Kennington scaffolding and Kennington Tandoori

One (or several) commentators have asked whether I know why various shops/flats on Kennington Road are covered in scaffolding.  I've made a few enquiries amongst local people in the know, and the answer seems to be that the shops/flats on Kennington Road are having external decoration renewed (paintwork and parapets).  Nothing more exciting than that. 

Also, I've noticed that Kennington Tandoori are gutting the restaurant for a refurbishment.  I haven't had a chance to look at the notice to see how long that will take, but the rumour-mill suggets that they have exciting plans to develop "outside eating" (hopefully not in November!!).  And excitingly, a week ago, I saw workmen in the now-defunct Franklins.  It would be great to hear what the plans are for that location (and whether it's true that the KT emporium will expand there), if anybody has more info.

Kennington Fete

There is lots of SE11 related news to post today... First up, the three wheeled pleb visited Kennington Fete, held in Cleaver Square. This is only the second fete that has been held in recent years, to my knowledge. Not having been able to be there last year, I can't make any comparisons, but it was very well attended this year. The day was warm, but grey, which probably helped.

Stalls included numerous general bric-a-brac and a plant stall whose attendant grew a rather large selection of plants in his own garden. There was a book stall, a flower stall, a steel band from the Archbishop Sumner Primary School and a human fruit machine (which I didn't see in operation, but consisted of a large cardboard structure with children in it). Also, there were food stalls provided by the Lobster Pot (the prawn cocktail, I'm told, was delicious) and Kennington Tandoori. A stall by Franklins displayed some exquisitely decorated fairy cakes. There were about 20 people doing a Tai Chi demonstration at one end (presumably the Tai Chi in the park people, who I've not yet blogged about), a Punch and Judy show / balloon modelling man near the other end, and lots and lots of happy looking people. I don't know if they were resident SE11-ites, or Kennington-ites, or outsiders, but there seemed to be a rather large contingent of the comfortably well-to-do (not surprising considering the location). The whole thing was sponsored by Winkworth, who are to be commended for their contribution to the local area.

I've put the photos up above. I'm afraid I failed to get a picture of the, ahem, attractive lamp shade that two men running one of the bric-a-brack stalls attempted to sell me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! I took general shots, as I rather sought to avoid photographing anybody in particular, but that's somewhat impossible at a fete! Needless to say, if anybody spots themselves and would rather not be in the photo(s), I'm happy to either blur you out or remove the photo from the blog and map completely.