Bermondsey Office Cleaning Services

Bermondsey is now an eclectic business and residential district within the historic county boundaries of Surrey, in southeast London. It is part of the London Borough of Southwark, 2.5 miles southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, and to the north is Wapping across the River Thames.

Bermondsey manufacturing and commerce

During the Industrial Revolution Bermondsey became a centre for manufacturing, particularly in relation to tanning. More recently it has experienced regeneration including warehouse conversions to flats and the provision of new transport links.

The industrial boom of the 19th century was an extension of Bermondsey’s manufacturing role in earlier eras. As in the East End, industries that were deemed too noisy for the City of London, had been located here. One such that came to dominate central Bermondsey, away from the riverfront, was the processing and trading of leather and hides. Many of the warehouse buildings from this era survive around Bermondsey Street, Tanner Street, Morocco Street and Leathermarket Street including the huge Leather Market of 1833 and the Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange of 1878; virtually all are now residential and small work spaces or offices.

Peek, Frean and Co is a company which manufactures biscuits and similar confectionery was established in 1857 at Dockhead, Bermondsey by James Peek and George Hender Frean. They moved to a larger plant in Clements Road in 1866, leading to the nickname ‘Biscuit Town’ for Bermondsey, where they continued baking until the brand was discontinued in 1989. The company is now owned by Nabisco.

Bermondsey, specifically Blue Anchor Lane, was also the location of the world’s first food canning business, established in 1812, by Donkin, Hall and Gamble.

The 20th century development of Bermondsey

To the east of Tower Bridge, Bermondsey’s 3.5 miles of riverside were lined with warehouses and wharves, of which the best known is Butler’s Wharf. They suffered severe damage in World War II bombing and became redundant in the 1960s following the collapse of the river trade.

After standing derelict for some years, many of the wharves were redeveloped during the 1980s. They have now been converted into a mixture of residential and commercial accommodations and have become some of the most upmarket and expensive properties in London. In 1997, US President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the area to dine at the Le Pont de la Tour restaurant at Butler’s Wharf.

At the same time more everyday housing was constructed in the areas north of the Old Kent Road, including several council estates.

Bermondsey was served by London’s first railway, from Spa Road railway station, as part of the London Bridge to Greenwich line, and the junction of lines from Croydon and Kent at South Bermondsey. However, reorganisation of lines and temporary closure of stations left Bermondsey’s transport links with the rest of London poorer in the late Twentieth Century. This was improved in 2000 with the opening of Bermondsey Underground station on the London Underground’s Jubilee Line Extension and the East London Line extension as part of the London Overground.