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.
‘No’ to local newspapers through letter boxes
If you’ve been following @loveclapham on Twitter you’ll know how annoyed I’m getting with the Wandsworth Guardian. I have a No Junk Mail sticker on my letter box, yet despite this and repeated requests to the newspaper to stop they are still ignoring my sticker and shoving their paper through my door. What’s worse is that it’s a Wandsworth borough newspaper and I couldn’t be further into the Lambeth end of Clapham if I tried. Since moving to Clapham North I’ve received one of these newspapers a week amounting to over 60 papers that have gone straight in the recycling bin. While some people may read it, I’d imagine others don’t want it. The same of all papers forced on people in this way. It’s a waste of money for the companies advertising in it and bad for the environment. Continue reading
Mayor of Lambeth Civic Service
Lambeth’s larger than life Mayor, Christopher Wellbelove, will be celebrating the year’s Mayoralty at the Holy Trinity Church on Clapham Common on Sunday 14th February at 2.50 – 4.00pm. It is open to all and followed by refreshments. Not only will this give you the chance to see this magnificent and historic building, it’s also an opportunity to raise money for the local charities Trinity Hospice, Clapham Youth Centre and Lambeth Womens Aid. Importantly, it’s also a chance to celebrate our Mayor – from Clapham! – who’s played a massive role in our community this year. Hopefully you can all make it.
Venn Street Market – 2010 dates
Everyone loved Venn Street Market when it rolled into Clapham town at the end of last year, although few people knew about it. Luckily, the market has committed to return on a regular basis this year and Love Clapham is bloomin’ over the moon! Nice hot sandwiches, burgers, churros and more for Saturday and Sunday lunch 
The dates are below. Continue reading
Clapham One development is go!
The future face of the Clapham High Street area, named Clapham One, is finally taking shape after a long delay caused by funding problems during the recession. But, it’s a new year and Lambeth Council has now secured the construction of a new library, mini shopping centre and housing unit on the High Street and an entirely new, renovated leisure centre to replace the (now closed) existing one. The scheme is exciting, but has been met with some criticism. We asked our Clapper followers on Twitter what they thought. Continue reading
Going, going…
Mary Seacole House’s number seems to be up. It’s the old Council building on Clapham High Street, and to be honest, the dated building was doomed the day the plans for the new Clapham library and shopping complex were approved to be built on the site. Lambeth Council leader Steve Reed expressed his desire to see the building removed as soon as possible last year, and with scaffolding being erected his wish looks set to come true! Love Clapham can’t wait. If you love pictures of scaffolding, see below (I promise these pics will get more exciting as the thing is torn down!) Continue reading
Happy New Year Clappers!
What a poor snowing we’ve had in Clapham. Promised 40cm we’ve woken to a maximum of 2cm and pavements covered in ice. On my way to work I thought we’d been overrun by zombies as people shuffled toward the tube station. I for one feel short changed… It does look pretty though, so please keep uploading your snow pics to our Clapham Network. I should take this opportunity to wish each and every Clapper a very happy New Year! 2009 was a fantastic start for Love Clapham and I’m so grateful for the support I’ve received. I’ve found it great fun keeping everyone informed of local issues and this year I plan to keep going with local news and info plus to start getting slightly political in the run up to the local elections to help all of us make the right decisions (usually I’ve got no idea who I should be voting for!) If there’s anything you think Love Clapham should be doing more of in 2010, please let me know
Clapham parking madness!
Well Clappers, you won’t believe what happened to Love Clapham yesterday. My sister is off to Australia for a month and I’m looking after her car (she lives in Leeds and flew from Heathrow). On Tuesday 29th December, I merrily popped off to the Lambeth Parking Shop to get a month long parking permit, the ladies working there were fantastically helpful. To cover myself in the meantime, I bought a pay and display ticket until 12.30pm. When I arrived back to the house at Midday, with half an hour to spare I found a penalty notice on my car despite the still active ticket being stuck in the windscreen. Oh yes, I was angry! Continue reading
Clapham Mince Pie Review
MilkInIt has been voted top mince pie retailer near Clapham Common in a taste test by local students. Four students tried mince pies from six food retailers in Clapham, which included Starbucks, Greggs, Esca, MilkInIt, McDonalds and The Windmill. The winning mince pie came top for both its pastry and mincemeat, and was served warm with a choice of brandy cream or frozen yoghurt. Continue reading
Doubledecker Bus Overturned in Clapham Junction
As you may have seen on BBC news, this morning at 8.30am a bus overturned on the junction of Plough Road and Harbut Road in Clapham Junction leaving 20 people injured with four people, including the driver, seriously injured. The BBC has a set of high resolution photos here that show how serious the accident really was. Three people had to be cut free from the bus by firefighters and a number of the passengers were rushed to hospital. The bus was a ‘C3′ bus from Clapham Junction to Earl’s Court. We’re trying to find out more and will update as we hear it… See the first picture on BBC news and read more on The Guardian, Sky News and Daily Mail. Thanks to the Clappers following Love Clapham on Twitter for the info.
Competition: Where the Wild Things Are
To celebrate the opening of the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are at the Clapham Picture House, the cinema has given us some fantastic prizes to give away. We’ve got two sets of prizes for you to win, both containing a fantastic Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt and kite (we’ll see you flying it on Clapham Common!) All you have to do is email with the answer to this question: who was the author of the original Where the Wild Things Are book?
Disgusting Clapham Businesses Abusing Residents
This is the list of local businesses abusing Clapham residents’ homes by ignoring people’s no junk mail stickers – which is completely unacceptable. All the businesses have to do is ask their leaflet delivery person to stop. Until then, the businesses will be listed here on LoveClapham, a site that has thousands of local residents reading it each week. And this is just the beginning of our Name & Shame Junk Mail Campaign, our messaging will get stronger. We recommend Clapham residents boycott these businesses completely until they stop. Continue reading
Clapham Venn Street Market – this weekend!
The Clapham Venn Street Market is back for its second weekend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (11th, 12th, 13th December). Don’t forget, on Friday and Saturday it’s a high class food market with hot food stalls and on Sunday it’s the flower market but still with some food. It’s down by the Clapham Picture House Cinema and apparently Father Christmas will be there too! The good news is that the market will be monthly in 2010 – yippee! Full info below. Continue reading
| 1. | Le Petit Boulangerie, Abbeville Road | 1. | Lack of waffles on sale in cafes |
| 2. | Gastro, Venn Street | 2. | Too many Sainsbury's |
| 3. | Clapham's new Leisure Centre | 3. | Rainy weekends :o( |
| 4. | Venn Street Sat market | 4. | Rubbish shops on the High Street |
| 5. | Costa in Clapham Junction station | 5. |