. Antique baths for only £4000. If money was no object, this is where you’d go to furnish your house.
Brunswick House is also the best restaurant in the area, with food that’s more than matched by the atmosphere as you eat amongst the antiques and curiosities – look for the price tags on your chairs and tables. The restaurant is run by one of the Boxer family, who are also behind the nearby Italian deli and cafe Italo (which is just off Bonnington Square, the best advert there could be for squatting, but more on that another time), and Frank’s Café and Campari Bar atop a multi-story car park-cum-sculpture gallery, which is leading the regeneration of Peckham. For more on the Boxer family, see here.
Adrian Amos from LASSCO was featured in this week’s ES Magazine in one of the rooms at Brunswick House:
This is the main restaurant room:
Here’s a collection of signs from the exterior wall of the house:
For more photos of beautiful LASSCO objects, click here.
Florence Welch went to South London Pacific, got drunk, and covered Daft Punk and The Gossip with the house band
South London Pacific (geddit?) is a tiki bar in Kennington. Florence Welch is a Kennington resident and front woman of Florence & The Machine. She jumped on stage while house band Sourberry were warming up, and performed Daft Punk’s Get Lucky and Standing In The Way Of Control by The Gossip. Highlights include her downing a tequila shot then discarding the glass, and stage diving off at the end.
This is the stuff that Kennington Runoff dreams are made of, and we’re not making it up.
The Siobhan Davies Centre
The Siobhan Davies Centre in North Kennington has won a RIBA Award for architecture and deservedly so. With the addition of a roof of wood and glass, this old brick building has been transformed into a beautifully light and rather magical space for dance, yoga and such like.
Our photo doesn’t really capture the full glory of the building so click here for more.
The Lobster Pot
The Lobster Pot is one of London’s finest seafood restaurants. It’s also arguably London’s funnest restaurant. And it’s a North Kennington institution – it has been here since 1991 and it’s frequently booked up. Really, you should just go there without knowing what to expect, but if you don’t mind a spoiler then read on.
After ringing a buzzer to gain entry (a precaution that dates back to the nineties rather than being necessary today), you will find yourself inside a ship, with port holes looking out into the sea (i.e. an aquarium):
Upstairs you are on the deck on the ship, with a view of a nearby port painted on the walls, and the sound of seagulls piped through the sound system.
Ship memorabilia is scattered throughout the restaurant:
If you order the lobster (and you should – it is excellent), you will be given a special Lobster Pot bib when it arrives:
I don’t have photos of the staff but the chef looks like Poirot, the staff dress as sailors and one of them is six foot four with model good looks. Eating here is an experience.
Fitzroy Lodge Amateur Boxing Club
Next door to Studio 180, under a railway arch, is one of London’s oldest boxing clubs, Fitzroy Lodge Amateur Boxing Club. It’s charitable, non-profit making, run by volunteers, and it was founded in 1908. It also looks rather cool inside.
Studio 180
NME cover stars Palma Violets rehearse at, and played their first ever gig at, Studio 180 on Lambeth Road. This is a house owned by Network Rail that has been converted into artists’ studios by the team behind Make Space Studios. Occasionally it plays host to gigs which are always rammed and atmospheric, not least thanks to the punch that is served. There are also yoga classes and not particularly private parties. It’s cool.
Vauxhall Spring Gardens AKA Pleasure Gardens
Vauxhall Spring Gardens AKA Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in West Kennington has the Vauxhall City Farm on its borders, as well as the Black Dog, the Tea House Theatre, and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, whose customers spill out on to its edges. It is nicknamed Brokeback Mountain locally for its rugged scenery.
It is currently playing host to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens summer festival – details below (we borrowed the image from the excellent Tradescant Road blog).
The Museum of London have some info about the history of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens here.
Wansey Street and the Mobile Gardeners’ Park
It may be the wrong side of Walworth Road but Wansey Street is becoming one of the most interesting streets in the area. The neighbouring Heygate Estate is due for demolition, but there are a huge number of mature trees on the estate. Campaigners christened these the North Kennington Urban Forest and convinced developers to preserve most of them. Along the way the campaigners also secured a site on Wansey Street for a community garden, called The Mobile Gardeners’ Park. At some stage in the next few years, Wansey Street will be extended through where the park is currently situated, at which point it will move elsewhere, hence the mobile element.
It features an ingenious and rather beautiful use of an old sofa.
Most of the plants are growing in pots so they can easily be relocated:
A volunteer has built a geodesic dome on the site:
The wild flower meadow won’t be relocating unfortunately:
Wansey Street is also home to the pilot project for the North Kennington regeneration masterplan, and if all the planned new buildings come out looking as good as this one then North Kennington and surrounding areas will be transformed.
Aobaba Vietnamese restaurant and Longdan Express Oriental Supermarket
Relatively new on Walworth Road are two exciting arrivals within the same premises. Aobaba is a top notch and very reasonably priced Vietnamese street food restaurant. The veggie options are particularly good, the Vietnamese beers are cheap, and there’s a multitude of choice about how to flavour your bubble tea.
Lots of choice of garnishes:
Nice food, beautifully presented:
Even if you’re not a big buyer of oriental foods, the Longdan Express Oriental Supermarket is worth a visit for quality Western brands that aren’t otherwise easy to find in the area, like Teapigs tea.
