Wandsworth

Goodbye South West Trains!

Goodbye South West Trains!

At 1.42am on Sunday 20th August, South West Trains headed out of London Waterloo and made its last journey after 21 years of services to Wimbledon, Wandsworth and beyond. You'd be forgiven for sleeping through this bittersweet moment, blissfully unaware. To be honest, we're sure a few people actually on the last ever South West Trains service fell asleep at that hour. Whilst we aren't sure whether it was a particularly notable journey on board, it marks the end of a long franchise, which began in 1996. 

11 Best Butchers In South London

11 Best Butchers In South London

For a foodstuff that makes up a very large part of the diet of a large proportion of the the great people of South London, we don't seem to take much care in the quality of the meat we eat. We're happy to go to the supermarket and buy the pre-packaged meat on the shelves because it's more convenient, and we're not going to damn you for doing it, a lot of the time you've just come home from work and haven't got any food in your fridge. However, we would certainly encourage you to make an effort in purchasing meat of a higher quality as the taste and flavour will certainly make it worthwhile. Butchery is an ancient trade and though almost all large supermarkets will have a butcher in their premises, independent butchers are a great way of supporting the local economy. If you're not sure of where to look for your new local independent butcher, we're here to help you with our list of the 11 best butchers in South London.

14 Best Beer Shops in South London

14 Best Beer Shops in South London

Beer shops are actually quite an old thing, though it might not feel that way. Having gone through something of a lull, plenty of beer shops have been opening up all over London in recent years off the back of the surging craft beer scene. As we all know, and we as showed in our A-Z, South London is home to the best craft breweries in all of London - and the presence of these breweries has led to the opening of some fantastic beer shops. Beer shop operate in a very similar manner to wine sellers, and they are wonderful places to just browse - you know, just stand around looking at stuff you might buy. If you haven't got into the craze that is figuratively sweeping South London, we think it's about time that you did, so to help you get going here is our list of the 14 best beer shops in South London.

7 Best Meals In Balham

7 Best Meals In Balham

For those reading this who don't know, Balham is an area of Wandsworth Borough near the border with Lambeth Borough. Like near neighbour Streatham, Balham (both hams) has been getting better and better in recent years, and the improving gastronomic scene reflects that. We know it's difficult to make a decision on the fly when walking down a street as to where you might want to eat, so we thought that those of you who live in or near Balham might appreciate a rundown of places you might enjoy visiting. We're all about spreading the word about great places to enjoy a meal in South London and encouraging you to invest in independent businesses, so we thought it was about time we gave our list of the 7 best meals in Balham.

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.

13 Best Bike Shops In South London

13 Best Bike Shops In South London

Bicycling as a method of transport for getting round London has grown and grown - something which is only positive. While some cyclists are not as responsible as they should be, it's likely that those individuals would be just as careless behind the wheel of a car, so we should be thankful that they are only in control of a bike. South London Club are firmly behind this clean method of transport which also provides a convenient opportunity to exercise. We understand it can be aggravating as a driver if a cyclist skips a red light, but just bear in mind that if you are involved in a collision - they'll be coming off a lot worse, so maybe be a little more forgiving when in control of a machine that was directly involved in the death of 1,732 people in 2015, and in incidents which caused serious injuries to 22,137 individuals. Anyway, less about that, and more about how useful bike shops are, and how the gradual growth in the number of independent bike shops across South London reflects how many people are now using their bike to get around. We know that a good bike shop is something that many people rely on for repairs and whatnot, so we think it's a good idea to give you our list of the the 13 best bike shops in South London.

Vote For South London's Best Park!

Vote For South London's Best Park!

Parks are vitally important, particularly in urban environments like London. To be able to escape the concrete and steel cage of the city, for just an hour possibly, has to be a good thing. Not that the countryside is for everyone, there are plenty of people who can't stand the slowness, the absence of activity, but to have that sort of space is very good. Below we've provided you with a shortlist of what we think are the best park in South London, and we've tried to make the spread as fair as possible. Obviously all of this is subjective, and we may have missed your favourite park out, for that we can only apologise - we did out best. We tried to make the definition as fair as possible, so if it was defined by the council that runs it as a park, we included it - which explains the presence of Blackheath in the shortlist. We've been asking you guys to vote a bit recently, and you guys have responded really well. We had a vote for South London's Best Train Station, and then we asked you to vote for South London's Worst Train Station - almost twice as many of you voted in the latter poll, than in the former, giving an indicator as to how much us South Londoners like a good moan.  We won't be asking you to vote for South London's worst park though, we don't think that's anything worth celebrating at all - parks as an idea are inherently positive, and should be treated so, regardless of their current state. Anyway, we've included images of the parks below the voting form, have a look at some of those if you need to be reminded what they look like. The voting closes on Thursday 27th July, and the results will be released on Friday 28th July.

11 Best Independent Galleries in South London

11 Best Independent Galleries in South London

It may come as something of a surprise to some of you, but art does not have to be in a ginormous, grandiose space in order to be good. In fact, art doesn't have to be anything to be good, you know why? Cos it's all subjective! Art is a matter of taste and taste should be utterly personal, though if we're going to be truthful, that isn't entirely the case. Just like wine and music, it's what you like that matters - not what people tell you to like. Just because something is expensive, and it's by a famous name does not make it good. If you want some art that you like, go find some art you like, and a really good way of doing that is by visiting independent galleries. Just like independent theatres, it's a great place to find emerging artists who haven't necessarily been annointed by wealthy backers, and have had to work their damn socks off even to get in these small galleries. To give you a head start, we've brought together a list of what we, and stress that we part, think are the 11 best independent galleries in South London.

4 Stunning Lidos Of South London

4 Stunning Lidos Of South London

For those of you who somehow do not know, a lido is a public open-air swimming pool or bathing beach. Considering that none of the potential beaches along the Thames are commonly used for any sort of sunbathing anymore, with regards to the urban context of London, a lido commonly denotes a public open-air swimming pool.  An essential aspect of the lido is that they are for pubic use, they are not private members clubs, anyone can rock up on the day and have a swim. Over the course of the 20th century, South London has had 21 lidos, now there are only four. We will discuss those former lidos in a future article, and what potential futures those lidos have, but today we are going to discuss the four stunning lidos of South London that are still going. and are still open to the public.