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Brockwell Park

Brockwell Park, SE24
Brockwell Park is a much-needed slab of green – 84 acres of it – just south of Brixton. Locals from Herne Hill, Tulse Hill and Brixton flock here in summer to sun worship (if they’re lucky), fly kites, swim in the outside pool, play football and parade a stunning array of really rather vicious dogs. It’s big, diverse and interesting, with numerous areas to appeal to different tastes, from the calm, rolling meadows around Tulse Hill to the sloped football pitches by the Dulwich Road (a nightmare for any visiting team). It also has an excellent range of facilities and an active users’ society, the Friends of Brockwell Park.

Getting in 8/10
It’s easy enough to find: a short walk from Brixton tube and even shorter one from Herne Hill rail. It’s also popular with cyclists, who display their customary civility and lack of selfishness when confronted by pedestrians, pets and small children on scooters. For hardcore bikers, there’s a BMX track. Feature continues

History 7/10
Brockwell Park was opened to the public in 1891 by the LCC. Before that, it was the grounds of Brockwell Hall, the current version of which dates from 1811 and is Grade II listed. The hall still stands in the centre of the park and is now a slightly dilapidated place to purchase tea, cakes and excellent ice-cream. The famous lido was built in 1937 and after a difficult decade has been restored to its original beauty.

Brockwell Park occupies an important part of south London’s cultural history: it hosted London’s second Rock Against Racism concert in 1978 (Stiff Little Fingers, Aswad and Elvis Costello), a GLC-funded free festival (featuring The Fall, Spear of Destiny and the Damned) in 1984 and a massive Anti-Nazi League concert and demo in 1994, a response to the election of a BNP councillor in Tower Hamlets and perhaps the last major anti-fascist march in the capital.

And there’s more. The Red House Painters wrote a song called ‘Brockwell Park’, the lido was the focus of Lucy Blakstad’s award-winning BBC film ‘Lido’ in 1996 and the pool also featured prominently in Vanilla’s rather astonishing ‘No Way, No Way’ video. Despite all this, the park faces an uncertain future: the council wants to cut a chunk out of the main entrance to build a new road junction. To complain, see www.brockwellpark.com.

Park life 10/10
Facilities here are excellent: the aforementioned BMX track, its tennis courts, free bowling green, café with decent toilets, basketball court, miniature railway, open-air swimming pool with gym, community greenhouses, duck pond, paddling pool, Whippersnappers club for young children and the best children’s playground in the south. Oh, and there’s also a lovely walled rose garden, formerly Brockwell Hall’s kitchen garden.

Fun stuff 8/10
Brockwell Park is a regular host to Zippo’s Circus, and occasionally puts on a slightly straggly fairground, but its keynote event each year is the Lambeth Country Show, a sensational mix of village fête, city farm, reggae concert and vegetable sculpture gallery that draws crowds from miles around as south London’s biggest free festival. There’s also an impressive fireworks display to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, and occasional open-air theatre and outdoor concerts throughout the summer.

Landmarks 3/10
Other than Brockwell Hall (which actually isn’t all that attractive) and the art deco lido, there’s not much to report here. But who goes to parks to look at architecture? Peter Watts

Total: 36/50

Brockwell Park, Norwood Rd, SE24 (020 7926 9000/www.lambeth.gov.uk; www.brockwellpark.com). Brixton tube then 3, 37, 196, 322 bus or Herne Hill rail. Open 7.30am-sunset.

Clissold | Springfield | Battersea | Ravenscourt | Gladstone | Brockwell Finsbury | Victoria