Is Kennington, London a safe, nice place to live?

Question

Specifically the area around Oval cricket ground. Also, is there much to do there? Is it a convenient location?

Answer 1

I just moved away from there after a year and a half. It's a nice middle-class sort of place to live. Good Tesco supermarket just behind the Oval (which got a bit noisy during the Ashes). Other local shopping I found a bit limited. There's Elephant and Castle shopping centre about 10-15 minutes walk away with small Tesco, Iceland, WHSmith, etc., but I found it all a bit run down.

I lived about a half minute walk east of Kennington Park, which is very nice for running, lounging, football, playing with the dog in the dedicated dog space, etc. There are also other parks, larger and smaller, throughout the area like Burgess Park. Some good pubs. Nearest cinemas are the Ritzy in Brixton and the Peckham multiplex, but the Northern Line takes you right into Leicester Square and the hundreds of theatres and cinemas in the West end.

I was about equidistant from Oval and Kennington tube stations on the Northern Line. Northern line is very convenient IF IT'S RUNNING, which is by no means guaranteed. It is notoriously unstable and hard to navigate until you get used to the two branches. It's also a deathly inferno during the summer. I'd walk to work in Clerkenwell north of the City everyday and it took about 45 minutes each way. Cycling would be easy.

Be aware that main roads like Kennington Park Road and Kennington Road can be pretty noisy. But it gets quiet fairly quickly as you move away from them. Southwark Council is usually very good and very helpful. Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

Cheers!

Answer 2

The St. John's Wood area is a safe nice place to live. If you want to do something - you take the Tube or the Bus.

Answer 3

Fairly safe and nice place to live. Its only 10 minutes to central London and only 10 minutes walking to Westminster.

All the best!/