Walking through the brutalism and stucco lined streets of East Lambeth, the down to earth local culture makes you forget how close you are to central London. Local residents, despite living an easy tube, bus, or walk away from Westminster, find no need to venture far from home during the weekend. Whether they want to take their children to the playground at Lambeth High Street Recreation Grounds, or catch an art show at the Newport Street Gallery, there are plenty of reasons to stick around the area. In addition to the parks and community facilities, neighbours love their local pubs. Between the Zeitgeist Pub at the Jolly Gardeners, The Dog House, and the Ragged Canteen, the opportunities for a pint with friends are endless. With all that the area has to offer and its unassuming vibe, many consider it to be a wonderfully uncongested alternative to Central London.

Many believe that the area got its name from centuries ago when it served as a landing place for the offloading of lambs. Around this time, in the 12th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury had their manor and residences in the neighbourhood. The area was initially surrounded by a marsh, but eventually developed into more residential streets by the 1800s when residents came to work in nearby boatyards. Later on, during WWII, the neighbourhood served the war effort, with the Beaufoy Institute, a former school, functioning as an all-women’s munition factory. Following the war though, the area had to be largely rebuilt due to extensive bomb damage, and thus the brutalist and more modern architectural character that it’s known for today was developed.

Famous criminal, Shirley Pitts, also known as the queen of shoplifters, lived in the neighbourhood of Lambeth. Her fraudulent history is retold in the biography Gone Shopping. A more positive former resident is a renowned composer, Sir Arthur Sullivan, who was born in the neighbourhood and lived near present day Lambeth Walk. He is best known for his writing partnership with W. S. Gilbert, through which they wrote the comic operas The Mikado and Pirates of Penzance. Speaking of, the Lambeth Walk is not just a jaunt through the neighbourhood, but also a dance move that originated in the 1930s musical Me and My Girl. Later used in a propaganda film that parodied the Nazis, the dance had borrowed its name from the local park that sits along the area’s former high street.

Although the crime rate in Lambeth is slightly lower than that of the borough’s average, many of these crimes are classified as theft and violence against a person. Still, when questioned, local residents maintain that they feel safe, and that they love the unpretentious vibe and convenient location of East Lambeth.

The average house price around this postcode is 15 times London’s average annual wage, which has led Lambeth Council to commit to building 1,000 new council homes. Additionally, the council has developed teams to focus on bringing more job training and better pollution prevention programs to the area in order to make it more desirable for current and future residents. With these changes in the works, and the area’s close proximity to central London, we should expect to see substantial growth over the next several years. The most notable upcoming change will be the repurposing of the long derelict Oval gasometers. These local landmarks will be integrated into the expansive Oval Village development, retaining their original industrial form. Set to be completed later in 2022, this will be joined by an assortment of other residential led mixed use buildings which centre around an abundance of public open space. The development also boasts views across the neighbouring Oval cricket ground, especially for residents who will be at the top of the 18-storey Pinnacle tower.