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The Lambeth Walk - Home of the
'cockneys'
The
Lambeth Walk was the main
shopping market for all the SE11
postcode area plus parts of SE1,
SE17 SW8 and SE5. Following a
long and chequered history, in
1937 it shot to international
fame when the stage musical Me
and my Girl was first performed.
Starring Lupino Lane, the stage
musical broke all box office
records both in the USA and
Great Britain. The songs from
the show, "Doing the Lambeth
Walk" and "Me and my Girl"
became worldwide hits. The
subsequent film, (called Lambeth
Walk) also became a massive hit.
People came from all over the
world to see the famous market.
The Lambeth Walk brought to the
world terms like cockney slang,
and pie and mash.
Picture on home page shows a
crowded Lambeth Walk waiting to
see Lupino Lane, who could not
appear due to safety reasons.
He, and all the cast of Me and
my Girl, did visit Lambeth Walk
shortly after.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries
families flocked to The Lambeth
Walk and surrounding areas to
live and to work in the many
industries located there. The
huge world famous glassworks in
Glasshouse Walk (off Tyers
Street), founded by the Duke of
Buckingham. The even more
massive factory of Doultons
pottery, whose designers lent
their names to surrounding
dwellings, the most prominent
being Tinworth House and Randall
House (now demolished). in
Vauxhall Walk, and Wedgewood
House. The very first Vauxhall
car was built by the Vauxhall
Iron Works at Vauxhall, who then
had a panel factory in Vauxhall
Walk, (later occupied by Myers
Beds). Schweppes drinks,
Marmite, United Dairies. NAFFI,
headquarters in Kennington Lane,
St Thomas's Hospital, Lambeth
Hospital, Lambeth Palace and
Bethlehem (Bedlam) Hospital all
had or still have premises in or
within a stones throw from
Lambeth Walk. Even the House of
Parliament are less that 1000yds
away. Large families, some with
as many as 15 children or more,
were crammed into two or three
rooms. Disease was rampant and
there many premature deaths.
During the Twentieth century
thousands emigrated to
Australia, Canada and the United
States.
But the biggest change came when
the Lambeth Council decided to
"redevelop" the Lambeth Walk.
The result was the demolition of
virtually all the landmarks,
houses and shops and replacing
them with concrete boxes called
flats. The area was ethnically
cleansed, most of the indigenous
residents being shipped off to
areas outside London.
The "redevelopment" achieved
what two World wars and the
great recession of the nineteen
thirties failed to do, the
abolition of a cockney
community. And the loss of the
pie and mash shop.
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