Major new Art Hub development for Kennington and planning permission approved for Pathways at St Anselm's

I've been sitting on this little nugget for ages, but was advised to keep it under my hat.  A year or so ago, 373 Kennington Road (currently the place in which Cactus TV studios are based) was put on the market for £2.7 million, carrying planning permission for residential development on the site.  At the time, I heard a rumour that it had been purchased by new owners who intended to turn into an art gallery, but after that, things went suspiciously quiet...

It has now been brought to my attention that Space Station Sixty Five (a gallery that is currently based in East Dulwich) plan to open a sister gallery in Kennington at 373 Kennington Road.  According to Lambeth Weekender, It will officially open in 2014, but is to host preview shows in the meantime.  The gallery directors note that it will have arts studios, a cafe, a bookshop and a retail centre (so, no residential development, it seems)!  It's being billed as a "community arts hub".  Cheekily, the directors also suggest it will put Kennington on the "London arts map", but arguably, we cornered the arts market some time ago, with the City & Guilds School of Art (Kennington Park Road), Gasworks (Vauxhall Street), Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art (Kennington Road) and Beaconsfield Art Gallery (which is currently being expanded by Damien Hirst, in Newport Street).  Also, I think there's a new gallery planned for Tyers Street in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.  But, it certainly will change the landscape, and bring additional arty folk to Kennington. 

If the Beefeater gin distillers ever manage to pull off their plan to convert the gin factory into a visitor centre, that quiet corner of Kennington would become a hive of activity.  I've no idea what that means for the future of the TV studio, but the site is 1,673 square metres, so it offers quite a few possibilities.  In hard times, the addition of any creative business that might provide employment should be welcomed, and in another coup for Kennington, St Anselm's Church were granted planning permission for their own Pathways project (a combined restaurant, cafe, educational, worship and community hall facility).

In less positive news, it looks as though the 216 Kennington Road Tesco is due to come to fruition soon.

Elephant and Hippo and squatting and Olive Morris

A year or so ago, I noticed that 1 Bowling Green Street (Elephant and Hippo pub) was mentioned in various legal news articles re. the question of regaining possession of the property. I didn't mention it at the time, and the case really only came to any attention because it involved a point of law (whether /any/ court could grant a stay of execution re. gaining possession of a property). The eventual ruling was that any court may indeed grant a stay of execution, but I'm afraid I have failed to figure out who exactly has possession at the moment. I presume that eventually the claimant (Admiral Taverns (Cygnet) Ltd) did win the possession back, (irrespective of how the case went re. the point of law), but I suppose that the question of possession might have had to wait for the Appeal court ruling, and if that's the case, the defendant still has possession.

The pub has theoretically been boarded up for the last year or so. I only noticed because the fabulous elephant and hippo 3D model seemed to disappear from the front. But even before that, it looked rather quiet deserted. In any case, I have heard on the grapevine that the pub is currently squatted. Can anybody advise whether there are plans to turn it into one of those squats that offers community services, in the same vein as The Library House in Camberwell? It seems the Library House have a day in court tomorrow (Jan 18th) and their blog indicates they have asked for supporters to attend an 8am breakfast, if anybody feels like going along... Anyhow, I have often wondered whether the other old pub (the pink one) (formerly The Cricketers) on one side of the Oval is squatted too as have seen movements that might indicate so. If there's lots of squats in SE11, it's all good news, as [notice the badly designed plug], Olive Morris would have agreed.

Who was Olive Morris I hear you asking? (Some people try to answer that question here). She was an amazing, right on lady from Lambeth! She was a campaigner who was well ahead of her time, promoting groups for black women in Lambeth (Brixton specifically) and at the forefront of the Black Panthers and black rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Central to her life at one period was the squat at 121 Railton Road she started occupying in 1972 (and which was occupied by squatters until 1999)! If you want to find out more, why not pop into the Gasworks art exhibition named, "Do you remember Olive Morris?" or check out the Remembering Olive Collective blog, from which I've drawn the above information. The Gas Works gallery is open from Wednesday - Sunday. I went today, and it's great to see that this very important woman is not being forgotten, but it made me wonder how many other brave women from this Borough are waiting to be rediscovered. I know that Olive Morris has a whole administrative building to her name, but I wonder whether she has a blue plaque anywhere...