Borough Area Guide
A market town that never stopped trading
Borough sits on the south side of London Bridge, in SE1, where Southwark Street meets Borough High Street and the railway arches fan out towards Guy's Hospital and the Shard. It is one of the oldest working corners of London: a market has traded here since at least 1014, when the chronicler Snorri Sturluson described Southwark as a great market town. Borough Market still trades six days a week today, its Victorian ironwork and 1932 art deco entrance drawing locals and visitors past Southwark Cathedral and down towards the river.
For Circa's Bankside office, Borough is a natural extension of the SE1 patch: five minutes' walk from London Bridge station, bordered by Bankside to the west and Bermondsey to the east, and increasingly home to buyers and tenants who want the City on their doorstep without living inside it.
History and heritage
Borough took its name from being the first area outside the old City walls to be recognised as a borough in its own right. Falling outside the City of London's jurisdiction, it built a reputation for theatre, taverns and trades the City preferred to keep at arm's length. Traces of that history remain: the ruins of Winchester Palace and its rose window still stand on Clink Street, a full size replica of Francis Drake's galleon the Golden Hinde is moored at St Mary Overie Dock, and the George Inn on Borough High Street, rebuilt in 1677 and now cared for by the National Trust, is London's last surviving galleried coaching inn.
Southwark Cathedral, parts of which date to the twelfth century, stands directly beside the market and holds the tomb of Edmund Shakespeare, William's brother. The Hop Exchange on Southwark Street, built in 1867 for the Kent and Sussex hop trade, is a reminder of Borough's mercantile roots and now houses offices and event space behind its cast iron facade.
The market, food and drink
Borough Market remains the district's centre of gravity: Three Crown Square for the wholesale trade, the Green Market for specialist producers, and Borough Market Kitchen for street food, all under a roof of steel girders laid down when the railway viaduct was driven through in the 1860s. Around it, Bedale Street and Winchester Walk fill with long standing independent traders such as Neal's Yard Dairy and Monmouth Coffee.
Beyond the market stalls, Borough's dining reflects its trading history. Padella and Roast sit within the market itself, while the surrounding streets hold everything from Casse-Croute's French bistro cooking to the railway arches of Flat Iron Square, given over to street food vendors under brick vaults. For a pint, the Market Porter and the Globe Tavern keep early opening hours for market traders, and the Rake on Winchester Walk specialises in small batch beer.
Culture
The Menier Chocolate Factory on Southwark Street, a former chocolate warehouse, combines a theatre with a restaurant and has built a reputation for transferring its productions to the West End. The Clink Prison Museum, on the site of one of London's oldest prisons, traces Southwark's more lawless past, and Vinegar Yard, tucked behind the market beneath the railway arches, has grown into a small cluster of independent bars and street food.
Transport connectivity
Borough is served directly by Borough station on the Northern line, while London Bridge station, five to ten minutes on foot, connects the Jubilee and Northern lines with National Rail and Thameslink services out to Kent, Sussex and Surrey. The Thames Clipper river bus runs from London Bridge City Pier, and the CS7 cycle superhighway runs straight through the area, making Borough one of the best connected districts on the south side of the river.
Housing and new developments
Borough's housing runs from Georgian and Victorian terraces around Trinity Church Square to warehouse and wharf conversions closer to the market, alongside a run of recent schemes. Brigade Court, on Southwark Bridge Road, has converted the Grade II listed former headquarters of the London Fire Brigade, built in 1878, into 199 new build and period apartments arranged around a central courtyard. Borough Yards, the redevelopment of the railway arches near Bedale Street, has brought new retail and office space into the market's immediate surroundings, and Berkeley's Borough Triangle scheme is bringing further new homes to the area over the coming years.
Prices in Borough sit below neighbouring Bankside and Bermondsey Street, while offering the same walk to London Bridge and the City, which keeps demand steady from both owner occupiers and investors letting to City and Guy's Hospital professionals.
Why buyers, tenants and sellers choose Borough
Borough suits people who want to be near the City without living in it: a five minute walk to London Bridge, a market on the doorstep, and streets that still carry a thousand years of trading history under the same railway arches serving it today. For Circa's Bankside team, it is one of SE1's most consistently in demand pockets, drawing City professionals renting close to work, buyers priced out of Bankside proper, and international investors familiar with the area through the Asia Desk's Hong Kong and Singapore network.
To talk through buying, renting or selling a property in Borough, contact Circa London's Bankside office on 020 3137 7877 or info@circalondon.com
