For us, none other than the amazing tradition of Christmas markets is what gets us in the Christmas spirit, and so we have gathered some of the fantastic Christmas markets in South London that are definitely worth checking out in your local area this year!
As the sun finally begins to show its face, we’re bringing you a list of the best spots to don your sunnies, slap on the suncream and settle in for an afternoon of cold ones in the London sunshine. From riverside sundowners to boozy lunches on the terrace, Putney’s got an exciting little assortment of al fresco possibilities and we’ve rounded them up just in time for the Bank Holiday.
With the gradual, yet steady closing-down of local cinemas and theatres that has been happening in Britain for decades, we thought it a good idea to use our platform to pay homage to one of the oldest theatres in South London that has survived this unfortunate decline in entertainment venues, and continues to showcase cutting edge theatre and events to this day....
Season's greetings! There is no better way of getting into the Christmas spirit than by attending your local christmas markets. Wrap up warm with the family or a few friends, stroll down to your local market and enjoy the rich warming smells of mulled wine and mince pies, whilst trying to remember the lyrics to your favourite carols. We've got the round-up; check out where your local market is happening and make sure you're there!
Run your fingers along their spines, cast your eyes up and down the shelves, flick through the pages and sit cross legged on the floor engrossed in the words resting in your lap. Escape the dull, uniform, needlessly clean chain bookshops that are a stalwart part of any high street or soulless shopping centre. South London has its fair share of independent bookshops where hidden treasures can be found, prices are right and the shelves hold countless stories to lose yourself in.
A cosy little café by day, we’re here for the night: a showcase of its new list of 10 cocktails inspired by local landmarks and figures. Inside, you could be in Paris with the darkened, intimate atmosphere - almost enough to make you forget that just outside are London’s rainy streets and not a mild, leafy Parisian boulevard. Almost. The new menu is a definitively local affair with one important...
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.
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
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.
Here it is, another article in our series on the blue plaques of South London, and this week we're talking about the blue plaques of Deptford and New Cross. From the outset we're going to be very honest with you and tell you that there is only one 'official' blue plaque in Deptford and New Cross. Talking about only one plaque would not be particularly interesting however, so we're included the Lewisham maroon plaques as well in this list, along with one or two other plaques. Some might accuse this list of being somewhat arbitrary as we haven't included every plaque in the area, but we've included those which we thought were worth including. Though there is only one blue plaque, we've called this article the 'Blue Plaques of Deptford and New Cross' for the sake of consistency. Anyhow, we hop you enjoy this list of the blue plaques of Deptford and New Cross.
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.
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.
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.
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Join us and let's work together to make South London even better.
