Clapham Common

Really fond memories of the Common back in the fifties. My aunt lived right opposite and it was always a pleasure to visit my cousins. Though the common has changed over the years with some modernisation, it still has its magic as a a major park.

Jamie Oliver's Big Festival on Clapham Common was a non profit making event with all proceeds going to The Princes Trust and The Jamie Oliver Foundation.

It boasted a wonderful range of food from restaurants such as Mango Tree, Cinnamon Kitchen and Jamie's own Fifteen, that gives unemployed young people a chance to train for a new career.

Along with the food there was great music from Soul2Soul, Norman Jay and The Charltons. The former really got back to their 80's roots and with the original band back together for one night only, they really rocked the stage.

The Big Festival had a really wonderful atmosphere to it, with a lovely little touches including cheese and wine tasting (which was a highlight for me) and an old fashioned fair ground, perfect for entertaining the little ones.

They are planning on doing it again next year so if you missed it, Jamie Oliver's Big Festival really is something you should consider taking the whole family to whether you have Olympic Tickets or not!.

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would really like an opinion of The Clapham Skatepark if anyone is familiar with it and how close it is to the Tube please?

Large & decent park in the Clapham area right by Clapham Common station. A wide range of activities takes place in there, mostly from April to October: football, rugby, cricket, volleyball, tennis courts also available but get booked up really quickly. And you have the occasional "boot camp" sessions!

Quite a few festivals as well as small amusement parks on an ad hoc basis in the summer! There's also a small cafe, a pond and a playground for children. A nice little walk from Clapham Common to Clapham South or just to chill out on a sunny day!

Originally built as a reservoir, and once run down, in recent years Clapham ponds has been spruced up considerably. There’s now one large pond in one of the two areas with railings. The pond looks especially lovely on a sunny day with the fountain going (though they do seem to turn it off on the hottest days).

Both little parks also include beds of perennials and bushes, and wandering paths. There’s a nice wooden bridge over the pond.

More ‘square’ than ‘park’, but a lovely little space in this somewhat tired-looking area.

I was a Policeman in the early 50's stationed at Cavendish Road, which is no longer in existance I expect. I now live in St. Louis Missouri, USA and have been here for 50 years. I remember Clapham Common well and I wonder how it has changed. It was a pretty wild place after WWII, the AA Guns which were on the field close to Long Pond had gone, but during the Blitz and the Flying Bombs they were very useful, but very noisy. I wonder if , on a Sunday, speakers, much like Hyde Park, set up their soap boxes and talk about everything on the gravel close to Mount Pond. (Where, it was said, corpses were buried after the plague.) It was the Policeman on the beats job to stand by the speakers to make sure there was no trouble, there never was. I also remember the murder of a teenager during the Teddy Boy era in the 1950's. He was killed around the Bandstand area. 6 youths were soon arrested for the crime, although they were not convicted of the capital crime. I would love to see the Common again, but at 83 I do not think I can. Pity.

this is a very good common, football, bbq's, sun. Great location to the bars, great for running. do it. do it

Best open park in London. Great in the summer for picnics and of course the eye candy

Clapham Common is the frequent host to fairs, fetes, festivals and fun. Not only that, but the Common is several (tens? hundreds?) of acres of green open space perfect for lounging, picnicking or sport. With areas for football, rugby and basketball courts, there’s also some water features to enjoy. Clapham Common is simply huge! One downside is that Lambeth Council does not allow barbecues or open fires, so all picnics will need to be pre-cooked.

Not the most beautiful park in London, but certainly one of the most expansive. Clapham is a great place to play sport and also a nice
place to lounge around, drink beer and sunbathe on warm summer days. There's a bunch of organized sport on clapham common (particularly between April and September). Everything from Softball & Tennis to Touch Rugby & Ultimate Frisbee. Best to look on Gumtree if you want to join a sports team in this area.

Clapham Common also plays host to a bunch of festivals and concerts all year round. The Ben & Jerry's festival is worth a go.

SPORTS TIP - Booking a tennis court on clapham common always seems really difficult. Best to head down to the courts after 7pm and book for the following weeks or months if you are a tennis enthusiast!

I think you really need to experience the Common in the summer in order to build up any enthusiasm for it - in the winter it really looks a bit gloomy and sad. Gone are the happy campers sitting on the grass drinking beer in the sun; on the other hand, there are plenty of miserable-looking runners like myself braving the weather and sliding around in the mud and the dead leaves.

Still, in the summer it's great fun. The lack of a surrounding hedge means you'll be able to spot the groups of happy beer drinkers from afar and you'll immediately want to join them, forgetting all about everything you were supposed to do that day. A happy place.

Many a sunny afternoon of my London life has been spent practising my frisbee throwing, relaxing with friends with a lovely lazy, boozy picnic and sleeping under the shade. Ok, not that many as London's summer this year wasn't outstanding, but I did spend quite a few afternoons and Sunday's at this large park, and I love it! There are two sides to this massive park, big enough to hold events such as the Ben&Jerry's festival, and the SW4 event, and on a hot day, the place was absolutely packed with bathing beauties and babes. It is a perfect place to relax before or after an outing in London, as it's so close to the tube station. It is also opposite a thriving high street fully equipped with an ice-creamery, cafe's, bars, pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and shops, which makes it perfect to slowly work into a bigger night. I'm sure it catered to a wide variety of Australians as well, considering numerous AFL matches were held here, and on Saturday mornings you can watch those game enough endure a gruelling esercise work out led by an army officer!