Until recently, nobody took much notice of Southbankside. Odd, when you consider its historic importance as the Shakespearian district of theatres, inns, bear and cock pits, brothels and all-round raffish entertainment - tolerated by the authorities because it was outside the boundaries of the city. The area was famously depicted by the artist Wenceslaus Hollar when he climbed the tower of what is now Southwark Cathedral in 1638 to draw his "Long View" of London. But when the theatres closed and industry took over, it faded from view. The post-war riverside cultural ghetto of the South Bank Centre was designed to face the culturally superior north bank, the streets around it deemed to be of no consequence. Similarly the National Theatre turns its back pointedly on its hinterland, presenting blank walls and service bays. The former Bankside power station- now Tate Modern - does exactly the same.

From Waterloo to Borough was old, slightly scary, industrial London, the ancillary of all the vanished wharfs and docks, a place scarcely touched by the Underground map. There are always exceptions, and the exception here was the Old Vic theatre, defiantly off-pitch, a much-loved cultural survivor, home to so many high ambitions including the early years of the National Theatre. Further south still, the Elephant and Castle, before the war a centre of popular theatre and music hall, had been bombed and replanned almost out of existence.