Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

[Brandenburger Toro]

I'm moving to Stockwell in about two weeks. My friend who I'll be living with has been in the area for a while, so there's a fair bit of local knowledge. But she wouldn't necessarily know takeaways, or pub-type-pubs, or, y'know, stuff.

So, who knows good stuff in the area? And who are my OTF neighbours?

[rick derris]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

I have been to that swan place. quite a few years ago

[EIM]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

You're not too far from me, Toro. Nor are you very far from Southwark, which is the centre of all things I find amusing in London. Though that depends what you're in to, I guess. I don't know much about churches and staggering levels of pedantry and semantic argument, so I don't know where you'll hang out. Ridiculously cheap strip bars, and 24 hour drinking establishments owned by Serbian gangsters all suffering from a condition known as 'sinper's eye', though, and I'm your man.

[ursus arctos]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

And during daylight hours he can hang with E10 Rifle at the Oval.

The two men just need to find a dog, but they are resourceful types.

[Gangster Octopus]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Can you speak Portuguese?

[Er Liquidatore]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Christ GO, you don't want him shot do you?

[thom]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Didn't Justin's chess club meet somewhere in the Stockwell area?

[Gangster Octopus]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Ha, Liq, I hadn't thought of that. No, it's just that there's a reasonably large Portuguese community in Vauxhall.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Stockwell, eh - good luck, mate!!!

(As mentioned, The Swan, opposite the Tube station is a decent night out.)

[David Agnew]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

(If you're looking for a meat market)

[Nocturnal Submission]

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Harsh but fair.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Yeah, the South Lambeth Road is known as Little Portugal (to estate agents, if not to actual people).

You're slap-bang in the middle of my patch, toro. At one point I lived on the Lambeth Walk, ran across Lambeth Bridge every morning and then went to work for Lambeth Council, and you're in the heart of the borough.

Stockwell's an ugly place on the whole, but it sounds like you'll be at the Vauxhall end which has more of the nicer buildings. You're really central and have brilliant transport connections, though, and won't have to pay stupid rent. Whatever you do, don't go to The Swan. Unless you like theme park Irish pubs which myteriously attract all the southern-hemisphere residents of Wimbledon to get cunted till 6am while shouting U2 at you.

Brixton's to the south of you, and has one of the best cinemas in the city - The Ritzy - plus restaurants, bars and wotnot. It's basically the promised land, which is why the pavements are always clogged up with pissed-off people waiting for buses and gold-teethed gentlemen calling you a "skunk". They just want to be part of the scene.

Clapham's to the south west of you, and has the vast and lovely Common, some posh people and a big Sainsbury's. And a nightclub even more harrowing than the Swan: Infernos.

Kennington's to the east of you, and has some nice pubs - it's great for a Sunday slide into oblivion away from the numbers. (The Dog House is pretty nice, and there's a good real-ale kind of place tucked away on Cleaver Square near the courts.)

Vauxhall's a weird place: a massive tangle of roads with the beacon-like Vauxhall Tavern, hub of the south London gay scene, obscuring the Spring Gardens. They used to be the world-famous "pleasure gardens", which started off full of opera and hot air balloons but soon became all about the whores; now they're home to some of the most terrifyingly hardcore clubbers you'll ever encounter. And some Llamas (there's a city farm there).

Weirdly, a lot of people who live in your area don't realise they're only about a 10/20 minute walk from the river, and the best central bit of it if you want some peace and quiet: the stretch between New Covent Garden Market and Westminster Bridge, which the tourists never take over. The Museum of Garden History (next to Lambeth Palace) is a great secret spot to have a coffee in if you want respite from the South Bank hordes.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Whatever you do, don't go to The Swan.

Spoil my fun, why don't you!

[Andy C]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Weirdly, a lot of people who live in your area don't realise they're only about a 10/20 minute walk from the river

And Tate Britain's just over the bridge.

You're well placed for the best tango salon in London, which happens every other Sunday at the Bedford in Balham.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

I had a visual gag juxtaposing a picture of jean charles de menezes and that picture from back in the day when toro was shooting british soldiers from behind hedges in south armagh, but that picture appears to have been wiped from the internet, so a mild tittering opportunity has been lost.

Are you going to be living with MOK toro?

[steveeeeeeeee]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

I lived on Lansdowne Way in Stockwell for 2 years, it's a great place. The pub Justin used to frequent is The Priory Arms, the beer is good but I always found the landlord to be a bit of a wanker, he wouldn't serve me once because I was wearing a vest.

There was an indian take away called "Taste of Raj" at the top of Lansdowne Way, near the tube station that was quality. I think Wandsworth Rd is at the bottom of the street, there's loads of good cafes and off-licenses there. There was a strange corner shop owned by a old guy from Guyana called Solomon. He'd serve you beer at anytime of the night as long as you could wake him up, many times all he had left was Special Brew mind, but when you're desperate you'll take what you can get.

And as not me said, it takes about 40 minutes to walk to Trafalgar Square (about 10 by bike) so you're really central. I used to love the fact that if I was a bit short on cash in the west end I could just walk home along the river in next to no time.

[Gangster Octopus]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

steveeeeeeeee wrote:

he wouldn't serve me once because I was wearing a vest.

I don't blame him, you big puff...

[Brandenburger Toro]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Thanks, all. Keep it coming.

I've already been warned off The Swan twice. I'm intrigued now.

AIATL - yes, the delightful and fragrant MOK.

Not Me - Actually, I'm about 400 yards from Stockwell tube. It's the Stockwell end of Stockwell. But I had walked there through Vauxhall when I wrote, and it was also the nearby part I'd heard of most (albeit primarily because of the cars, I suppose), so put it down unthinkingly...

[San Bernardhinault]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

I vaguely remember the Prince Albert on Albert Square being nice, but that was a long time ago. The stuff up at the Kennington End is what I'm more familiar with. The Prince of Wales on Cleaver Square is a good summer pub. The Polar Bear on Kennington Park Road is weird, and has a theatre in the back. The Jolly Gardeners in Lambeth, on Black Prince Road, has suddenly become a German Bar with loads of fantastic German beer, and bratwurst, and a mix of immigrant German workers and toothless old school Lambeff cockneys who don't seem to quite appreciate what's happened to their pub.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Is the Priory Arms the one with a multitude of real ale beer mats above the bar, Steveeeee? I got dragged there for a few hours before seeing a late-night Kraftwerk gig at the Academy a few years ago; a real night of two halves, that one.

[Pants]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

In addition to the excellent Ritzy Cinema in Brixton already mentioned by Not Me Boss, you're also near to the Clapham Picture House. Great cinema, that. If you're into food at all, head a little further south one day to Chez Bruce, in Wandsworth. One of the best restaurants in the UK, and the prices aren't too steep. And you're not far from Borough Market, which is still brilliant despite the Nathan Barley factor.

Also, in the area-ish (more Lambeth/Elephant than Stockwell) is the Imperial War Museum. The Holocaust Exhibition there is one of the 10 essential things to see in London.

[San Bernardhinault]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Chez Bruce is just around the corner from the flat I'm buying. And, to my shame, I've still never been in.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

I don't think it's great for churches, Toro. Fair bit of cheap stuff knocked up in the Church of England moral panic of about 1820, some of which were branded as Waterloo churches to make them seem grander. The plainness of these churches is a reaction to the earlier Church of England panic building programme(1711 or thereabouts) which saw some great churches, including 6 by Hawksmoor, but only 13 in total. In 1820 they went for number over quantity. Usually this meant Gothic because it avoided porticos (which were expensive) but for some reason I think your new manor got classical ones- which also look cheap.

If you find another All Saints Margaret Street (the anglo-Catholic one I showed you by Oxford Circus) or more Cocteau murals, let me know.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

To be honest, I think now I'm coming to London, I'm going to learn French just so I can attend Notre Dame de France. I've quite fallen in love with that place since you showed me it, and not just because of the Cocteau...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Stockwell/Vauxhall/that general area advice needed

Well, it's straight up the Northern Line from Stockwell.

In future my tours will be Anglican churches only.