Tag Archives: TfL

Mystery of the Vacant Lot

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Ever wondered about the existence and future of that giant gravelled eyesore of a vacant lot next to the Beefeater Distillery in Montford place? Well we’ve just been on a tour with the developers and we’re here to fill you in on what’s in store

For many years the site was occupied by Hayward’s pickle factory until it was partially destroyed in 1944. The bit that survived lives on as the Beefeater Factory. After changing hands a number of times, the lot next to it was purchased by TfL in order to have a place to store equipment and lorries working on the Northern Line extension. TfL have now partnered with Grainger Homes to deliver 139 homes, 40% of which will be dedicated to affordable living. It will be 11 floors and occupy most of the footprint of the site, with grasses and trees included. Construction will started by the end of 2023 and it will be called Montford Mews

Not what it will look like, This is the pickle factory

My first question to very peppy and well informed TfL developer Susanne is probably the question that almost all Runoff readers are thinking right now. Namely, what do you call ‘affordable’ and why is it that only people in high earning jobs appear to be living in these allegedly affordable flats? She said that Lambeth Living determine what is affordable and it is usually between 40 to 60% of the market rate. She added that people are allocated the flats based on their earnings the previous year and preference is given for people already living or working in Lambeth. 

  • Gripping site photos

On our previous tours of Oval Village across the road we asked about access to the general public and if people will offer a short cut between Kennington Lane and the Oval. They confirmed that it will, and Susanne confirmed that the public will be able to walk through the Montford site as well. There will be businesses on the ground floor, but they will be light industrial (ie offices). We were heartened to discover that the affordable living people living in the affordable flats will have access to the same amenities (gym, etc) as folks paying the full whack.  

Susanne also mentioned another very similar project that will see 450 (!!) new homes built above Nine Elms tube station. However, dear reader, it was long ago we became unable to keep up with the vertical insanity of Vauxhall,  so if you want more details click here.

Planning permission has been granted for both the Montfort and Nine Elms sites. But please don’t ask us to weigh in on planning consent as we did that once and we still can’t get that toothpaste back in it’s tube. 

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Runoff Rides the Tube

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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

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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! 

Screenshot 2020-04-03 at 15.45.37

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 tube, you 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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