This area is situated south of Borough in the London borough of Southwark, and incorporates the northern section of the famous Old Kent Road. Surrounded by Southwark Park and Burgess Park, the latter of which even includes a small lake, residents of the neighbourhood are afforded plenty of outdoor entertainment options. There are also numerous restaurants in the area, like Café Amisha, a converted industrial space serving pizza and pasta, as well as a number of African restaurants. There are also an abundance of shops, including a large Liddle which is convenient for your weekly shop. With no shortage of convenient transport hubs nearby, the locality is a great choice for families and young professionals who do not want to stray too far away from the goings-on of central London, while maintaining easy access to the rest of the city.

The area is part of Bermondsey, whose name in old English means ‘Beornmund’s island’ and points to its origin of being a habitable ground or an island amidst the marshes. The earliest areas to develop were near the river, such as Jacob’s Island and St Saviour’s Dock, which became a notorious and impoverished slum. In the 1900s, Bermondsey’s population was almost entirely working class but residents ranged from the almost destitute casual worker to skilled Thames watermen and lightermen.

At this time, much of the housing in the area was substandard, until in the early 1920s, the living conditions of the urban poor inspired the work of the philanthropist and MP Alfred Salter, whose wife Ada became mayor of Bermondsey in 1922. She and her fellow councillors were active in replacing slums with ‘modern’ tenements, planting trees and turning open spaces into playgrounds. Their work is still fondly remembered today.

In 2015, an unexploded bomb from WWII was found close to this neighbourhood in Grange Walk. The 500 lb. (250 kg) was safely removed and taken to a quarry in Kent to be detonated. Alfred Marshall was also a resident of this area in the late 1800s. Marshall was an economist and is best known for writing the popular textbook, the Principles of Economics in 1890.

The crime rate in the area is slightly high at a rate of 4.54, with theft and handling being the highest reported crime. This is likely due to the many tourist attractions nearby, but when asked, residents report feeling safe in the area.

The local council released a long-term plan in 2011, that aimed to further protect, enhance and regenerate the neighbourhood by building and encouraging new businesses, shops, housing and cultural facilities, as well as new and improved community and youth facilities. There are an abundance of schemes proposed to fulfil these targets. The most notable of which is the 2.5 acre Southernwood Retail Park on Old Kent Road, which will include 724 homes in buildings from 9 to 48 storeys in height, a 195 bed hotel, and a Cinema on top of a plethora of retail units. Slightly smaller scale developments on Crimscott Street, Lynton Road, and Ossory Road (overlooking Burgess Park) are also scheduled for completion soon and will provide over 140 new homes between them.