Blog — South London Club

Behind The Names: London Borough of Lewisham

Behind The Names: London Borough of Lewisham

Have you ever wondered why an area of South London is called what it is? We have, and we'll be damned if we don't find the answers. In this new series, we're going to try to provide you with answers as to why areas of South London are called what they are. We thought about focusing on quite precise area, but it seems that the answers are normally rather short, so we though we'd do it borough by borough. To make things as simple as possible we're, by and large, using the wards that Lewisham is split into for elections - with the additions of a couple of the other curious names in the area. Sadly we couldn't find the origins for every area, and those which we could not we did not include.

A Brief History of Cricket In South London

A Brief History of Cricket In South London

This week the Oval in Kennington, South London's premier cricket ground, is celebrating hosting its 100th test match when England play South Africa. It is now one of only four cricket grounds across the world to have done this. Though one would prefer for England to win the test, it will be a joyous occasion regardless of the result. To coincide with this milestone, we thought it would be suitable to provide our own brief history of cricket in South London - we should stress, it is brief.

Top 10 South London Parks

Top 10 South London Parks

You showed us guys. You showed us right up. Here we were thinking we had you lot sussed, thinking we knew what you were like - thinking you liked a moan. The quantity of votes we received for this poll has been quite staggering, almost moving in all honesty, the amount of love people clearly feel for the parks of South London is a really great thing. Before we get started in revealing the results of the poll, we've got a few things to settle first, namely explaining as to why your favourite park wasn't included. Parks are rather personal places, and we couldn't include every park in South London - there are loads, trust us. We tried to make the spread as fair as possible, to increase the likelihood that individuals from all parts South London had visited at least a couple of these parks. We're not questioning the greatness of your local park, not for one moment, we just tried to include the parks we thought were both the most attractive and most likely to have been visited by most people from the most areas of South London. Anyway, enough of that, we've got a Top 10 to countdown, and we'll be beginning, as before, at number 10. So here it is, the Top 10 South London parks, as voted for by you.

A Brief History of The Yorkshire Grey

A Brief History of The Yorkshire Grey

Many of you reading this may be wondering why we're doing a history of what is now a McDonalds and a roundabout. While we would really love to talk about the roundabout, and it may feature on a future poll to decide what is South London's best roundabout, we are going to talk about the building's past as a pub. Located between Eltham and Lee on the Eltham Road (part of the majestic South Circular), the Yorkshire Grey was, for a long period, one of the more infamous pubs in all of South East London.

11 Best Indian Restaurants In South London

11 Best Indian Restaurants In South London

The earliest known dedicated Indian restaurant opened in the United Kingdom was the Hindostanee Coffee House on George Street in Westminster, owned and run by one Sake Dean Mahomed, and which began trading in 1810. Though Britain apparently already had a taste for curry by this point, as shown by the fact that curried dishes were included in cookbooks published during the eighteenth century, the Hindostanee Coffee House apparently closed only a year after opening due to a lack of business - though some accounts suggest it continued trading till 1833. To put this into context, the first outlet dedicated to selling the dish now most synonymous with the UK - fish and chips - opened during the 1860s. Curry has become a staple of the British diet, and is easily one of the most popular 'takeaway' foods commonly served in the UK. Almost everyone has a favourite curry dish, and a favourite curry restaurant. We're not going to try to change that, but maybe you're thinking about trying somewhere new, and if you are, we've got you covered. To help you get your search started, here is our list of the 11 best Indian restaurants in South London.

Blue Plaques of Peckham

Blue Plaques of Peckham

We thought it was high time we did a list of the blue plaques of one of South London's most well-known areas - Peckham. There is no doubt that Peckham is up there with Wimbledon and Greenwich as one of the place names most synonymous with South London, and this maybe down somewhat to the success of the sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which, as most of you probably know, was set in Peckham. A lot like much of South London, Peckham has a relatively low number of blue plaques, and there are actually only 3 'official' blue plaques in the whole area. Alongside these 'official' plaques, which are part of the scheme run by English Heritage and the London County Council before them, there are also plaques voted for by the people of Southwark. Though these are also blue, they don't have quite the same status as the others, but we thought we'd include them anyway because the people and things they commemorate are still significant. We have made it clear, however, whichplaques are Southwark plaques. So, without much further ado, here is our list of the blue plaques of Peckham.

7 Best Independent Clothes Shops in Brixton

7 Best Independent Clothes Shops in Brixton

Accidentally wearing the same clothes as someone else is terrifying. No, not just a similar outfits, we're talking about actually wearing the same garment as someone else, and then both of you recognising this. You don't actually have to be wearing the said clothes for this to happen - have you ever seen someone else wearing an item of clothing that you own? We have, and it's a chastening experience. There is a very simple reason as to why this happens, oh so simple, and it's that we're all buying our clothes from the same sodding shops! The best way to avoid this is to avoid the major big brands, avoid them like the plague, and instead head to local independent clothes shops. Not only do these shops stock a wide variety of great clothes, they tend to stock much smaller brands, and sometimes their in-house labels as well. Not only does this make it more likely that no one else is wearing the same threads as you, it also means you're contributing more directly to the local economy. Anyway, to get you started we thought we'd give a rundown of what we think are the 7 best independent clothes shops in Brixton.

All-Time South London XI!

All-Time South London XI!

We read a statistic last year that said, in 2016, 14% of English footballers in the Premier League were from South London. That got us thinking, who are the best players from South London? Then we thought, what if we were to assemble a team of the greatest players to come from the wondrous land of South London? South London being defined as any London Borough south of the River Thames. Now, for fairness, to define a player from South London, we thought we would include both players born in South London and players brought up in South London. So this means if a player was both in South London, they are from South London and if they were born away from South London, but brought up in South London, then they are also from South London. So there are players in this list who were born in South London, but brought up elsewhere, and also players born outside South London, but brought up here. We should stress that this is our XI, and you have every right to disagree with it. If you do, as is very likely, we would welcome your suggestions to players who should be included. Anyway, here it is, our all-time South London XI

17 Best Florists In South London

17 Best Florists In South London

Florists are useful for quite a number of occasions - weddings and funeral particularly, but there remit is not limited to those sorts of events. In fact, most florists will cover all your flower needs. We admire good flowers at South London Club, we recognise the importance of a good florist, and the effect that flowers can have on the atmosphere of a room, and so and so forth. We're not just about recommending good places to have food, we're about supporting independent businesses of all kinds, and South London has plethora of fantastic florists to choose from. We've decided it's about time that we gave you a rundown of what we think are the 17 best florists in London, and hopefully our list will prove useful should you need the services of a florist in the near future.

A Brief History Of The Woolwich Ferry

A Brief History Of The Woolwich Ferry

For those who don't know, the Woolwich Ferry is a free ferry service that connects Woolwich on the south side of the Thames, with North Woolwich on the north side. Like doing a history of the Greenwich and Woolwich Foot Tunnels, some might argue that the Woolwich Ferry really exists across the Thames, however, like the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, it's named after Woolwich, which is in South London. No North London, you can't have the Woolwich Ferry - you already took Woolwich Arsenal (when was there ever an actual arsenal in Holloway Road we ask?). This is all very brash fighting talk and, as you'll see, we're going to have to backtrack pretty hard on it after this first glorious image of the Woolwich Ferry, but for the time being, we'll maintain our stance as we begin a brief history of the Woolwich Ferry.