About the BSAP

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Who we are

The Bermondsey Street Area Partnership (BSAP) is an independent and non-political voluntary group; its aim is to positively promote the interests of all sectors of the community, both business and residential, and to support the traditional mixed-use character of the area.

The BSAP provides a forum of discussion for those who live and/or work locally and are affected by issues raised by the changing face of the neighborhood, consisting, loosely of the Bermondsey Street Conservation Area, designated by Southwark Council in 1973.

Meetings for all members are held usually on the first Thursday of every other month.

Visiting speakers are invited to address a wide range of subjects, such as council and planning matters, conservation, traffic, local history, archaeology and architecture, parks, open spaces and green routes, community capacity building and, currently, the redevelopment of Bermondsey Square.

The BSAP planning sub-committee meets separately to consider local planning applications and associated aspects such as street lighting, parking, parks, paving and improvement of the railway arches. This committee reports back to the main BSAP meeting in cases of particular significance or concern.

Agendas and Minutes of BSAP meetings are circulated to members and will be posted on the web site. Information, Agendas, Minutes and meeting venues are also displayed on the BSAP notice board at the corner of Bermondsey Street and Tanner Street.

The BSAP arranges social events throughout the year and welcomes new members.

A brief history of Bermondsey Street Area Partnership (BSAP).

The original Bermondsey Street Conservation Area promoted by the Bermondsey & Rotherhithe Society, and was established in 1972.

Following is an extract from Southwark's  Planning & Development Committee meeting on 18th April 1972, which is interesting (thanks to Niall Connolly).

BERMONDSEY STREET, PROPOSED CONSERVATION AREA 

The history and character of the area.

Bermondsey street was originally the main track through the Thames-side marshes to Bermondsey Abbey, founded in 1082. The Abbey rose to become second only to Westminster in importance, and played an important part in the history of England, as well as South London where it owned vast estates including the manors of Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Dulwich. The Abbey was subsequently dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII.

Until the nineteenth century Bermondsey Street remained the south-eastern extremity of built-up London, when there was a rapid growth of population and new roads. Tower Bridge Road and Abbey Street were constructed about this time. As a result, Bermondsey street, which retained its original line, lost its importance as a north-south thoroughfare.
It is now the centre of a large industrial/commercial area containing a mixture of warehousing, light industry (printing, tanning, food), housing and local commerce, befitting its role as the heart of Old Bermondsey.

The present character of the street to a large extent derives from its Mediaeval origins - small building plots with a diversity of building age and style, narrowness, irregular building lines and heights. A further aspect of Mediaeval character is the large number of courts and alleyways leading from the street to properties at the rear.

The composite character of these individual features nevertheless has a unity, although some cohesion has been lost as a result of demolition and vacant sites. Though absorbed in the greater metropolis the original village character still survives, as a result of the intimacy of scale and the sense of enclosure.

At the southern end of the street, behind and to the side of St. Mary Magdalene, lies St. Mary's Churchyard. It is now laid out as a park, with well maintained flower beds and some fine trees, but the retention of some of the older monuments, as well as the watch house, preserves to some extent the character of the Churchyard.

The form of Bermondsey Square derives from the perpetuation of the site of the Abbey, though some disruption was caused by the construction in the nineteenth century of Tower Bridge Road. The Abbey Church lay on the line of the present Abbey Street. Bermondsey Square itself marks the site of the inner court and the opening of Bermondsey Square into Abbey Street the site of the inner gate house. The outer gate house spanned part of Abbey Street where it joins Long Lane. Parts of the East Gatehouse still remain in 6, 7 and 8 Grange Walk and the crooks for the hinges of the gate still project from the wall and are visible from Grange Walk.

There are a number of listed buildings in the area, the most important being the church of St. Mary Magdalene (largely built in 1680, but refaced in a Gothic style in 1830), the Watch House, the group of late 17th Century and early 18th Century buildings at 68-78 Bermondsey Street and 5-11 Grange Walk (built in the late 17th Century).
 
After being dormant for several years the BSA was reconvened in 1991 when businesses and residents came together to oppose the adaptation of an empty warehouse in Newham's Row to provide accommodation for 98 homeless people. The area was down at heel and a large number of local business people and residents came together to protest to the Council that the scale of this proposal would make it even worse. The Bermondsey Street Association was re-launched to positively promote the area with its unusual mix of businesses and residents association, working together to positively promote the area.

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How you can help for the Bermondsey Street Festival

Time Out guide

Time Out have produced a guide to enjoying Bermondsey Village.

Download PDF (1MB, opens in a new window)

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