The walk from the London Eye to Tower Bridge takes 30 minutes if you walk straight. Nobody walks straight. The South Bank is 2.3 km of continuous public space along the River Thames, built on the site of the 1951 Festival of Britain, and it is London’s most democratic stretch of urban land. Street performers, book markets, skateboarders under the Waterloo Bridge, and theatres running six shows a day. Here is why the South Bank keeps pulling Londoners and visitors back.
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In This Article
The Theatres: National Theatre, Old Vic, and Shakespeare’s Globe
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The National Theatre, opened in 1976 on the site of the former Lion Brewery, runs three auditoriums under one roof. The Olivier Theatre seats 1,160 with a drum-revolve stage. The Lyttelton seats 890. The Dorfman, the smallest, seats 400. Tickets start at 15 pounds for 10 pounds Travelex season productions. The National Theatre estimates 800,000 visitors attend performances annually. The Shakespeare’s Globe, 500 metres east, is a reconstruction of the 1599 original, built in 1997 using the same oak timber framing and lime plaster. The yard holds 700 standing groundlings for 5 pounds per ticket. The indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse next door seats 340 under candlelight. South of the river, the Old Vic, built in 1818 on The Cut, has been running continuously since its foundation.
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Tate Modern: A Power Station Turned Gallery
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The Tate Modern opened in 2000 in the former Bankside Power Station, a 200-metre-long brick building designed by Giles Gilbert Scott (who also designed Battersea Power Station and the red telephone box). The Turbine Hall, 152 metres long and 35 metres high, hosts large-scale installations that change twice a year. The permanent collection is arranged thematically across four wings. The Switch House, the extension opened in 2016, added 60 percent more gallery space and a 10th-floor viewing platform with a 360-degree view of London. Entry to the main collection is free. The Tate Modern receives 5.8 million visitors a year, making it the most visited modern art museum in the world.
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The Markets and the River View
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The Southbank Centre Book Market, under the arches next to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, has been selling second-hand books for over 30 years. The selection changes weekly. The BFI Southbank, on the site of the former County Hall, runs 1,500 film screenings per year in its three cinemas. The riverside walk is lined with food stalls and pop-up bars from spring to autumn, including the rooftop bar at the National Theatre with views of St Paul’s Cathedral across the water. The view from the South Bank looking north, from the Hungerford Bridge to the Millennium Bridge, is the classic London panorama: the Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s, the City skyline. The Millennium Bridge, the first new pedestrian bridge across the Thames in central London since 1894, opened in 2000 and carries 10,000 people every day.
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What is the one South Bank institution you never skip, and is there a new discovery you made on your last visit?
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