London Travel Answers

Vauxhall is well served by buses and tubes, and many residents commute to the city centre from there as there are many flats. The area is well known for its gay community which is the biggest in London, lots of gay clubs and bars, and good restaurants.As in any big city you should take normal safety precautions, avoid dark corners and look confident of where you are going. Please check www.enwikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall for more info regarding Vauxhall. Hope this is helpful to you and should you continue to use this website it might be a good idea to edit your profile so we may know your interests, hobbies etc.

I used to work about two minutes walk from Vauxhall Tube (left three years ago so the nformation is that old, sorry). David is spot on in his assessment so I'll only add a few things. As well as the above-mentioned gay scene there are quite a number of nightclubs (gay and straight) in the area, mostly in the railway arches. This can lead to lots of less than sober young people being on the streets if you happen to be out very late at night or indeed early in the morning. You may also find beggars around the station area, one or two of whom can be aggressive, but you can get that in any city in the world. I would just add a couple of specific suggestion. If you want an absolutely superb little cafe with a great range of food, try the Kennington Lane Cafe at 383 Kennington Lane. The food is superb and the staff really friendly. Further East in Kennington Lane (number 332) is an excellent Indian restaurant called Coriander. Here is a link. The business lunches and buffets offer excellent value for central London. thecoriander.com/vauxhall-co... For something a little different I would suggest the O Caipira Brazilian restaurant at 51 South Lambeth Road. I only ever ate there once but I was very happy with it. I am no expert on Brazilian food so I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the fare, but it was very tasty. Be aware that the largest pub in the area, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, is one of the most prominent gay establishments in London if this is a consideration for you. The Beehive at the junction of Harleyford Road and Durham Street is an OK pub, quite large and comfy but a bit soulless, mostly frequented by office workers in the early evening. My best tip for a bar in that area is a really backstreet place but well worth seeking out and only about ten minutes walk from the station. It is the Vauxhall Griffin in Wyvil Road. It is a brilliant little pub, full of atmosphere and it does food and has some entertainment as well. Here is a link. http://www.thevauxhallgriffin.com/ Hope this assists, fergy.

Just to reitterate what others have said really. I used to live in Stockwell and used to walk into central London passing through Vauxhall. Whilst lovely in the day (great views along the Thames) be a little cautious around the bus station at night; being a large hub for changing of course you're going to get lots of drunk people changing busses so just be careful, I've never had any problems but I guess it depends what you're used to. I seem to recall there was a Big Issue centre (this company gets homeless people selling magazines, The Big Issue, for a bit of income) so there are lots of homeless in the area. Again, I've never had a problem there just thought I'd mention it. You may be lucky and be there when the car book sale / market is on at the New Covent Graden Flower Market (the name belies the fact that it's in Vauxhall) Sorry if Fergy's mentioned it (I wish I could still see other's replies when answering!) but there's some nice delis, bakeries and grocers on South Lambeth Rd (also has the South Lambeth Library if you wanted free use of internet on their PCs) and a Sainsbury's if you wanted a large supermarket to keep costs down.

Thank you so much for your reply and message. I have never used an internet forum for anything in my entire life ( I am not much of a facebook/chatroom/internet ind of gal, but I got some helpful replies. And Yes! I do live in Anchorage AK. You should come up and see us, it is an incredible place to visit. To live too! Ellen

No problem Ellen, that is what we are here for. I hope you decide to stick around VT, it is a very friendly site even if you are not so used to using websites and suchlike. Also, there is a group of VT members known as London-Calling (we have our own page here) who have meetings and you would be most welcome when you are in London. Check out the mmet members / meetings and events page on the site for details. Also, if I am in town I usually have some time on my hands and would be more than happy to meet up and show you around if you like. Why don't you make a few pages about Anchorage for other members to read? I am sure you have lots of good local information to share.

kennington (a short walk from vauxhall) is ace, i lived there for ages. the best pub experience in the area is cleaver square. the POW is in the corner and you can sit around the square and have drinks. gmap: 51.48789,-0.109113 the dog house is over the road, and across from that is the tommyfield which is really good gastro pub. the kennington tandoori is right there also: kenningtontandoori.com/news.... vauxhall itself is a bit diappointing if you dont like licking your eyelids and dancing all night. this place is good though: http://www.theblackdogvauxhall.com/ you can get to clapham really easily from where you are too which has loads of stuff to do.

I would second the suggestion of the Doghouse, although I have only been there a couple of times but it seemed like a decent enough pub. I can't comment on the rest of the places as I don't know them.