Tag Archives: Sally White

farewell beloved Kennington, and thank-you

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We have moved away from Kennington – very reluctantly as we will love it 4eva.

Before bowing out we wanted to shout out some of our favourite Kennington people and places, including some we’ve neglected to mention previously. These people not only provided a great service but made us feel at home.

Belle from Yogabelle, who is everything a yogi should be, and teaches at the very special Siobhan Davies Centre.

Abraham from Bouquets & Beans or Bouquets & Babyccinos as it will always be to us.

John the Kennington Baker – thanks for all the home deliveries and the exquisite bread and buns.

Everyone at the Kennington Coffee Shop, 3 Wincott St – truly the friendliest, most community-minded establishment we’ve been to in London.

William at Oxymoron at the Royal Oak – shine on you crazy beachcomber.

Sally, Mark and everyone at Sally White for the best brownies in the world, and for making Kennington even nicer.

Everyone at Vanilla Black and also Veronique for the awesome French singing classes (now at the Duchy Arms).

Andrew at Millars General Store – thanks for all the granola, Kernel and information.

Awesome hairdresser Fabian at Haus of Hair – one of the establishments we may have to travel back to Kennington to frequent.

Everyone at the Hub Coffee House, our favourite friendly place to work from, even though we are atheists.

Vivien and all the team at Toad Hall Montessori Nursery School – a home from home that we’d recommend to any parent (Florence Welch is an alumna).

All our lovely neighbours on Kennington Lane including everyone at Express Superstore, the family shop.

Thanks to Lady C from the Earl of Bedlam – our no. 1 source of local intel – and to everyone else who wrote us an email or tweet or Insta comment. We wouldn’t have done it without you.

Thanks to the surrounding areas for agreeing to being co-opted into Kennington, except Walworth who were weirdly humourless about it. And finally, thanks to Kennington for being an awesome place to live.

map of Kennington

The Top Ten Best Lunch Spots in Kennington – no. 5 – Sally White

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Positives: Sally White has been transformative for central Kennington, which was previously dominated by cafés of rather mixed quality. It quickly became the meeting point for all of Kennington, including the likes of Florence Welch (although – 2019 update – it was challenged for this title by an extended closure after the basement flooded, and the opening of Vanilla Black). Sally’s arrival heralded more than just flawless cakes – The Boule-In opened as a result of a visit there (then closed again after a time). As well as drinks, cakes and savouries, they sell bread from the Kennington Bakery and a small but great range of delicatessen products.

Sally White - kenningtonrunoff.com

Negatives: It gets very busy at lunchtime, and there aren’t many tables. They need to expand, and we don’t mean into Noho. While the cakes and brownies are a ten out of ten, the savouries are more like a 7.5, and their salads can be a little on the greasy side. Mark, Sally the baker’s partner and front of house, has the nicest manner of anyone you’ll meet in a Kennington shop but see TripAdvisor for some rather extreme views of other staff (we’re used to it now, and anyway, even if they pelted us with Borodino loaves on arrival, we’d still go).

Sally White interior, kenningtonrunoff.com

Hygiene rating: 4 out of 5

Address: 353 Kennington Road, London SE11 4QE

Website

Come back next Sunday to see what’s at no. 4.

Kennington Bakery

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Butcher, baker, candlestick maker? Kennington has them all, and now we have a baker of organic sourdough breads as well – Kennington Bakery.

Kennington Bakery contact details

John will bake your choice of loaf to order then leave it for collection in the afternoons from various locations around Kennington. They’re also stocked by Italo Deli, Sally White and the Kennington Coffee Shop.

His full range of breads is here, and will expand over time. As you can tell from his descriptions, John really knows his bread, and if you can describe it, the chances are he’ll be able to bake it for you flawlessly.

Our favourites so far are the Saratoga, a “San Francisco-style” sourdough:

Kennington Bakery Saratoga - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Agincourt, “An open crumb white loaf similar to a French Pain au Levain. But better.”:

Kennington Bakery Agincourt with organic stoneground flours, wheat leaven and Cornish sea salt - kenningtonrunoff.com

The Blenheim is great too for fans of caraway, and for those avoiding wheat, some of his breads are 100% rye.

John is primarily a baker of bread but he also did some mean hot cross buns earlier in the year:

hot cross bun from Kennington Bakery - kenningtonrunoff.com

Oh, and we like their flier, clearly inspired by Peter Saville’s work for Factory Records:

Kennington Bakery image of bread

This morning (Saturday) you can meet John and sample his wears on a stall outside Sally White. This was his stall at the Kennington Village Fete:

Kennington Bakery at the Kennington Village Fete - kenningtonrunoff.com

 

last minute Christmas shopping ideas, and the qubes at Marcel & Sons

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If you have left your Christmas shopping to the last minute but don’t fancy leaving Kennington for the madness of Oxford Street then fear not, we have suggestions for you.

Sally White are doing Christmas hampers containing six mince pies, a Christmas pudding, a Christmas cake loaf and a robin (not a real one) for £37. They’re open tomorrow and Tuesday daytime.

The Beefeater Gin Distillery’s visitor centre is open every day except Christmas Day and has an extensive gift shop for the patriotic gin lover in your life.

Windmill Flowers have a range of Christmas gifts for plant lovers, plus chocolates and toiletries, and they’re normally open on Christmas Eve although we haven’t checked that.

We buy loads of gifts from the Kennington Bookshop and their Twitter has lots of ideas for presents. If you want to avoid buying from Amazon, they can normally get any book in the next day, but you’ve missed the boat for that this Christmas so you’ll be limited to what they have instore. They also sell wrapping paper.

LASSCO is open until 5pm on December 23rd and they have gift ideas for here for under £300 (if that sounds expensive then bear in mind this is the shop where an antique bath could set you back the best part of £10k).

And in our rave review of Marcel & Sons, we barely mentioned that as well as serving delicious Mauritian street food, they double up as a showroom selling a range of interesting artisanal gifts on behalf of boutique start-ups. They’re open until 9pm tonight, Tuesday and Christmas Eve (they’re closed on Mondays).

These are their “qubes” – they have 48 of them – 40cm cubed shelf spaces available to rent from £10 a week:

Qubes at Marcel & Sons - kenningtonrunoff.com

Qubes close up at Marcel & Sons - kenningtonrunoff.com

They also have six cases for jewellery and other valuables:

Jewellry cases at Marcel & Sons - kenningtonrunoff.com

Get them to give you some Mauritian biscuits with your purchase. They’re like mini sponge cakes:

Napolitaine biscuits at Marcel and Sons - kenningtonrunoff.com

Finally, if you’d like to give something to those less fortunate then get along to Waterloo Foodbank, at Lambeth Mission St Mary’s, 3-5 Lambeth Road, SE1 7DQ on Tuesday from 11am to 1pm. They’re looking for donations of in-date, non-perishable foods.

Good luck and have a happy Kennington Christmas.

Let’s revisit our Kennington predictions for 2014 and see how we’re doing

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We predicted that Sally White would provide mindfulness training for all staff – we are very touched to see they now have a book on their counter about mindfulness, although we have noticed occasional lapses in mindfulness towards closing time.

We predicted that Kernel Brewery would open their first pub in the site next to the Old Red Lion – watch this space for something even better for Kennington-based Kernel fans.

We predicted that Waitrose would expand in Kennington; they had their eyes on the site of the Kennington Post Office until that was saved from closure.

We predicted that The Imperial War Museum would reopen with catering from Ottolenghi. We should have said ‘The Imperial War Museum will briefly reopen then close again shortly afterwards for no apparent reason’. Fingers crossed they are just concluding negotiations with our man Yotam for their July relaunch.

We predicted that Russell Brand would perform at Always Be Comedy; it can only be a matter of time.

We predicted that Damien Hirst’s gallery would open in West Kennington – chop chop Damien.

We predicted that Dirty Burger would introduce a veggie burger. This happened! So for our next trick, we predict that Dirty Burger will introduce a veggie burger without mushrooms in BECAUSE MUSHROOMS ARE DISGUSTING, OK.

We predicted that Kevin Spacey would return to the Old Vic – and he will.

We predicted that Florence Welch would launch her guest column for Kennington Runoff by performing Addicted To Love at the Kennington Runoff pop up shop. That was a hint Flo. 300 words please on why you love Kennington to kenningtonrunoff@gmail.com. Deadline December 31st, else we’re giving your slot to Dot Allison.

Florence Welch with Sourberry at South London Pacific

Florence Welch with Sourberry at South London Pacific, warming up for her Kennington Runoff party performance

http://kenningtonrunoff.com/kennington-predictions-for-2014/

Kennington predictions for 2014

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An exciting year for North West Kennington with the opening of Damien Hirst’s gallery and the new Buddhist centre in the Beaufoy Institute.

Sally White will dramatically expand their range of food, open in the evenings, and provide mindfulness training for all staff.

Kernel Brewery will open their first pub in the site next to the Old Red Lion.

Waitrose will take over Tesco’s Kennington “superstore”, The People’s Supermarket will take over Tesco on Kennington Park Road, The Super Store on Kennington Lane will take over Tesco on Kennington Road, and no new Tescos will open anywhere in Kennington.

Ace Hotel will open their second London hotel in the former Days Inn on Kennington Road.

The Imperial War Museum will reopen with catering from Ottolenghi.

Lambeth Palace will open to visitors all year round.

Russell Brand will perform at Always Be Comedy.

Dirty Burger will introduce a veggie burger.

The revitalisation of North Kennington will continue with the Elephant & Castle shopping centre being listed, a Curzon cinema replacing the bingo hall, and a bunch of exciting new bars and restaurants moving in on the Brixton Village model (thanks to Oliver Dee for the suggestions).

Florence Welch will launch her guest column for Kennington Runoff by performing Addicted To Love at the Kennington Runoff pop up shop.

The heroic Mr Kennington People On Bikes will be named London’s new Cycling Superczar. His first action in this new role will be to implement fully segregated cycle lanes (with a physical barrier between car and bike) along all Kennington’s main arteries, which then spread out to Hyde Park, the City and beyond. By summer 2014. If they can build a cable car across the Thames in less than a year, then this is but a moment’s work.

LASSCO will realise the decimal point has been in the wrong place all this time and will start selling their beautiful items for one hundredth of the price.

Papier mache elephant price tag, Lassco - kenningtonrunoff.com