Bermondsey Spa: new homes near trendy Shad Thames come with oversized balconies and ornamental gardens

A bold regeneration plan is transforming this fast-improving pocket of Southwark close to fashionable Shad Thames.
Regeneration: Corio evokes Bermondsey’s traditional warehouses and its 167 flats have balconies over ornamental gardens
David Spittles7 November 2017

A stone’s throw from fashionable Shad Thames is a fast-improving pocket of Southwark called Bermondsey Spa. The district’s name is not an estate agent’s invention, but dates back to 1830 when artist Thomas Keyse created a spa and pleasure gardens following the discovery of a mineral spring.

During the Victorian era the neighbourhood became a centre for the leather trade, feeding off nearby Surrey Docks, and later was ravaged by the Blitz. For most of the past 40 years it was a backwater, untouched by gentrification.

But a bold regeneration plan has transformed the area by replacing outdated council estates with smart new housing, reinstating the old street pattern and opening up once-derelict railway arches for new uses. Spa Road train station, which opened in 1836 but is now redundant, has the distinction of being London’s first terminus.

Some fine Victorian architecture including a former public library and town hall survives around a lovely upgraded park. The Jubilee line station on Jamaica Road has helped bring a slightly off-pitch address in from the cold, while a foodie hub has sprouted up along Maltby Street and in re-energised railway arches.

From £649,950: two-bedroom flats at Corio
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Corio, a clean-cut scheme of 167 flats on Grange Walk, fits nicely into this neighbourhood. On the site of a former tannery that made Royal Maundy purses and government Despatch Boxes, the building’s warm brick façade evokes the area’s traditional warehouses, while flats have generous-sized recessed balconies overlooking ornamental gardens. Two-bedroom flats cost from £649,950. Call Linden Homes on 020 3811 6272.

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