Borough High Street is a road in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, running south-west from

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

, forming part of the A3 route which runs from London to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, on the south coast of England.

Overview

Borough High Street continues southwest as

Newington Causeway __NOTOC__ Newington Causeway is a road in Southwark, London, between the Elephant and Castle and Borough High Street. Elephant & Castle Underground station is at the southern end. It follows the route of the old Roman road Stane Street. In 19 ...

, here co-inciding with ancient Stane Street, the Roman road between London and Chichester. Another important connection is with the Dover Road (the modern A2 route) which diverges in a south-east direction from Borough High Street at a junction of five roads adjacent to Borough Underground station as

Great Dover Street Great Dover Street is a road in Southwark, south London, England. At the northwest end it joins Marshalsea Road and Borough High Street and there is a junction with Long Lane; Borough Underground station is at this location. At the southeast ...

. The Dover Road mostly follows the alignment of Roman

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...

, though, here, the original Roman route was along Tabard Street closely parallel with Great Dover Street to the north. The stretch of Borough High Street south of the junction with Long Lane,

Marshalsea Road Marshalsea Road (classified A3201) is a major street in Southwark, south London, England. At the northwest end is the Southwark Bridge Road. At the southeast end is Borough tube station on Borough High Street. Continuing across the street are ...

, and Tabard Street, where stands the ancient church of St. George the Martyr, was formerly called Blackman Street after a long resident family there.

Borough Market Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market hall in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with a market on the site dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were bui ...

was once held on the street, but has been moved to the west with its main entrance on Southwark Street.

Southwark Cathedral Southwark Cathedral ( ) or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. ...

, prominent on the west side of the street near London Bridge, can be reached by a small pedestrian bridge and stairs, though its postal address is actually Montague Close. The earliest recorded name for the street is simply 'The Borough' which was the part between the fork of the street and London Bridge. South of the fork it was called 'St. Margaret's Hill'. These names were subsumed in the Tudor period as 'Longe Southwark' (differentiated from 'Short Southwark' now

Tooley Street Tooley Street is a road in central and south London connecting London Bridge to St Saviour's Dock; it runs past Tower Bridge on the Southwark/Bermondsey side of the River Thames, and forms part of the A200 road. (.) St Olave The earliest nam ...

) and by the late Georgian era as simply 'High Street' and the northern section from the junction with Duke Street Hill was renamed 'Wellington Street' to commemorate the Duke of Wellington. From the 1890s the London County Council started to rationalise all metropolitan street names and 'Borough High Street' became the name for the current route.

History

Borough High St from a route 21 bus, 1989 - geograph

Before the building of

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the H ...

, Borough High Street was the only connection from the south bank of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

to London, which lay on the north bank. As a major communications node for traffic between London and Portsmouth, Dover, south-east England generally and also travellers from Europe, Borough High Street had many

coaching inns The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point (layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of trav ...

. These were of considerable size, with courtyard and surrounding multi-tier galleries. There were twenty-three in total, including the Bear, the Queen's Head, the King's Head, the Catherine Wheel,

the Tabard The Tabard was an inn in Southwark established in 1307 that stood on the east side of Borough High Street, at the road's intersection with the ancient thoroughfare to Canterbury and Dover. It was built for the Abbot of Hyde, who purchased the l ...

the White Hart The White Hart ("hart" being an archaic word for a mature stag) was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a pu ...

, and the

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

. Many of them dated back originally to the mediæval period, and were in use as coaching inns up to the mid-nineteenth century, when this mode of transport was superseded by the railway. These inns were very famous and receive mention in the work of such literary giants as

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, though are now all gone - apart from the George. On the west side of the street, the modern office block called Brandon House at 180 Borough High Street (opposite Borough Underground station) marks the site of a mansion called

Suffolk Place Suffolk Place (or Suffolk House) was a mansion house located on the west side of Borough High Street in Southwark, Surrey, on the south bank of the River Thames opposite the City of London. It was the London town house of the Dukes of Suffolk, a ...

, demolished in 1557."Borough High Street" in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (1983) ''The London Encyclopaedia'': 78 It is depicted by

Anthony van den Wyngaerde Anton van den Wyngaerde (Span.: ''Antonio de las Viñas''; 1525 – 7 May 1571) was a prolific Flemish topographical artist who made panoramic sketches and paintings of towns in the southern Netherlands, northern France, England, Italy, and Spai ...

's sixteenth century ''Panorama of London'', which features Borough High Street prominently in the foreground of the picture. After demolition the site of the mansion and the area to the west of Borough High Street here became notorious as the criminal enclave of The Mint. The

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

and

King's Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...

s were also located on Borough High Street on the east side between Newcomen Street and Tabard Street.

Street numbering

The present numbering of the buildings on the street is confusing because of piecemeal alteration over the past 150 years:- The street was widened and realigned to the west in the 1820s for the Rennie London Bridge. The 'fork' at the junction with

Southwark Street Southwark Street is a major street in Bankside in the London Borough of Southwark, in London England, just south of the River Thames. It runs between Blackfriars Road to the west and Borough High Street to the east. It also connects the access ...

was created when that street was inserted, in 1864, to connect the London Bridge,

Southwark Bridge Southwark Bridge ( ) is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the Thames bridges in Londo ...

, and

Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple Chu ...

routes together. This new route cut across Stoney Street and isolated its southern end, which section was subsequently renumbered as part of Borough High Street although it actually lies behind numbers 28–32 to their west-side. The small alleyway connecting the two branches of the 'fork' is named 'Counter Court' (see

Borough Compter The Borough Compter was a small compter or prison initially located in Southwark High Street but moved to nearby Tooley Street in 1717, where it stood until demolished until 1855. It took its name from 'The Borough', a historic name for the Sout ...

) but is not an address for any premises. The railway viaduct across the street was also erected in 1864 and this cut across a quadrant of both the main streets. This led to the numbering on the west-side of the street ceasing at the junction with Bedale Street, at which the

numbers begin as number '6'. However, these appear continuous with Borough High Street which only becomes apparent at the junction with Stoney Street further along to the west. Between Bedale Street and No 28 there is no 'west-side' of the High Street as this is Southwark Street 'west-side'. The High Street's numbers continue at No 28, the

HSBC Bank HSBC Bank may refer to any one of the following principal local banks or divisions of the HSBC Group: Asia-Pacific * HSBC (Hong Kong) ** PayMe, its local payment service * HSBC Bank (China) * HSBC Bank Australia * HSBC Bank India * HSBC Bank Mala ...

branch, which also seems to be on the south-side of Southwark Street, but that street's south-side numbers do not start until after the junction with the 'fork' going west. On the approach to the Bridge, Borough High Street northeast-side numbering starts at No 7 which is a vault shop within the railway viaduct, the lower numbers' disappearance was caused by the 1990s developments on the river side north of Duke Street Hill, the main office block north of this is actually 'No 1 London Bridge' and the pedestrian only 'London Bridge Walk' leading to Colechurch House and the mainline Station concourse. To compound the eccentric numbering, the building that appears first at the northwest side of Borough High Street (Hibernia Chambers/ Glaziers Hall No 9 Montague Close at its ground floor) had its first floor level connected to the Bridge level pavement in 2000 and was given the address 'No 2 London Bridge'. On the northwest side, the street numbers of the High Street start after the small bridge crossing over

as No 4 Borough High Street 'Bridge House'. With the extension of the railway viaduct in 2010 the buildings between it and the junction with Bedale Street an attempt was made to simplify the numbering system. The Victorian buildings were replaced in 2013 but this is a glazed 'foyer' facility of Borough Market and is not actually numbered as premises but the section which is a store has been provided with the number '16' which means that the foyer could be numbered 18 and 20. This means the numbering is now 4, 6 - 8, 10 actually accessed as a side stairway of 6-8 (gap stairs down to Cathedral and Borough Market) 14 (vault unit within the viaduct) 16 and (Southwark Street junction) 28. Continuing along the 'east side' of the 'fork' along the main part of the street is numbered 30, 32, 34. Then returning to the 'west side' of the 'fork', is numbered 36 (this is north of 34 and adjacent to 28) continuing south as 38 to 42. The building immediately next to 28 (i.e. south of Counter Court), north of the side door of 34, opposite 36 and behind 30 (to its east) is numbered '1b Southwark Street', presumably the side door of 28 is taken as '1 Southwark Street' although not numbered as such; it is therefore actually in the High Street. Southwark Street continues properly at the junction with the 'west side' of the 'fork' as No 3 Southwark Street, but this number appears on its side door situated next to 36 and so is also in the west fork of the High Street.

Amenities and features

Borough is a cosmopolitan area of London, with many restaurants, bars and

. The street also has many cafés and food shops including Sainsbury's Local. Public Houses include: North to south - * The Barrowboy and Banker (previously a NatWest Bank branch) * The George Inn * The Bridge Ta (previously a The Slug and Lettuce and occupying the Town Hall Chambers building which was previous to 1989 a NatWest Bank branch) * St Christopher's Inn * Belushi's * The Roxy Bar & Screen * The Blue Eyed Maid * The Trinity * The Ship The Post Office (dated 1913) opposite Borough tube station closed in 2008. The main Post Office at the northern end of the street originated as the Women's Ward of the 1852 development of St Thomas's Hospital. When London Bridge Station services were extended by a viaduct to Charing Cross Station in 1868 the Hospital relocated and was partly demolished. This building remains as having been used as a goods office for the railway company.

David Bomberg House

David Bomberg House is a hall of residence at 282–302 Borough High Street for London South Bank University students. The building comprises 289 single en-suite bedrooms, divided into five blocks. It is close to the Borough Underground station and the main campus of London South Bank University on Borough Road north of Elephant and Castle. The building is named after the English painter David Bomberg (1890–1957), who was a teacher at London South Bank University when it was known as

Borough Polytechnic London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

. He was the leading artist of the Borough Group during the 1940s and 1950s. A portrait of him hangs in the reception area. David Bomberg is considered to be London South Bank University's most famous teacher. In 2009, it was announced that the University had received a gift of a collection of works by Bomberg. In 2009, a late night licence was granted for premises on the ground floor ( Costcutter), despite a significant number of objections from residents. In February 2011, the Chaze bar and restaurant on the ground floor of the building in the former Costcutter space, opposite

Police Station, obtained planning permission after a four-month deferral, despite opposition by the building's owner, London South Bank University.

Adjoining roads

Looking north along Borough High Street, south London (1) - geograph

London, UK - panoramio - IIya Kuzhekin (31)

From South to North on east-side: *

Harper Road Harper Road may refer to: * Harper Road, London, a road in south London, England * Harper Road, Singapore, a road in Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime So ...

* King's Place * Trinity Street * Hulme Place * Avon Place *

* Long Lane *

Tabard Street A tabard is a type of short coat that was commonly worn by men during the late Middle Ages and early modern period in Europe. Generally worn outdoors, the coat was either sleeveless or had short sleeves or shoulder pieces. In its more develope ...

* Angel Place * Layton's Buildings * Chapel Court * Mermaid Court * Newcomen Street * Kentish Buildings * Queen's Head Yard * Talbot Yard * George Inn Yard * White Hart Yard * King's Head Yard * St Thomas's Street * London Bridge Street * Guildable Manor Street * Railway Approach * Duke Street Hill *

From North to South on west-side:- *

Montague Close Montague Close is a street in London, England, close to London Bridge in London SE1, within the London Borough of Southwark. The Worshipful Company of Glaziers is located here. To the south are Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market. The close ...

* Green Dragon Court * Bedale Street * Stoney Street *

* Counter Court * Calvert's Buildings * St Margaret's Court * Maidstone Buildings * *

Union Street Union Street may refer to: United Kingdom * Union Street, Aberdeen, Scotland *Union Street, East Sussex, between Ticehurst and Flimwell *Union Street, London * Union Street, Plymouth, Devon *Union Street, Reading, Berkshire United States * Un ...

* Little Dorrit Court *

* Lant Street *

Great Suffolk Street Great Suffolk Street is a street in the Southwark area of London. It runs from the north at Southwark Street to Borough High Street, crossing Union Street, London, Union Street and Southwark Bridge Road on the way. At its southern end it become ...

* Borough Road

Transport connections

* London Bridge Station entrance and ticket hall of Jubilee line * Borough Underground station * Quietway 1 cycle route crosses Borough High Street on Great Suffolk Street/Trinity Street.

References

External links

Borough High Street, Borough, c. 1926
{{coord, 51, 30, 12, N, 0, 05, 30, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Streets in the London Borough of Southwark Shopping streets in London