Secrets of Southwark: Southbank, Sinners & Shakespeare

Bear baiting, brothels and brawls: Southwark has seen it all. Today the area is famous for riverside views and world class art, but these old cobbles have stories to tell.

This free walking tour starts in Minerva Square and follows the Thames to the Tate Modern gallery. It’s a beautiful riverside walk, but without a guide the history is very easy to miss. We begin with London Bridge, the only crossing for centuries, and the town that grew up at its southern end. Then meet the Bishops of Winchester, who ruled this land and took rent from its brothels, and find out why prison is still called “the Clink”.

You’ll hear how Shakespeare’s Globe and the Rose packed in rowdy crowds while bears fought dogs just down the road, how the wharves became London’s Larder, and how it all fell silent when the docks closed in the 1960s. The story ends with one of London’s great comebacks: the Globe rebuilt, a power station turned into Tate Modern and the Shard rising above it all.

This tour is great for first time visitors, history lovers, theatre fans and Londoners who think they know the South Bank. Look for the red umbrella. Free to join, tip what you think it was worth at the end.