Work and Play in in the emerging neighbourhood of Vauxhall

Home of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens from the 17th to the 19th century, Vauxhall has been a place of entertainment associated with music, singing and dancing across the classes both local and outsiders across the centuries. Yet the area along and just behind the Thames at Vauxhall has also been a place of souless work and grew to be one of the most polluted places in 19th and early 20th century London.

This walk explores the universal themes of work and play in the local setting of Vauxhall as it emerged as a neighbourhood with the coming of the railway in Victorian times and on into the present day. The railway had a huge influence on the area, and still dominates the landscape of this walk but today 20th and 21st century social and economic factors have now come into play as well, with huge regeneration projects springing up locally,…