Love Clapham website is the local guide for residents and visitors of the Clapham area, London. This includes Clapham Common, Clapham North, Clapham South, Clapham Old Town, Clapham Junction and the surrounding areas of Battersea, Balham, Stockwell, Vauxhall and more.

The Peacock Bar

The Peacock Bar Clapham JunctionThe Peacock Bar on Falcon Road in Clapham Junction has recently taken over the old pub that sat here to become a late night bar open until 2am with cabaret and more.

Address: Peacock Bar & Club, 148 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, London SW11 2LW
Telephone: 020 7223 9633

Infernos Night Club

Infernos ClaphamInferno’s is the largest club on Clapham High Street, open on the weekend to entertain the masses with pop, dance and disco. Spanning two floors with multiple bars and two main dancefloors it remains incredibly popular.

Address: Infernos, 146 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UH
Telephone: 020 7720 7633

Read more »

Clapper of the Week: Clapham Common Polo competitors

Toast Festival 2009 polo competition Clapham Common

This week’s Clapper is going like the clappers. Believe it or not, these stunning photos are from Clapham Common at the Toast Festival 2009 polo competition, the festival’s main highlight. From the first day, you can see South Africa vs Great Britain in the above picture. Great Britain won 7:6. Thanks to Eddie Clarke, who runs the Clapham Omnibus blog, for sending these in, see a selection of photos including the Umhlathuzi welcome singers in the rest of this post. Read more »

Twitter Tweet Cookoff

Twitter cook off

Now for something totally random! BBC journalist, Maggie Philbin, and her sister Nickie are organising June’s Twitter Tweet Cookoff. What the tweet is that you ask? Well, each month a challenge is set for Twitter users to bake and post their photos of a certain dessert. Entries are then judged by the previous winner and local Clapham celebrity chef, Adam Byatt of Trinity London. June’s dessert is a “summer tart” and entries have to be in by Midday tomorrow, so get cooking! Last month’s winner, chosen by Nickie and Adam, was local Clapper, Edward Clarke – can Clapham claim the crown twice in a row?! Read on for further details. Read more »

Weekend Watch: Street parties and Toast Festival – Clapham rocks!

Abbeville Fete street performer

And so it begins. Last week the lorries moved in and now Clapham Common is even more equipped for festivals than Glastonbury (kinda). Toast Festival 2009 starts on Friday through to Sunday for music, BBQs and polo. Then the Abbeville Fete is on Saturday for stalls, food and entertainment. At the same time the Clapham Street Party will be partying hard down by Kaz Bar with celebs, performers and music. It’s all going off out there people! Read more »

Win 2 tickets to Toast Festival 2009 this weekend!

Toast festival Clapham Common

Take celebrity Australian chef John Torode, three horses, a flock of sheep and some scantily clad Antipodean dancers, stick them altogether on Clapham Common, take a photo a BAM! There’s your perfect launch photo for the Toast Festival 2009 this weekend. Love Clapham has 2 tickets to give away for the Australian day on Sunday – to grab ‘em send us an email titled “I Love Sheep” and you’ll be entered into the prize draw. Read on to learn about the Toast Festivals.
Toast Festival 2009 is the largest celebration of Australian, New Zealand and South African culture to hit the UK. Toast is taking place on Clapham Common this weekend from Friday 26 June until Sunday 28 June showcasing a huge mix of food, wine, sport and culture.
Best bits include polo matches kicking off each day, BBQs piled high, headlining performances from Sydney dance group Sneaky Sound System and over 200 varieties of New World wine. It’s the perfect taste of life down under, so head down there!
In preparation for Toast, MasterChef judge and Aussie cook John Torode has been busy herding sheep on Clapham Common with the help of two other riders, and dancers from South Africa and New Zealand in traditional dress. It was touch and go as a couple of sheep nearly escaped on to Clapham Highstreet but John managed to round them up in the end.  Not only a top critic on MasterChef ready to pull apart any dish thrown his way, John also looks good on a horse!
John Torode will be at Toast Festival dishing up traditional Aussie fare including BBQ lamb leg, beef party pies and Hokey Pokey ice-cream.  He’s really busy this summer working on Celebrity MasterChef with his partner in crime, Gregg Wallace.  He also owns Smiths of Smithfield at the heart of London’s meat market and is launching THE LUXE in Old Spitalfield Market, a restaurant, café bar and live music venue this summer.  Finally, his book of recipes ‘Chicken: And Other Birds’ is out this autumn.

Take celebrity Australian chef John Torode, three horses, a flock of sheep and some scantily clad Antipodean dancers. Stick them altogether on Clapham Common, take a photo and BAM! There’s your perfect launch photo for the Toast Festival 2009 this weekend. Update: the competition is now closed, Love Clapham reader Richard Kellow is the lucky winner! Read on to learn about the Toast Festivals. Read more »

Supernova Korfball Club Tournament on Clapham Common

Korfball Clapham Common

In the summer Clapham is awash with sport, and our first report of the year is in. Earlier this week Clapham Common played host to the Supernova Korfball Club Tournament. What’s Korfball? In a nutshell, it’s a game with two teams, two zones and you score by getting the ball into raised rings with similarities to both basketball and netball. Supernova, a Clapham based club, holds the tournament each year. Read more »

What are the Clapham Common tarmac bumps?

Clapham Common tarmac bumps

What is this? Clapham Common has four of these blighters and they’re clearly a part of a conspiracy. Someone on our forum suggested Victorian rubbish, another said more air raid shelters, a friend thought old basketball courts. Any clues?

Clapham Cinema: Bruno and Harry Potter tickets on sale

CLAPHAM PICTUREHOUSE LISTINGS 26th June – 2nd July
ROH LIVE: LA TRAVIATA
Tue only: 6.40
SUNDAYS WITH BOND: ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (PG)
Sun only: 3.00
PUBLIC ENEMIES (15)
Wed & Thu: 6.00 9.00
TRANSFORMERS REVENGE OF FALLEN (12A)
Daily except Sun: 2.00 5.15 8.30
Sun only: 1.00 4.15 7.30
LOOKING FOR ERIC (15)
Fri, Sat & Mon: 3.40 8.40
Sun only: 7.40
Tue only: 3.40
Wed & Thu only: 3.10
THE HANGOVER (15)
Daily except Sun: 1.40 4.10 6.40 9.10
Sun only: 12.40 3.10 5.40 8.10
MY SISTERS KEEPER (12A)
Daily except Sun: 1.20 3.50 6.20 8.50
Sun only: 12.20 2.50 5.20 7.50
ANYTHING FOR HER (15)
Fri, Sat & Mon: 1.30 6.30
Sun only: 12.30 5.30
Tue only: 1.30
Wed & Thu only: 1.00
KIDS CLUB: CATS & DOGS (PG) 11.45 (Sat only)
BIG SCREAM: MY SISTERS KEEPER (12A) & ANYTHING FOR HER (15) 10.30 (Thu only)

La Traviota

The big news for Clapham Picture House this week is that tickets for the summer blockbusters Bruno and Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince have gone on sale already. Get in early by going to their website. Like opera or simply fancy pretending to be cultured? This week’s event is a live broadcast from the Royal Opera House showing La Traviata on Tuesday at 6.40pm. If you haven’t already, check out our interview with the cinema’s manager Mike Matthews to see pictures from the projector room and to learn more about the cinema’s future. Full cinema listings for next week are after the break. Read more »

Dead Without: LoveClapham’s June Playlist

Boom boom pow

The soundtrack to summer in Clapham is here. Check out LoveClapham’s Dead Without June’s Playlist for Spotify users packed with 20 of the biggest and best songs around at the moment – quite literally the most amazing set of songs you will find right now. If you don’t use Spotify, you can buy tracks from our Amazon shop. Other hot tracks yet to appear on Spotify to watch out for are Lovegame (Chew Fu Remix) by Lady Gaga ft Marilyn Manson and Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer by Freemasons ft Sophie Ellis-Bextor. More next month when we hope to own the above iPod boombox (thus the crap Photoshop job).

London to Brighton and other Clapham internet highlights

London to Brighton Clapham Start

The London to Brighton charity bike ride saw 27,000 people mounting their wheels to raise loads of dosh for the British Heart Foundation today. Above is the calm before the storm with the start line empty on Clapham Common South side the day before. The BBC is covering it and our own Mayor of Lambeth is taking part. Elsewhere on the interweb, Getting Naked On Clapham Common is one couple’s take on the unique and regular occurence in the summer of clothing removage. Clapham Common Flickr Group has been running for some time now with hundreds of photos of Clapham from people that live here – can you add any?

Clapham Picture House cinema: behind the scenes interview

Clapham Picture House cinema Mike Matthews

Two very exciting things happened to us at the same time this week. Before your imaginations run wild (they’re already running wild aren’t they?) the two things were: 1. going into a cinema projector room 2. meeting someone that has been on The Apprentice. This was accomplished by meeting Clapham Picture House manager and guest star of the 2008 Apprentice series, Mike Matthews, who took the time to speak to Love Clapham about the cinema’s history, its renaissance and its future moves into digital and 3D. Read more »



1. Gastro French restaurant, Venn Street 1. Companies that use junk mail
2. The Cycle Superhighway 2. Soulless bars - boring!
3. Secondo cafe 3. Having no public swimming pool - boo!
4. Esca's takeaway baguettes    
5. Clapham's Summer Festivals 2010