Bermondsey's Historic Town Centre

The Blue Market and High St has a history going back well over 150 years and is Bermondsey’s historic town centre. In its heyday 200 stalls lined Southwark Park Road and the area was thriving due to the close proximity of the Surrey Docks and the surrounding array of warehouses and factories, primarily based on food production. Famous brands such Peek Freans (Biscuits), Shuttleworth’s (Chocolate), Pearce and Duffs (Custard) Sarsons (Vinegar) and countless others provided mass employment and the ‘Blue’ as it is known locally, developed a proud working class heritage and became known as ‘the Larder of London.’
Following the closure of the docks and factories the Blue has undergone decades of industrial, economic, and commercial decline, negatively affecting its community and the market, which at one point had dwindled to a handful of stalls. Change was needed and in 2019 the ‘Made in Bermondsey’ people powered regeneration project was created and driven by several local passionate community partners. Funding was awarded by the GLA to support the partners aspirations with a core focus on improvements to the Market Place, which has transformed into an attractive and unique public space at the heart of the community. As a legacy of the Made in Bermondsey project Southwark Council granted the management of the Blue Market to Big Local Works who are developing a new community led market model with the potential to be the catalyst in beginning to turn the tide of decline in South Bermondsey and become a key driver to bring more prosperity and opportunity to the Blue and its people in the future.