Sometimes it is hard to believe the biggest names in the world once roamed the streets of South London as unknowns. Well, truth be known, the Borough of Southwark has given rise to many superstars, including authors, poets, film stars, singers, politicians and sporting legends. Maybe Southwark could do with a Hollywood-esque ‘Walk of Fame’. Or maybe we’ll just have to make do with this. This is not an exhaustive list, more of a round-up of a few well-known faces that once called the Borough of Southwark their home. Whilst not all of these individuals stayed in South London, they were all born here. Which means we get the credit for their success. Sort of…
Behind The Names: London Borough of Southwark
In the third installment of our series explaining the origins of the names of the areas of South London we will be focusing on the great London Borough of Southwark. Along with Lambeth, Lewisham and Greenwich it forms part of what we like to call the 'four shark teeth' of South London. We might have included Wandsworth in that list because it does look a little - actually a lot - like tiger shark tooth. Go on, search the boundaries of Wandsworth and then compare it against a tiger shark tooth. You'll see, you will all see. Anyway, less about fearsome fish and more about the reason behind the names of areas. Southwark is probably the installment we've looking forward to most because of some of the really curious names in the borough, like Denmark Hill or Elephant and Castle - frankly, we really cannot wait to explain it.
A Brief History of Southwark Cathedral
It might surprise you that Southwark actually has two cathedrals, one Anglican and one Catholic - the other is St. George's Cathedral. It's relatively remarkable that there is only one other Anglican cathedral (St Paul's) and one other Catholic cathedral (Westminster) in the rest of London. Southwark has two cathedrals alone, and it's just a part of London - there are only six other cities in England and Wales where this is also the case: Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Norwich, Portsmouth, and Sheffield. In this instance we're going to be talking about the Anglican Southwark Cathedral
11 Best Butchers In South London
For a foodstuff that makes up a very large part of the diet of a large proportion of the the great people of South London, we don't seem to take much care in the quality of the meat we eat. We're happy to go to the supermarket and buy the pre-packaged meat on the shelves because it's more convenient, and we're not going to damn you for doing it, a lot of the time you've just come home from work and haven't got any food in your fridge. However, we would certainly encourage you to make an effort in purchasing meat of a higher quality as the taste and flavour will certainly make it worthwhile. Butchery is an ancient trade and though almost all large supermarkets will have a butcher in their premises, independent butchers are a great way of supporting the local economy. If you're not sure of where to look for your new local independent butcher, we're here to help you with our list of the 11 best butchers in South London.
7 Best Meals In Camberwell
Camberwell is one of the most ancient parts of South London. When it appeared in the Domesday Book back in 1086 it was already a pretty substantial settlement, and due to it's rather central location has a long association with London - much longer than most of South London. For a while Camberwell has gone somewhat unnoticed by those who aren't from the area or live around it due to the success of its near neighbour Peckham, however, due to the potential saturation of Peckham (it's just becoming too trendy for the trendy-types), Camberwell has seen its own form of trend-ification. It's a great place to get some great food, and we think it's about time some of its brilliant eateries got the credit they deserve, so here is our list of the 7 best meals in Camberwell.
14 Best Beer Shops in South London
Beer shops are actually quite an old thing, though it might not feel that way. Having gone through something of a lull, plenty of beer shops have been opening up all over London in recent years off the back of the surging craft beer scene. As we all know, and we as showed in our A-Z, South London is home to the best craft breweries in all of London - and the presence of these breweries has led to the opening of some fantastic beer shops. Beer shop operate in a very similar manner to wine sellers, and they are wonderful places to just browse - you know, just stand around looking at stuff you might buy. If you haven't got into the craze that is figuratively sweeping South London, we think it's about time that you did, so to help you get going here is our list of the 14 best beer shops in South London.
10 Power Stations of South London
Ask many of the older members of the South London community and they will tell you that pollution, particularly smog, used to be a fact of life in the area - and that could probably have been said for the rest of London at that time. To give you an idea of the scale, from 1933-1978 there were 9 fossil-fuel burning power stations alone operating in what constitutes as South London today, and 11 north of the river as well for most of that period - that's also not counting the large number in surrounding counties like Kent. When one looks at figures like that, it's hardly surprising that events like the Great Smog of London in 1952 occurred. All but one of those South London power stations were decommissioned during a period between 70s to the early 80s, and only some of the buildings are still standing. These structures, however, were quite stark and significant, and though not all of them were quite as massive as Battersea, they still stood out on the skyline. We're interested in telling the story of South London, and many of you will remember these power stations, while some of you might not even know that these power stations were there. So, here it is, a list of the 10 power stations of South London.
Blue Plaques of Dulwich, East Dulwich & Herne Hill
We continue our series on the blue plaques of South London by talking about those commemorated in Dulwich, East Dulwich & Herne Hill. Though Dulwich and East Dulwich are firmly in the borough of Southwark, Herne Hill is in Lambeth or Southwark - depending on who you ask. Being in Southwark means that Dulwich and East Dulwich have a number of London Borough of Southwark plaques, as voted for the residents of Southwark, but there are good number of official plaques on this list. Some might find it slightly curious that East Dulwich has so many more plaques than its traditionally more fashionable neighbour Dulwich, however when you consider that a lot of the timelessly quaint Lordship Lane goes through East Dulwich, it's possibly not that surprising. That said, there are some rather interesting characters on this list of the blue plaques of Dulwich, East Dulwich & Herne Hiil, and they show off the varied range of individuals that have lived in the vicinity.
Top 10 South London Parks
You showed us guys. You showed us right up. Here we were thinking we had you lot sussed, thinking we knew what you were like - thinking you liked a moan. The quantity of votes we received for this poll has been quite staggering, almost moving in all honesty, the amount of love people clearly feel for the parks of South London is a really great thing. Before we get started in revealing the results of the poll, we've got a few things to settle first, namely explaining as to why your favourite park wasn't included. Parks are rather personal places, and we couldn't include every park in South London - there are loads, trust us. We tried to make the spread as fair as possible, to increase the likelihood that individuals from all parts South London had visited at least a couple of these parks. We're not questioning the greatness of your local park, not for one moment, we just tried to include the parks we thought were both the most attractive and most likely to have been visited by most people from the most areas of South London. Anyway, enough of that, we've got a Top 10 to countdown, and we'll be beginning, as before, at number 10. So here it is, the Top 10 South London parks, as voted for by you.
11 Best Indian Restaurants In South London
The earliest known dedicated Indian restaurant opened in the United Kingdom was the Hindostanee Coffee House on George Street in Westminster, owned and run by one Sake Dean Mahomed, and which began trading in 1810. Though Britain apparently already had a taste for curry by this point, as shown by the fact that curried dishes were included in cookbooks published during the eighteenth century, the Hindostanee Coffee House apparently closed only a year after opening due to a lack of business - though some accounts suggest it continued trading till 1833. To put this into context, the first outlet dedicated to selling the dish now most synonymous with the UK - fish and chips - opened during the 1860s. Curry has become a staple of the British diet, and is easily one of the most popular 'takeaway' foods commonly served in the UK. Almost everyone has a favourite curry dish, and a favourite curry restaurant. We're not going to try to change that, but maybe you're thinking about trying somewhere new, and if you are, we've got you covered. To help you get your search started, here is our list of the 11 best Indian restaurants in South London.