Tag Archives: Hound Hut

X Mas Shopping in Greater Kennington

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From doggie treats to panettone 

Before we commence with our run down of how we can treat people we love, lets think about all the Greater Kenningtonians out there who are struggling with the basics. If you would like to help them but aren’t really sure how, the Vauxhall Foodbank is a good place to start. You can either donate money, volunteer, or donate food directly at Tesco Kennington Lane or Sainsburys Nine Elms. 

If you’re anything like us, you’d rather have a pencil crammed  into your ear canal than face the throngs of Oxford/Regent Streets right now. And if you like to hold objects before you buy them you can do this in our very own manor, and we hope you find our little guide useful. 

FOOD

Italo Vauxhall and Mimi’s Deli both have a range of Italian foodie gift ideas including wines, beers, spices, panettone (or as we call it ‘stale cake’), oils, cheeses and even posh sauces. Mimi’s has also turned the former seating area into a kind of pop up Christmas shop in the back, not visible from the road. 

Mercato Metropolitano has all of the Italian fare outlined above and also feature some Italian themed hampers and they’re also selling wreaths. They have wonderful meats and cheeses but if they sit under your tree for 10 days the smell might rather dampen your Christmas vibe. Don’t forget they have a new shop at 1 Walworth Road.

Ever thought about buying an edible Christmas gift our own beloved Oval Farmer’s Market? They stock many things that won’t perish under the tree such as chocolates and wine. You have one more Saturday before Christmas! 

The Beefeater Gin Distillery has a lovely but totally deserted gift shop offering unusual, limited run gins and gin accessories. You can also buy a gift voucher to tour the distillery (we can confirm it’s great fun). Perfect for your loved one who likes a nice holiday tipple or who just has a drinking problem. 

NON FOOD

Now, when you think Christmas shopping the first thing you say to yourself probably isn’t ‘ooh, lets go to the place behind Elephant Station where they keep the bins’. But, if you venture there you will discover a clutch of independent shops in Castle Square that used to exist in the shopping centre. Great for you younger folk looking for baseball caps, hoodies and clothes.

If you are in Elephant pop over to the new SoLo Craft Fair which is a collective of artists and creatives who now run a bricks and mortar shop. 60 small businesses have their work shown on rotation and during our journey we saw affordable jewellery, handbags, baskets, cards, scarves, bath salts, prints and T-shirts.

From the chains, cages and chew toys in the window, for many years we thought Hound Hut in Clapham Road was actually a bondage/S&M shop. However, it is your one stop shop for everything canine, even refrigerated dog food. 

Next to the (not S&M) Hound Hut sits new kid on the block “Pretty Shiny Shop’ which swaggeringly exudes itself to be Greater Kennington’s Christmas Shop (steady) and they stock a range or cards, houseware items, Christmas tree goodies, and small pieces of jewellery. 

Mary over at Windmill Flowers stocks not just flowers but also collectables and houseware accessories. 

In addition to books, Vanilla Black also has some nice gift ideas such as cards and masks and also a few food items. We think VB secretly hates us but we’ve moved on with our lives and are plugging them anyway. And since you are over there, I Due Amici has some fine looking panettone hanging in their windows (no that isn’t a rude euphemism).  And if at this very second you are thinking ‘what happened to Didi and Franc’. Well, we have no idea but try asking in VB.

As a second joyless year comes to a close, have you ever thought about the gift of comedy? Our local gold star comedy club Always be Comedy are doing E vouchers for their virtual and socially distanced and live events (the virtual being very surreal) at The Tommyfield. Recently we’ve seen Harry Hill, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and more. 

Most importantly, this has been yet another shitty year for almost all of us. So you have the Kennington Runoff seal of approval to treat yourself during the 2021 festive season! 


Shopping Fun in Oval

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Today we attended the opening day of independent gift shop ‘Pretty Shiny Shop’ in Oval. We toyed with the idea of interviewing the owners in an official KR capacity, but given that local businesses have a niggling habit of going bust just after we interview them (including the place which used to inhabit this exact premises) we didn’t want to send bad karma their way. So instead we swanned in pretending to be curious and amused members of the pubic just looking for a bit of ‘early Christmas inspiration’. It worked. 

The stock at Pretty Shiny Shop is an eclectic selection of affordable jewellery, clever greeting cards, candles, soaps, socks, fabrics and mugs. The left hand side of the shop is dedicated to baby and toddler items such as visual books and games. We were particularly intrigued by what appeared to be a face covering for teething toddlers. Very clever if that is it’s purpose. The friendly staff informed us that the jewellery is still being stocked but should be available in a few days. Basically, the place is chock full of gorgeous things you have absolutely no need for but nevertheless want to own. Or give as a gift. 

As we were down in that neck of the woods we thought we’d check out PSS’s neighbour, ‘The Hound Hut’, which for the longest time we mistook for an emporium specialising in S&M/Bondage/Fetish gear.  As it turns out the array of collars, leads, chew toys and tiny cages are not for humans at all but indeed for canines, and there are items for all sizes and breed of dogs.  They stock a large range of meat based treats and training sticks which looked delicious even to this human. Doggy toys are dominant, but the real feature is gourmet dog food, with a whole wall dedicated to the stuff in a kind of mash up of Iceland meets Harrods Food Halls. The staff at Hound Hut are huge dog lovers and can offer advice on just about everything.

Pretty Shiny Shop and The Hound Hut are Clapham Road just beyond Oval Tube and near 24 the Oval. Of course these independent shops have a strong online presence and you can also show your local pride by shopping there.  

X Mas shopping in Kennington #2

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From doggie treats to bum lifts to panettone

Before we commence with our run down of how we can treat people we know, lets think about all the Greater Kenningtonians out there who are struggling with the basics. If you would like to help them but aren’t really sure how, the Vauxhall Foodbank is a good place to start. You can either donate money, volunteer, or donate food directly at Tesco Kennington Lane or Sainsburys Nine Elms. 

UPDATE 19.12. 3:00pm. Boris is about to announce that London is moving into the unknown ‘Tier 4’. This might mean that these fine business shut in a few days. You better be quick!

And as you can imagine, our little run down of where to shop locally was only ever going to commence with items of the edible variety – 

Italo Vauxhall and Mimi’s Deli both have a range of Italian foodie gift ideas including wines, beers, spices, panettone (or as we call it ‘stale cake’), oils, cheeses and even posh sauces. Mimi’s has also turned the former seating area into a kind of pop up Christmas shop.  

Mercato Metropolitano has all of the Italian fare outlined above and also feature some Italian themed hampers and they’re also selling wreaths. They have wonderful meats and cheeses but if they sit under your tree for 10 days the smell might rather dampen your Christmas vibe. 

A number of Greater Kennington restaurants such as 24 the Oval and Amici have converted their surfeit of floor space into pop up farm shops with a few foodie gift ideas. Great craft beers at 24 the Oval.

The Beefeater Gin Distillery has a lovely but totally deserted gift shop offering unusual, limited run gins and gin accessories. You can also buy a gift voucher to tour the distillery (we can confirm it’s great fun). Perfect for your loved one who likes a nice holiday tipple or who just has a drinking problem. 

NON FOOD

Mary over at Windmill Flowers stocks not just flowers but also collectables and houseware accessories. 

Caroline and her team at Earl of Bedlam are tailors and makers of swishy clothing for both men and women, including very glam t shirts. They’re studio is open for said shirts and they can craft a gift voucher.

Max and Melia – Greater Kennington’s own Christmas shop. Check out our full review in our previous post.

In addition to books, Vanilla Black also has some nice gift ideas such as cards and masks and also a few food items. We think VB secretly hates us but we’ve moved on with our lives and are plugging them anyway. And since we have you, VB, please get cracking with your upcoming deli and wine shop, Dodi and Frank, a few doors down. We can’t wait.

As this crappy year draws to a close, have you ever thought about the gift of comedy? Our local gold star comedy club Always be Comedy are doing E vouchers for their virtual and socially distanced and live events (which are very surreal) at The Tommyfield. Recently we’ve seen Harry Hill, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and more. 

The Hound Hut in Clapham road is your one stop shop for everything canine, even refrigerated dog food. We know very little about dogs (although we have been told we resembled one once) but this place is highly regarded. 

Have you ever thought about a gift of a ‘non surgical Brazilian bum lift’? Well you can buy one for a loved one at Oracle Skin Clinic in Kennington Cross. Of course, you may never hear from that loved one again. 

Some of the shops that were ruthlessly turfed out of Elephant and Castle shopping centre in September have found a new pop up home in Elephant Street (that sketchy street behind the station). Great for you younger folk looking for baseball caps, hoodies and clothes. Happy shopping!