Kennington Park Reviews Summary

Park Facilities

Pros:

• "Fantastic park, loads of old vintage England history, there is a dog park, peaceful flower garden for help you get away from work, skateboard and bmx park, kids playground, tennis court, hockey court along with toilets and a onsite cafe."
• "With playground, fitness circuit, tennis courts, basketball/netball courts, bring your own bat table tennis, wee skate park, flower garden, wee pond, changing facilities, toilets and café."
• "Mid-size park with plenty of open grassland, outdoor fitness circuit, flower garden, basketball court, tennis courts, table tennis (bring your own bats or rent from the cafe), public toilets and a quirky café."
• "They have a lively playground and for the older kids, tennis and basketball courts."
• "With playground, fitness circuit, tennis, basketball and netball courts, bring your own table tennis rackets for the ping-pong tables, wee skate park, renovated flower garden, wee pond, changing facilities, cafe and toilets."
• "Excellent facility for all ages. Drop in term time play for parents and under 5s along with holiday and after school provision for older children along with fantastic Adventure Playground equipment."
• "It has everything that is needed in park. From a football pitch to badminton court. Flower garden. A cafe, sand pit and kids dedicated area."

Cons:

• "The basketball courts suck. The rims are made of ball repellent, there's no fence so you're either steph curry or you're gonna spend more time fetching the ball than playing, and the surface is made of banana skins."
• "Park is lovely, park toilets are not and that's including the toilets for the children in their children's section. Absolutely horrible."
• "Toilets not very clean must say even gross council should do something about it for the sake of the kids."
• "Edges around the grass need to be maintained better...people need to walk their dogs in the DOG AREA..."
• "All toilets were closed, including those for children. The reason: anti-social behaviour."
• "The only thing I dislike is that in the cricket/sports area people are often making illegal barbecues that smoke up the whole park, and playing really loud music."
• "Beware. Gangs of hooded youths scaling the tennis court and trying to break the door lock."

Cafe and Food

Pros:

• "Stone baked pizza cafe on site."
• "You can buy handmade honey made in the park at the shop behind the cafe."
• "Also, an amazing cafe in the park that does amazing pizzas in their wood-fired oven and great bread and cakes and pastries."
• "Enjoy the delicious ice cream in the cafe for me 🍦🍨"
• "Oh and the cafe served very tasty pizzas!"
• "Lovely park with amazing flower garden plus decent food @ the cafe."
• "The jewel in the crown is the newly open cafe and restaurant. The owners are amazing, the coffee wonderful and the setting delightful!"

Cons:

• "Please Cafe, don't take your customers for fools."
• "There is a cafe/ pizza place in the park. Not the best coffee in the area but friendly staff. Pizzas are fresh and look nice, sometimes can be slightly undercooked."
• "Park also has good hard court football pitches for hire and tennis courts A ping pong table near the toddlers area And finally a extremely over priced cafeteria ran by a$$ holes."
• "The food was terrible and well over price for what it was and it came freezing cold, would never order again."

Accessibility and Location

Pros:

• "In close proximity to The Kennington Monument, St Agnes Church, The Oval Cricket Ground, Imperial War Museum, Harleyford Rd Community Gardens, Bonnington Square Gardens, Vauxhall City Farm, The Albert Embankment, Vauxhall Bridge, Lambeth Palace, The Garden Museum, Lambeth Bridge, and The River Thames."
• "Closest underground stations being oval and Kennington on the northern line."
• "Most easily reached via Oval Tube Station."
• "Excellent bus links to Kings college hospital camberwell, and the south east."
• "Conveniently located minutes away from central London: with London Waterloo, Elephant and Castle station."
• "Nearest stations on the Northern Line Kennington and Oval stations. On the Victoria Line and British Rail Vauxhall. Plus Vauxhall Bus Station."
• "The nearest tube stations are Oval and Kennington, both on the Northern Line."

Cons:

• "It’s not the largest of open areas; a compete loop of the main park will take about 10-15m."
• "Becarful at night this park is not safe."
• "Dodgy park, even signs up warning of reoccurring thefts, would advise against hanging around for too long as the estates nearby attract bad crowds."

Historical Significance

Pros:

• "It's a place with a history - a meeting point for some important political movements and also the site of the worst Civilian disaster in World War II - a shelter that was hit by a direct bomb during the war."
• "King Harthacnut of England and Denmark (son of King Cnut aka Canute of tidal fame) died here in 1041."
• "Kennington Park has a lot of history too! Boasting the nation's first ever public walkway to be lit throughout the entire night, as well as some heart-wrenching WWII history."
• "It was the main place of public executions for the County of Surrey up until the 19th century."
• "Kennington derived from the Saxon word Kyning-tun = Town of the King."
• "Kennington derived from the Saxon word kyning-tun meaning town of the King."
• "During the 1230's Henry 3rd held his Court and Parliament here."

Cons:

• "No cons mentioned regarding historical significance."