New life for an old line: south-east London's Low Line is reviving the area with cool new food markets, bars and homes

London’s Low Line railway viaduct is a phenomenon, its 851 arches part of a plan to shake up south-east London with new homes, cafés and food markets.
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David Spittles20 July 2018

Manhattan has its High Line, a linear park on disused train tracks, but London’s “Low Line” is showing how the imaginative reuse of railway architecture can bring about neighbourhood renewal across a swathe of the inner city.

The London Bridge to Greenwich railway viaduct is an industrial marvel. Built between 1834 and 1836, this single structure of 3.45 miles is the world’s oldest entirely elevated line and boasts Britain’s longest run of brick arches — 851 in total — which are now undergoing a remarkable renaissance.

More than 60 million bricks and 400 navvies were used to construct the line, the first-ever rail commuter route, transporting workers to the Square Mile from intermediate stations at Deptford and Bermondsey.

In the cut-throat commercial climate of Victorian railway politics, the train company’s directors earmarked the arches for low-cost housing and even introduced a penny toll for a raised pedestrian boulevard.

Housing never materialised and in the early years some arches were used as shops, others for storage and small manufacturing businesses, Britain then being the “workshop of the world”.

But as the decades passed, the arches became backstreet premises for car mechanics, scrap dealers and scaffolders. Later, industrial estates emerged, setting the tone for an area so central it gets into the large-print A-Z pages.

The picture started to change about 10 years ago with the rise of Borough Market and the wider Bermondsey revival.

Market stallholders spilled over into cheap arch spaces at Maltby Street, now a buzzing foodie haven in its own right, and the process kept going, with “design creep” spreading along Druid Street and St James Road, through Raymouth Road to Childers Street on the cusp with Greenwich.

Unlike New York’s High Line, everything is happening at ground level rather than in the air, with all sorts of enterprises, including some pop-ups with longevity, sprouting up in the old arches.

And with 27 “skew bridges” criss-crossing the main viaduct, small hubs have formed.

Tasty tip: Maltby Street Market
Alamy

Now officially christened the Low Line, the viaduct forms the spine of a fast-changing part of the capital whose status is rising.

Even posh Grosvenor Estates, the Duke of Westminster’s property company, is venturing beyond its Mayfair and Belgravia heartland to create a new neighbourhood with hundreds of homes.

Southwark council is working with local employers and property developers to co-ordinate regeneration and also turn the Low Line into a cultural trail to supplement the South Bank arts quarter.

Parts of the route had become no-go zones, blocked by high walls, security fences and buildings. A priority is to open up the route and transform the public realm into mostly car-free, green walkways.

The Shard, dramatically towering over rejuvenated London Bridge station, has been another Low Line catalyst. Part of the station upgrade has brought new entrances that are part of the original viaduct.

GET ON BOARD

The best way to get to grips with what’s happening is to put on your hiking boots and follow the train tracks out of London Bridge, stopping for a refreshment at one of the many bars and eateries along the way.

Start at Crucifix Lane and head for Bermondsey Spa. The latter sounds like an estate agent’s invention, but the name dates back to 1770 when philanthropist Thomas Keyse created a spa on what was then meadows.

During the Victorian era, the district became a centre for the leather trade, feeding off nearby Surrey Docks, and later was ravaged by the Blitz.

For most of the past 50 years it was a backwater, untouched by gentrification. But a bold regeneration plan has transformed the area by replacing outdated tenements with smart new housing, reinstating the old street pattern and opening up once-derelict railway arches.

From £699,950: two-bedroom homes at Corio. Call Linden Homes on 01883 787237

More than 20 sites across the 50-acre Spa zone have been redeveloped. The local park has been upgraded and the handsome former town hall is now flats.

Corio, a scheme of 167 flats in Grange Walk, fits nicely into this neighbourhood, with two-bedroom homes from £699,950. Call Linden Homes on 01883 787237.

GIN, CHEESE AND BISCUITS

Spa Road station has the distinction of being the capital’s first terminus, opening before the full length of the line had been completed, but it was soon made redundant by the building of London Bridge station, and it closed during the First World War.

Today the old ticket office remains as part of an estate of arches finding new uses, mainly for artisanal producers including wine merchant Aubert & Mascoli, gin maker Jensen’s at Bermondsey Distillery, Mons Cheesemongers, The London Honey Company, Monmouth Coffee and The Ice Cream Union. There’s also a weekend farmers’ market.

University of Oxford has acquired Dockley Road business estate for redevelopment into flats and student accommodation.

Close by, Grosvenor is building The Biscuit Factory, with 1,350 rental flats on the former Peek Freans site, a 12-acre plot that is also getting offices, shops, cafés and gardens.

The Biscuit Factory: rental flats with shops, offices, cafes and gardens

The homes are aimed at young professionals in the 20-35 age bracket, priced out of home ownership but who like the buzz of the inner city.

As well as a new public square, new walkways are being created through listed arches to “The Blue”, the district’s historic hub on the other side of the tracks.

Grosvenor has held fêtes as part of a community consultation, planted an orchard and provided temporary space for Old Vic Workrooms, an outpost of the famous theatre company. A new secondary school aims to entice families. See belonginbermondsey.com.

Ben Edgley set up Conform Architects a year ago and walks to his Bermondsey office from his flat in Rotherhithe.

“The quickest route is alongside the railway tracks, quite industrial and raw, but a hugely interesting urban landscape, and full of surprises.

"All sorts of businesses — florists, breweries, theatre studios — use arches along the way. If I fancy a change, I take a slight detour through Southwark Park, which is green and calming.”

SEEK OUT THE CREEK

From here, the Low Line heads through Deptford’s gritty hinterland, where many arches remain derelict and there are fewer signs of gentrification.

Deptford was the end of the original line, and this historic train station has been given a makeover, part of a project by architect firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners that has yielded 131 homes, workspaces and a new market square facing the high street.

The area is still relatively affordable for young, career-minded Londoners. Deptford’s unpretentious High Street is gradually giving way to trendier outlets such as the Job Centre, once an employment agency, now a bar.

Tellingly, a Waitrose has opened at Deptford Creek, an industrial waterway now opening up for housing and amenities.

A planning objective is to unite the High Street with the riverfront by providing pedestrian-friendly flows across Evelyn Street to Deptford Strand.

Until recently, Deptford’s waterfront looked much the same as it did 30 years ago — a neglected, post-docks legacy of derelict wharves and industrial sheds blocking off access to the Thames.

Now a Victorian warehouse complex called Paynes & Borthwick has become a neat new address, with 247 flats, exhibition space and a riverside promenade.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Currently a quiet pocket, redevelopment of Convoys Wharf — a giant 40-acre chunk of land where Henry VIII founded the Royal Dockyard — will eventually change this strip into a bustling riverside community.

Remarkably, it is a new rail link that will set the seal on this up-and-coming district. The Bakerloo line extension from Elephant & Castle to New Cross Gate will run underground more or less parallel with the Low Line, with two new Tube stations in Old Kent Road.

Though 10 years away, a development “corridor” has already opened up, with Berkeley and Galliard among the housebuilders scrambling for sites.

A GREAT LOCATION

Prices from £385,000: Jack Walker and Chelsea Muir bought an apartment at Deptford Foundry. Call Anthology on 020 7526 9229 
Juliet Murphy

Packed with personality Jack Walker, 30, and Chelsea Muir, 27, took advantage of Help to Buy to get on the property ladder at Deptford Foundry, a scheme of 316 apartments plus 80 artist studios being built on a former ironworks site.

Its industrial-style architecture makes a virtue of the raw urban setting alongside the Low Line.

A new central street is being created and arches punched through for better access to the wider area. Prices from £385,000. Call Anthology on 020 7526 9229.

“We had considered buying in East Croydon but discovered that Deptford was no more expensive and was much closer to the centre,” says Chelsea, who works in retail at London Bridge.

They paid £400,000 for their new home and expect to move in by the end of the year.

“Our flat is above the artists’ studios, which will add some personality to the area.”