Bankside and Borough are today home to some of London’s most popular tourist sites including Borough Market, the Globe theatre, the Shard and the George Inn. Some of the world’s best-known companies also have sizeable offices here. But for centuries this district, just across the river from the City of London, was somewhere people looked down on.
From medieval times north Southwark gained a reputation for unruliness and lax morals. This was where illicit activities banned from the walled City, such as theatre, bear-baiting and prostitution, became established. Hordes of people from the north bank – the supposed place of good morals – would come over for a day of raucous entertainment. “Better termed a foule dene that a faire garden,” was how one 17th century commentator summed up the place.
It was the special legal status of the area that allowed activities banned in the City to take place here. Outside the control of the authorities on the north bank, it became a place of sanctuary for fugitive criminals and debtors. In 1594 the Lord Mayor asserted that the south bank had become the “very nurseries and breeding-places of the begging poor” who would then go on to commit crimes elsewhere in London.
One of the biggest landlords in the area was the Bishop of Winchester. He acquired land for his Clink manor from Bermondsey Abbey and started building his London palace in 1107. And it was the action of successive holders of this post – who licensed brothels and ran a private prison – that helped establish the district’s notorious reputation.
Industry and overcrowding
The area also became a dumping ground for the grimy industries that the City had banned from within its walls. By the 19th century north Southwark was home to a diversified range of businesses including glassworks, tanneries, breweries, hat makers, flour mills, soap manufacturers, vinegar works, shoe polish factories, iron foundries, jam manufacturers and biscuit makers.
The journalist V.S. Pritchett was in the area in 1915 and reported that “a yellow fog was coating the rain”. Visitors “breathed the heavy, drugging, beer smell of hops and there was another smell of boots and dog dung: this came from the leather which had been steeped a month in puer or dog dung before the process of tanning.” Pritchett also recalls “the stinging smell of vinegar from a pickle factory.” And he added: “It was impossible to talk for the noise of dray horse striking the cobbles.”
More and more people flooded into the area in search of work and it became extremely overcrowded. As the railways were expanded countless numbers became homeless as new tracks were built through residential areas. Charles Dickens was one of the 19th century authors who wrote about the dire living conditions in Southwark.
Right side of the river?
During the Second World War many lives were lost and buildings destroyed following devastating bomb attacks. In the decades that followed industrial operations were closed or moved out of the area. More jobs were lost when the docks were re-located closer to the sea, away from central London.
But over the past four decades Bankside and Borough have undergone considerable regeneration, and it is today a popular district for Londoners and visitors alike to spend their leisure time.
With significant major construction projects, such as the Shard and the re-development of London Bridge station, now complete it feels like the right time to be taking a closer look at the district that was once on the Wrong Side of the River, but is now one of London’s most desirable areas. Is it finally on the right side of the river?
Wrong Side of the River: Borough and Bankside's disreputable past 