Property

Is Kennington Lane London’s gayest thoroughfare? Starting out from queer cabaret mecca the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (No 372; 020 7840 0596), it can certainly seem that way, with the blacked-out South Central (No 349; 020 7793 0903), home of self-explanatory nights like Chunk, and fetish haunt The Fringe (No 330) literally a block away. Even tiny local boozer the Little Apple (No 98; 020 7735 2039) flies the rainbow flag. However, anyone thinking of heading south for a life of singleton debauchery in ‘Vauxhall Village’ should be warned: one-bedroom bachelor pads in this Zone 1 enclave are expensive and hard to find.

The area is more characterised by a mix of terraced Georgian family homes, 1930s mansion blocks (the sprawling, 34-block Vauxhall Gardens estate) and – at the Elephant & Castle end – a fairly forlorn run of ’60s council flats. Of the side roads, Tyers Street offers residents the unique sensation of walking to the tube past giant exotic breeds of rabbit as it’s home to Vauxhall City Farm. On streets south of Kennington Lane, the sights are more prosaic: two giant gasometers, the modern curves of the Oval cricket ground, and lots of light industrial units.

Like the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the impressively austere St Peter’s Church (No 310) is blackened by traffic. Built in 1863 by John Loughborough Pearson, designer of Truro Cathedral, it originally incorporated an orphanage, clothes workshop and art school. Demonstrating similarly lofty ambitions is the relocated Lilian Baylis Technology School (No 323). Conservative front-bencher Oliver Letwin might have rather ‘begged in the gutter’ than send his children here, but in 2005 it was rated as the ‘most improved’ comprehensive in London. The only other building of any scale is a typically vulgar (but much-needed) branch of Tesco.

Most of the really characterful property is to be found halfway down the Lane, around the crossroads with Kennington Road. It’s here that the Black Prince built Kennington Palace in the fourteenth century. And though there are no signs of it today, the Duchy of Cornwall still owned 45 acres around these parts up to 1990, including the splendid cottages of Courtenay Street. With trailing ivy, arched windows and matching white, wrought iron entrances, this is the chocolate-box London of Richard Curtis films with Big Ben twinkling in the distance. The street’s proximity to Parliament gives an idea of the kind of residents it attracts, though there are some cheaper terraces further along. All the neat, adjoining Courtenay Square lacks is a pub, something that the nearby – and equally pricey – Cleaver Square can boast in the excellent Prince Of Wales (No 48; 020 7735 9916). Those seeking similar period grandeur but just the one bedroom should double back on to Kennington Lane for the Imperial Court development, carved out of the grand, pavilion-like Licensed Victuallers’ School.

The villagey feel of the squares is maintained by Windmill Row just before the crossroads, with artist Elizabeth Cope’s Open Studio striving to lend it a bohemian air, though the antiques shop next door has now closed. All around the tiny Triangle Estate the shops have colourful façades. In the summer, Thai Silk (1 Windmill Row; 020 7735 9338) grills meat and seafood in a rear courtyard and many of the houses have blooming balconies, just visible from street level.

(click to enlarge) A The Dog House B The White Hart C Courtenay Square D Imperial Court E Lilian Baylis Technology School

Though there are popular eateries at the Vauxhall end (the giant Café Parma, 020 7735 3349; the El Dorado tapas bar, 020 7820 6688), and straight pubs, too (The Pilgrim, 020 7793 8811; the Royal Oak, 020 7735 1984), if there is a ‘centre’ to Kennington, the crossroads is it. New-ish gastropub the White Hart (No 185; 020 7735 1061) competes with the much-loved Dog House (203 Kennington Rd; 020 7820 9310) across the road for local drinkers’ affections.

Restaurant-wise, although modern-British carnivores’ paradise Franklins (Nos 205-209; 020 7793 8313) offers teal on the menu, it’s a tall order competing with the Kennington Tandoori (313 Kennington Rd; 020 7735 2447), as endorsed by Ann Widdecombe, Kenneth Clarke and, um, Steve Lamacq. There’s also a branch of Pizza Express (316 Kennington Rd; 020 7820 3877) and a fine chippy in the Windmill Fish Bar (No 211; 020 7582 5754).

The Luftwaffe ensured that Kennington Lane peters out somewhat towards the Elephant end. After a final swathe of impressive Georgian terraces, complete with well-manicured front gardens, comes the Cotton Gardens Estate (two tower blocks and a warren of low-rise property) and a set of equally charmless ’60s flats opposite. A random, nameless charity shop gives this stretch some character, as does the pleasingly ramshackle Liam Og’s Irish pub (140 Newington Butts; 020 7735 1973), but only the defiantly fish-themed Lobster Pot (No 3; 020 7582 5556) – gay in the old-fashioned sense – can compete with the attractions up in the village.

Estate agents
Alan Fraser
(020 7587 1004/www.alanfraser.com).
Bernard Marcus
(020 7735 0922/www.sequencehome.co.uk).
Daniel Cobb
(020 7735 9510/www.danielcobb.co.uk).
Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward
(020 7582 7773/www.kfh.co.uk).
Movingspace.com
(020 7793 1999/www.movingspace.com).
Winkworth
(020 7587 0600/www.winkworth.co.uk).

Transport
Kennington Lane is close to three tube stations – Vauxhall (Victoria Line), Kennington and Elephant & Castle (both Northern Line) – plus Vauxhall and Elephant railway stations. It’s inside Zone 1 and the Congestion Charge zone. The 196 bus takes in Wandsworth, Stockwell and Upper Norwood while, at Kennington Cross, there are buses to Euston, Marble Arch and Liverpool Street.