The Oval hosted England's first home Test match in 1880, and the final Test of an English summer is still often played here, with the gasholders that once loomed over the ground now turned into flats. On a big match day, the streets of Kennington fill with members, spectators and cricket clubs from all over the country. Minibus hire Kennington customers book is led by cricket, with Tests, Hundred nights and county days, along with school trips, family events and airport runs.
Kennington sits in the north of Lambeth, between Vauxhall, Elephant and Castle, Stockwell and Walworth, with Kennington Road and Kennington Park Road running south from the river. From our base in SE1, it's about ten to fifteen minutes outside the rush hour, which makes match-day starts and late finishes easy to plan.
Minibus hire Kennington for Test matches
The Oval holds around twenty-seven thousand for a Test or a one-day international, and play starts at eleven, with the gates opening well before. Cricket clubs travelling from outside London, corporate hospitality guests and groups of friends book us for one day or several days of a Test. Ashes summers and the big touring sides draw the largest crowds, and those days sell out months ahead.
On the big days, the roads around the ground, Harleyford Road, Kennington Oval and Vauxhall Street among them, are busy from early morning and some have restrictions. We'll check the arrangements for coaches and minibuses for that match, drop at an agreed point and set a meeting point for the return. Test cricket can finish early if a side collapses or run late if the light holds, so we'll keep the pickup flexible and agree how the group will let the driver know.
For a hospitality box, tell us the gate on your tickets and we'll choose the nearest drop.
Hundred nights and county days
The Oval is home to Surrey and to the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred, and summer evening games under the lights draw families, younger crowds and work groups. They finish around ten, and the crowd leaves together. County Championship days are quieter, with members and clubs spreading out across the stands.
For evening matches, the driver drops before the start and comes back for the end of play. Minibus hire Kennington groups book for a Hundred double-header usually means an afternoon drop and a late-evening pickup.
The Imperial War Museum and school trips
The Imperial War Museum, in the old Bethlem Hospital building at the northern edge of Kennington, is free and one of the most visited museums in London for school groups, with galleries on the First and Second World Wars and the Holocaust. Kennington Park, with its café, playground and sports pitches, suits a picnic lunch afterwards.
Kennington's primary and secondary schools, and those in Walworth and Stockwell nearby, book us for museum visits, swimming, sports fixtures and residential trips. The South Kensington museums are about twenty-five minutes away.
Cleaver Square and family events
Cleaver Square, one of London's quietest Georgian squares, has a pub and a gravel square where locals play pétanque, and the streets around it have some of south London's best-preserved terraces. St Mark's Kennington, opposite the Oval, and the other churches in the area host weddings and christenings.
Families book us for weddings, christenings and big birthdays, with guests collected from homes across Kennington and Walworth and dropped home at the end. Many receptions take place in restaurants and pubs nearby or in venues across the river. The pubs around the Oval fill on match days, so families planning a celebration that weekend should book the venue early.
Flights, charges and the river
London City Airport is about twenty-five minutes from Kennington outside the rush hour, Heathrow about forty-five minutes to an hour, Gatwick about fifty minutes and Stansted about an hour and a quarter. For families flying out with luggage, a minibus from the door is easier than the Northern line and a change.
Kennington sits just south of the Congestion Charge zone, so trips heading south and west avoid the charge, and trips north over the river in charging hours carry it on the quote.
Match-day traffic and the A23
Kennington Road and Kennington Park Road, part of the A23 and the A3, carry heavy traffic and bus lanes into central London at most times, and stopping on them is limited. On big match days, the streets around the Oval fill from early morning and parking is suspended on some roads. If your booking in Kennington falls on a Test match day and has nothing to do with the cricket, tell us the date and we'll plan the pickup away from the ground. For other pickups, we'll agree a point on a side street.
For minibus hire in Kennington, call 020 7183 0567.