Independent X-Mas Shopping in Greater Kennington 2023

From Panettone to Dog Collars

Before we commence our mega mix of how you can buy gifts for people you love/put up with this Christmas, let’s think about the Greater Kenningtonians out there who are struggling to put food on the table in these difficult times. This year we’re supporting the Secret Santa campaign run by our friends over at the Kennington Association. Last year KA raised funds to give shopping vouchers to 150 local households, with the families chosen by local early needs professionals. To find out more and to donate, click here. If you like the more hands on approach there is a food collection box next to the exit at Tesco in Kennington Lane. 

FOOD AND DRINK

Italo Vauxhall and Mimi’s Deli both have a range of Italian foodie gift ideas including wines, beers, spices, panettone (that’s Italian for ‘stale cake’), oils, cheeses and even posh sauces. Mimi’s has also turned the former seating area into a glitter themed pop up Italian accessory shop in the back, not visible from the road. They also do custom made hampers. As you can see below, the joint is rammed this year.

Mercato Metropolitano has all of the Italian fare outlined above and also features some wine and posh olives in jars . They have wonderful meats and cheeses but if they sit under your tree for the next fortnight until Christmas the smell might rather dampen the Christmas vibe. 

Oval Farmer’s Market Ever thought about buying an edible Christmas gift from our own beloved country market? They stock many things that won’t perish under the tree such as chorizo, chocolates and wine. We’re also concerned that the Market is kind of dying and we need to prevent this. You have two Saturdays before Christmas! 

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 to get your annoying uncle Fred to nod off before the turkey is served. We understand Beefeater’s parent company Pernot Ricard is the opposite of independent, but it’s Christmas so don’t judge us.

Orbit Brewery is our own hidden away little gem of a brewery in Walworth. Online or in person you can buy a range of their lagers, cders, ales, porters, and even socks. And the rumour is true, they sell tzatziki flavoured beer that we can only describe as, well, ‘adventurous’. 

Didi and Franc have gone full tilt in 2023 and are selling custom made hampers to fill with their gorgeous goods. But if, like us, you don’t fit their demographic, you can just buy one of their baskets and fill it with things from the corner shop. And while you’re there you can pick up a panettone at I due Amici next door. Panettone being of course the food that you never actually eat, but just regift at a Christmas party you’ve been invited to.

NON FOOD

 Castle Square  When you think of Christmas shopping the first thing that springs to mind probably isn’t ‘ooh, lets go to the place behind Elephant Station where they keep the bins’. But if you venture there you’ll discover a clutch of independent shops that used to exist in the shopping centre. Great for your younger folk looking for baseball caps, hoodies, clothes, or undergarments to make your bum look either smaller or larger. While there pop over to the retro video game emporium 4 Quarters?

SoLo Craft Fair is a collective of online artists and creatives who run a bricks and mortar shop in Elephant Park. Sixty 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. Things that smell nice seem be dominant this year.

Hound Hut  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. 

Pretty Shiny Shop sit nexts to the (not S&M) Hound Hut and they swaggeringly claim 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. It’s like a giant Christmas explosion in that place. 

Windmill Flowers stocks not just flowers but also collectables and houseware accessories and Mary is in charge to show you the way forward. Mary also has some Christmas trees and accessories for those who haven’t got their act together quite yet.  

Vanilla Black in addition to books also has some nice gift ideas such as cards and stockings and a few food items. We think VB secretly hate us but we’ve moved on with our lives and are plugging them anyway.


QueArts is a sterling little arts and crafts store across from Kennington Park and they also undertake framing. Great for your creative or just bored friends. 

Bee Urban is bee based charity in the middle of Kennington Park (behind the cafe) selling all sorts of honey and honey related things such as candles, fragrances, soaps and even cards. Interesting place to check out even if you don’t buy anything.

Walworth Garden and Urban Botanica While perhaps not the easiest thing to wrap, have you ever considered the gift of houseplants? The charity and juggernaut of horticulture, Walworth Garden are selling cacti, cards and other things in their geodesic dome. While over in Kennington Cross, UB is one of the few places on earth where you can sip your Minor Figures chai latte while browsing Boston ferns.

Always be Comedy , our very own stand up club, is offering your loved one the gift of a comedy E voucher at The Tommyfield. We’ve seen the likes Harry Hill, Al Murray, Sara Pascoe and more. The crowd looks a lot like a casting call to be on ‘The Apprentice’ but you quickly get over that.  

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X Mas Tree Shopping?

Instead of seeing us as the best mythical online publishing powerhouse in Britain, recently people seem to be confusing us with a girl at Waterloo station with a ’can I help’ sash. The question at hand is how to get your hands on a Christmas tree, as the lovely Abraham over at Bouquets and Beans in Kennington Cross is not doing them this year. We’re sensing a middle class existential spasm about to happen here, and we’re on hand to help as we love you.

We can confirm that Windmill Flowers currently have a bevy of Christmas trees outside of their shop, and they can be found in Kennington Cross. Also, an oddly named outfit ‘Clickmas Trees’ is back in the churchyard at St. Mark’s church in Oval. Both places also stock Christmas accessories such as wreaths.  If you know of any other places selling trees please put them in the comments section, as frankly we need to move on with our lives. 

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Wreath Making Fun!

We think that festive wreaths are an unheralded part of the Christmas season. Not only do they look good on your door, but they can also double as a festive tiara or indeed a massive bracelet. And if you’re anything like us, they’re also a hell of a lot easier than putting up a tree that your cat knocks over after a few days. Our crack team of KR investigators have sourced three very local organisations where you can make your own wreath while also helping the community.  

The good folk over at Vauxhall City Farm are once again having a wreath making workshop and they run every Saturday until 11 December.  Whether you prefer a loose and unstructured wreath or a disciplined floral door halo, the sessions last for 2 ½ hours and offer one to one tutelage by staff and maybe even a nosey donkey.  The workshops are pretty dear at £40 but please remember that the money generated goes into supporting the farm and their work with school kids and animals. 

Our pals over at Roots and Shoots in Kennington are hosting their annual wreath making workshop on 3 and 4 December at 1pm and 4pm. Of course Roots and Shoots know a thing or two about plants, so expect guidance that will empower you to make your own wreaths in years to come. It is £50, but the cost enticingly includes ‘minced pies and mulled wine galore’, so imagine all the creative fun you can have after knocking back five or six.  As with the City Farm, all proceeds go to supporting their work in the community and apprentice schemes for vulnerable youth.  

Finally. On Friday, 29 November The Fentiman Arms in Vauxhall/Oval will be hosting their own wreath making workshop with a masterclass from our own Mary from Windmill Flowers who will supply all the mistletoe and ribbons you need. This is coming in at £45 but hopefully this will include some free treats.  The Fentiman holds a special place in the hearts of Runoff staff as it used to be the venue of our staff Christmas parties until senior management decided to downscale to a venue that we are not allowed to mention for legal reasons.  *shuffles papers and leaves the room*. 

X Mas shopping in Kennington #2

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!

Windmill Mary

Last week we had a botanically themed exchange with  Mary Wallicott of Windmill Flowers.  Windmill Flowers in Windmill Row has been a staple of our knighted shire since 2011, and we were keen to know more about providing flowers in a time of pandemic and how she survived with her shop being closed for a number of months. 

We had always assumed that ‘Windmill Mary’ actually lived above her shop in a sort of floral Disneyworld. However, she and her husband actually live in Courtney St. Locals have always provided the backbone to Mary’s business,  and  local support helped her a great deal during lockdown, with noted support just before shops closed in March. During lockdown she undertook ‘click and collect’ and also relied on the use of couriers, and as a result Mother’s Day was better than expected. However, providing flowers for Oval Cricket Ground and summer weddings wasn’t possible for obvious reasons. 

As we teeter further towards a life of semi normality, Windmill Flowers is very much open for business and Mary takes orders online, over the phone and in person. Summer is usually more quiet for Mary, but during our chat she had just finished a wedding and was preparing for another. As most bouquets and arrangements are made bespoke, it is probably easier to order for future collection than on the spot, but the latter is possible. She also sells a collection of pots, vases, and flower related objects.  

As Mary is one of those rare creatures who both lives and works locally, we asked her about her favourite spots in Kennington. She enjoys 24 The Oval for a spot of food, Vanilla Black for a spot of brunch, and the Black Prince Pub for an evening drink. With the latter Mary was pleasantly surprised (as I think many of us were) that it actually has an  outside space. As with Mary,  it’s all about shopping locally. 

Windmill Flowers

We’ve been raving about The Boule-In effect set to transform the Windmill Row area of Kennington, but long before The Boule-In or Sally White, there was already a lovely shop on Windmill Row – Windmill Flowers.

Windmill Flowers flowers - kenningtonrunoff.com

They do all the usual things flower shops do, plus some plants and a small but tasteful range of other gifts:

Windmill Flowers gifts - kenningtonrunoff.com

They’re open Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

Windmill Flowers - kenningtonrunoff.com

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

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.