2015 will put North West Kennington on the map. This is the area south of Westminster Bridge Road and west of Kennington Road, and it is arguably the least visited, least known part of central London, despite some lovely buildings and smaller parks, Lambeth Palace, and Beaconsfield. Plus it’s yards from Parliament and it has the Thames running down one side.
Old Paradise Gardens, North West Kennington
2014 was already a big year for North West Kennington with tonnes of new riverside developments plus the new look Duchy Arms. 2015 will be even bigger thanks to the opening (finally) of Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery. The gallery will feature works from Damien’s collection including artists such as Francis Bacon, Banksy, Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons, Sarah Lucas and Pablo Picasso. Entry will be free of charge. More info here.
Under the leadership of the entrepreneurial Justin Welby, surely this will be the year that Lambeth Palace opens to the public all year round.
West Kennington (previously known as Vauxhall) will also experience another year of change and growth. We are cautiously optimistic about the plans for the gyratory. New housing developments will lead to more scenes of sheikhs looking bemused as clubbers pass them on the way home.
Watch out Russell Norman – Counter – a new restaurant in the arches near Vauxhall station – will open soon and looks set to be a new entry in our Best Restaurants in Kennington list.
Come back tomorrow for our central Kennington predictions for 2015.
Northwest Kennington? Isn’t this the area formerly known as “Lambeth”? And now we learn that Kennington is encroaching on Vauxhall and even Elephant and Castle! I wonder why some consider it necessary to abandon perfectly good (and historic) place names, in favour of another simply because it sounds a bit “posher”. Is this something driven by estate agents, who conspired to expand Chelsea until it engulfed Fulham?
“Kennington” has always had fairly imprecise boundaries, but for greater precision and honesty can we revert to describing it as the area covered by the former Manor of Kennington, which is essentially just the bit down at Kennington Cross? I live on Kennington Road, but prefer not to associate myself with “those people down the road”. My house is within the boundary of the former Parish of St Mary, LAMBETH, and when people enquire, that is where I tell them I live. With pride.
Good for you Jonathan, but it’s now called North West Kennington as you can see on this Official Map: http://kenningtonrunoff.com/category/mapping-kennington/