This film is part of Free
Tower Bridge Road Market...
Scenes of thronging street life and market trading along Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey Street and Southwark Park Road.
Overview
This remarkable film documents working class London life along and around Bermondsey's bustling Tower Bridge Road. We see thriving fruit markets, butchers' and bakers' shops, and M. Manze's famous eel and pie shop, which survives today. The intertitles help to orientate us by pointing out the location of (now long-lost) pubs and inns - the Bricklayer's Arms, the Horse Shoe and the Colleen Bawn.
The film captures an array of street traffic, including the fascinated faces of traders and pedestrians, who stare intently into the camera, as well as horse-drawn carts, steam and motor lorries, and various other vehicles. The site known as Bricklayer's Arms, at the junction of Tower Bridge Road and Old Kent Road, formerly housed a coaching inn and a short-lived London railway terminus. The Horse Shoe pub was found next door to the 'Trocette' cinema, demolished in 1975. The area still plays host to an antiques market every Friday in Bermondsey Square.
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