Secrets of Southwark Bridge

How much do you know about London's green-and-yellow bridge? And get ready for some audience participation.

[JayForeman]

Here's my attempt...

Least used bridge in central London
Built in 1920-something, replacing an earlier one... I think...
Used by Cycle Superhighway 7.
That's it.

[AndyHO]

Not being from London my knowledge of Southwark bridge is limited, let me count the ways - it's a bridge; it's over the Thames; it's in London; the pronunciation of Southwark is different from my expectation given the letters in the word - I expect there would be a similar surprise for non-locals to the Sheffield places named Beauchief and Greenhill. Fascinating bridge history nonetheless.

[cgfletch]

It's also used a lot for filming (car chases, etc) because it's so quiet and therefore easier to close on Sundays. I once saw National Treasure 2 being filmed there. :)

[shinigxmi]

when William the conqueror came to take London, his army attempted to cross at southwark, but met resistance, so marched around the thames and came in from the north. he also started the white tower (main bit of tower of london) near the crossing as he wanted to overlook that crossing, but at that time, the tower was on the very edge of london, and right next to the thames, so he could defend from the east and the thames from there.

[colindavies]

This bridge is the nearest that trams would go near the city of London they used to terminate on bridge until they were withdrawn in July 1952

That was real interesting, loved it.


The Bollards are French Cannons from the Napoleonic Wars, their guns were better
than ours, but they couldnt fit our ships, so we used them as Bollards.


Another thing that some of the bronze guns were used for was to make the 4 Lions, and
the plaques around the base of Nelsons Colum in Trafalgar Square.

[RitchAmes]

You missed my favourite bit of Graffiti, which is in the tunnel, on the south bank side. Someone years ago added stickers that look very real alongside a bridge drawing in the style of the other descriptions in the tunnel.

It reads: "Unimpressed with the selection of flat-pack bridges offered, a design from the Argos catalogue was chosen via a public vote in the Spring of 1757. Upon the bridge's arrival, the instruction booklet was lost immediately by head surveyor Robert Mylne" - I think it's referring to the red pillars nearby :)

[padraicodomhnall]

Great little video. Interesting, informative and nicely produced. Thank you for posting.

[hudson]

Please do a history of Shad Thames video! It's imo the coolest street in London with all its bridges, and you can still feel the atmosphere of what it used to be when you stand under them 😄

[cigmorfil]

Part of the reason for southwark bridge being the least used is probably TFL.

Before the cycleway was built, there was room for 3 lanes of traffic (and to turn around a 12m coach on the bridge).
Since the cycle way has been built the motorised traffic has been reduced to a single lane each way and the traffic light phasing changed so that fewer vehicles seem to get through at each change leading to long queues and 5+ minutes to cross the bridge northbound.

With other bridges, the increase in cycle flow had not been met with such a decrease in other traffic flow, hence it is lower used.

[Molluscful]

I always used to use it when crossing from
south to north in a car as it had the least traffic.

I was surprised there was no mention of Pepys stairs as I was informed on a guided tour that these were next to Southwark
Bridge. They were just Waterman’s stairs, but the close proximity of Samuel Pepys residence provides them with the name.

[erniehart]

The boat trip people say it’s the least used bridge because one was streets make it difficult to get to. Taxi drivers like it though.

[ReaperUnreal]

My list:
It's a bridge





Yup that's it. Neat learning more about it thigh.

[angienorthey]

I seem to remember some kind of lion statue on Southwark Bridge back in my '70's childhood. I either walked across it or went on some kind of school trip back then. It's about the only London bridge I've never driven across.

[ricardoabh]

Very interesting... will have a better look since touristing in the area

[anchorterrace]

This Bridge was also known as the over lit bridge, and constantly complained about. The line of three gas mantle lights were known to disturb the goings on around the SouthBank at night and was not very popular as a result. It was indeed the brightest spot on the Thames at night. It’s also known for the many movies that have used it as a backdrop, because as the bridge that goes nowhere it is easily blocked off for filming.

[barrygower]

Southwark Bridge is difficult to find if you’re approaching it from south of the river. It also lost some of its usefulness when Queen Street was blocked to motor traffic.

[IgWannA]

There's also "Feast on the Bridge" where they close the bridge to traffic and line it with tables and food stalls. I went to it one year, very cool. Not sure if they still do it

[markgoddard]

My list started with ‘Only one person has made a video of Southwark Bridge.’ And my second point was that ‘I don’t think Prince Andrew will be making a video about Southwark Bridge any time soon.’ That’s about all that came to mind.

[SteveMorton]

Ofcom are in the bow fronted building on the south bank adjacent to the bridge. Now called Riverside House it used to have a different name before it was modernised.