The Cut (formerly New Cut) is a street in London which runs between Waterloo Road in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

and

Blackfriars Road Blackfriars Road is a road in Southwark, SE postcode area, SE1. It runs between St George's Circus at the southern end and Blackfriars Bridge over the River Thames at the northern end, leading to the City of London. Halfway up on the west side ...

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 ...

, approximately parallel to the South Eastern Railway. The Old Vic theatre is at the western (Lambeth) end, and the more experimental

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Nadia Fall has been artistic director since 2025, succeeding ...

theatre halfway along on the other side. Lewisham Southwark College is sited on the south side of the Cut and at the eastern (Southwark) end is Southwark Underground station. Waterloo and Waterloo East stations are also nearby.

Street market

Lower Marsh and the Cut formed the commercial heart of the area from the early 19th century.

Henry Mayhew Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine '' Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...

estimated in the 1840s that 300

costermonger A costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables in British towns. The term is derived from the words ''Costard (apple), costard'' (a medieval variety of apple) and ''monger'' (seller), and later came to be used to des ...

s attended the market here. He described the scene in his work '' London Labour and the London Poor'': The fortunes of the street market changed rapidly with time. In 1851 Mayhew wrote: "Since the above description was written, the New Cut has lost much of its noisy and brilliant glory. In consequence of a New Police regulation, "stands" or "pitches" have been forbidden, and each coster, on a market night, is now obliged, under pain of the lock-up house, to carry his tray, or keep moving with his barrow. The gay stalls have been replaced by deal boards, some sodden With wet fish, others stained purple with blackberries, or brown with walnut-peel; and the bright lamps are almost totally superseded by the dim, guttering candle. Even the pole under the tray or "shallow" is resting on the ground, the policeman on duty is obliged to interfere. The mob of purchasers has diminished one-half; and instead of the road being filled with customers and trucks, the pavement and kerb-stones are scarcely crowded." The market in the Cut continued until the 1950s, when the street was designated as the B300 thoroughfare between

Borough High Street Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 road, A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England. Overview Borough High Street continues sout ...

and Westminster Bridge Road; the remaining traders moved to Lower Marsh where some street stalls continue (to 2019), or to new shops rebuilt on the bombed sites. A boxing gymnasium situated above a pub on the Cut is alleged to be where the modern rules for the sport of boxing were penned. The street is also now home to a range of restaurants, shops and offices.

References

Streets in the London Borough of Lambeth Streets in the London Borough of Southwark Restaurant districts and streets in England History of the London Borough of Lambeth {{london-road-stub