Runoff Rides the Tube

The first major addition to the Tube network in the 21st century opened today and, unless you actually live underground yourself, you’re aware that it cuts a great swathe right through Greater Kennington. Today we took a journey on the new billion pound ride (financed by property developers) with our focus on Nine Elms station in Vauxhall.  At the moment trains are running every 10 minutes. 

We started our journey on the recently reopened Kennington southbound platform now servicing Battersea, which is rather strange as Battersea is west, but that’s the tube for you. Nine Elms Station is next to the Sainbury’s in Wandsworth and is an exercise in functional steel precision with wide platforms, speedy escalators, a large reception hall and overhang in case it is raining. One of our team timed it, and if you are laden with your Sainsbury shop you are only exposed to the elements for 15 seconds in the case of inclement weather. There is no ticket window but plenty of self serve machines. 

If you dare to travel outside of Greater Kennington the line terminates at Battersea Power Station Station (yes, you’ve read that right) which we also visited. It is a grander affair, and architecturally it resembles a giant recumbent cathedral, featuring a gold painted geometric skylight as you exit. Rather dramatic and fitting with the ostentatious buildings behind it. 

Kennington goes loopy

With the constant hand washing, waving to people out of the window and failed attempts at online yoga we are all going at bit loopy at the moment. And all of this without even a new ‘Loose Women’ to deaden the pain. However, at the Runoff we’re hanging in there.

When alighting at Kennington tube we’ve all heard a tube driver say, about 45 times,  ‘this train terminates here’. Most of you know that it doesn’t actually terminate, it just turns around. Well we are here to tell you about the strange fetishism that surrounds the ‘Kennington Loop’ which swirls beneath Kennington Park.

Kennington-Loop-287x300

Kennington loop was created in order to regulate the number of trains going southward, as our beloved station is where the Charing Cross and Bank branches converge. Passenger travel on this stretch of track is expressly prohibited, which is part of the fascination for some tube aficionados (and drunk people who’ve fallen asleep). These renegades revel in the notion of the lights flickering on and off, the screech of the tracks,  being told off by the driver, and then arriving at the station they just departed from. It seems to be the tube equivalent of scaling Kilimanjaro the way people carry on about it in online forums (yes, we have time on our hands). If you don’t believe us, the pursuit even has it’s own risqué T-shirt! 

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Most things mysterious seem go have a ghost associated with them, and the Kennington loop is no exception. The story goes that one night in 1980 a train in the loop was being held on a red signal when the driver and guard heard the unmistakable slam of interconnecting doors. When they investigated there was no one on the train other than the two of them. Other drivers have experienced the same phenomenon. As scary things go it doesn’t exactly rate up there with ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or that shower scene from ‘Psycho’ but hey ho. A ghost story’s a ghost story.

As you are stuck at home now with little better to do than pine nostalgically about the time when you could actually use the tubeyou might be asking yourself ‘well how will the Northern line extension effect the loop? Will it be redundant?’.  The official line from TfL is that the loop will still be required, but used much less frequently as more trains will shoot up to Battersea. The extension is still set to open in Autumn, 2021 but that probably isn’t a reality as work is currently paused.

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Kennington Park and its new Flower Garden

It’s all change in Kennington Park at the moment, and this weekend was a big one thanks to the reopening of the flower garden after a £500k makeover. We bring you photos, with apologies to the woman who we inadvertently followed around:

Kennington Park Flower Garden vista - kenningtonrunoff.com

The flower garden originally opened in 1931 and its layout has remained much the same since, including this water feature:

Kennington Park Flower Garden water feature - kenningtonrunoff.com

This new sundial was made from Welsh slate by Sam Flintham, a student of historic stone carving at Kennington’s own City & Guilds:

Kennington Park Flower Garden sundial - kenningtonrunoff.com

Get down there quick while the roses are still in season:

Kennington Park Flower Garden roses - kenningtonrunoff.com

Kennington Park Flower Garden flowers - kenningtonrunoff.com

Elsewhere in the park, the Kennington Park Centre on Bob Marley’s old hang out, St Agnes Place, is newish and features an arts and community centre, a stay and play club, and an adventure playground. Also newish is the exercise equipment just north of the cafe, which is proving very popular.

Finally, one of the big concerns about Northern Line extension works in the park was that Bee Urban, those harvesters of the world’s tastiest honey, would have to be relocated. Well, they have been, and their new site next to the cafe looks mightily impressive:

Bee Urban new site in Kennington Park - kenningtonrunoff.com

Join the Friends of Kennington Park here – they made all this happen.