Tucked away to the south east of Elephant & Castle, and bounded to its north by the Old and New Kent Roads, this historic residential neighbourhood has recently become popular with large numbers of young professionals. Despite its new-found clientele, Walworth is relatively untouched by the massive regeneration projects taking place in London’s central south east. This is especially true towards the south of the neighbourhood near Burgess park, where a strong community still thrives. The high street of Walworth Road is reasonably light on chain stores, and many of the roads are populated by Victorian properties that escaped the Blitz alongside a variety of shops and world supermarkets that reflect the neighbourhood’s multiculturalism.

Nonetheless, development is rife in the north of this area, with houses having been replaced with modern blocks of flats, and many local independent stores turned into flats. Developments like the Strata Tower in Elephant and Castle have long been a sign of impending change. It’s no surprise then, that this is an area singled out for transformation, as its Northern and Bakerloo line connections mean that it is only a 10-minute tube ride to the City or the West End.

With Stone Age origins, the area of Walworth developed between what became Kennington Park Road and the Old Kent Road, both of which were ancient roads which spread from London Bridge to the south coast. The area was rural, relied on for fruit and vegetables by the rest of the city, until a rising number of tradesmen set up shops as traffic from London increased. Residential development began in the 1790s, with Surrey Square remaining today as an example of this urbanisation. The John Soane designed St Peter’s Church was built in 1825 to accommodate the growing population, and the area was heavily built up by the time the railway opened at Elephant & Castle in 1863. The locale was heavily damaged in the Second World War, which led to the massive Heygate and Aylesbury estates, completed in the 1970s, both of which have been dogged by government cuts to local services over the last few decades. The former has now been demolished, and the latter was chosen by Tony Blair as the location of his first speech as Prime Minister, to demonstrate that the government would care for the poorest in society.

The area was once home to London’s most popular cricket grounds – Walworth Common. It was the venue for a number of important matches during the mid-18th century, and home to the prominent Montpelier Cricket Club, until it was ejected in 1844. The club then leased 10 acres of gardens in nearby Kennington, creating the famous Oval cricket ground that remains to this day.

With the growing population of young, wealthy professionals, drawn in by the ease of access to the City, houses are becoming rapidly unaffordable for locals who have called the neighbourhood home for decades. Furthermore, the redevelopment works in Elephant and Castle in the north of the are mean that there is constant building noise, which is set to continue for another decade or so. The council estimates that there will be 4,000 new homes, 5,000 new jobs, and around 45,000 sqm of additional shopping and leisure space in the coming years. Multiple high rise developments are being planned in conjunction to create a new town centre around the Elephant and Castle roundabout, which includes the redevelopment of the area’s signature shopping centre as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the tube station. In Walworth itself there are plans for a lower-density development between 182 and 202 Walworth Road. The proposed scheme includes 54 new apartments as well as 3569m2 of commercial floor space.