Southwark
Overview of boroughResident population: 269,200
Working age population: 190,900
Key town centres: Dulwich, Camberwell, Bermondsey.
A multi-cultural borough, Southwark is popular amongst the Chinese, almost half the Chinese population lives in inner London, and around 20% is spread amongst the boroughs of Barnet, Southwark & Westminster. Latin American London is concentrated around the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre – with numerous Latino shops and services. West African culture can be found in Peckham High Street’s shops, at the Elephant Shopping Centre and on over 30 stalls between Rye Lane and Choumert Grove.
Skills and Labour Force
Qualifications:
36.5% of the workforce is educated to degree level (NVQ4+) compared to 34.6% in London
Colleges / Universities
London South Bank University
Web: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk
King's College London
Web: http://www.kcl.ac.uk
British School of Osteopathy
Web: http://www.bso.ac.uk
Southwark College
Web: http://www.southwark.ac.uk/newwebsite/
London College of Communications
Web: http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk
Business Base
Number of economically active in borough: 119,700
Number of VAT registered businesses: 9,270
Strong focus on business & personal services, wholesale & retail, and transport & communications sectors. Other niche sectors include: creative industries, financial intermediation, and food & drink.
Key companies include: Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young, Montagu Private Equity, Hgcapital, Ansbacher & Co Ltd, IgIndex, City Fund Management, Iron Mountain, Mitie, Norton Rose, Withers & Rogers, Aexiom, Serco, Global Crossing, Telinet, Varsatel, Blue Rubicon, the Hogarth Partnership & Addison Corporate Marketing (part of WPP group).
Model based unemployment rate: 9.7%
Transport
London Bridge railway station represents one of the major public transport hubs in the borough (18.5 million people entered the station in 2005/6 and 6 million interchanged), providing access to much of South London and beyond.
Trains also connect to Victoria, East Croydon, Gatwick airport, Lewisham, Sutton and Dartford amongst a number of destinations.
The Underground lines in the borough are the Northern Line, connecting to Euston and London Bridge, and the Bakerloo Line connecting to Waterloo.
London City Airport is a 35 minute drive and approximately 7.5 miles away, and Stansted Airport is 1hr 10 mins drive and approximately 36 miles away.
Road networks: The A205 leads to the neighbouring boroughs of Lambeth and Lewisham. The A2 leads to the A20 and M20 to Dover for the channel ports.
Cross River Tram: There is a proposal for a tram service running on-street between Euston & Waterloo with a branch to Brixton and Peckham in the south. Transport for London are working with Southwark and other London Boroughs to develop this service.
East London Line extensions to the line are planned in two phases. Phase 1 will involve extending the East London line to Dalston Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon by summer 2010. Phase 2 would connect London Overground services from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction this, however, is subject to funding.
Quality of Life
Interesting attractions:
Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
Southwark Cathedral and Borough market
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Butlers Wharf and the Design Museum
Business Support
The Southwark Business Desk
Tel: 020 7525 5353 (24-hr answerphone)
Fax: 020 7525 5510
South-East London Chamber of Commerce
Unit 4, Harrington Way
Warspite Road
London
SE18 5NR
Tel: 020 8317 3365
Fax:020 8854 8273
office@selondonchamber.org
www.selondonchamber.org
Southwark Chamber of Commerce
e-mail: admin@southwarkcommerce.com
www.southwarkcommerce.com
Southwark Council
Town Hall
Peckham Road
London SE5 8UB
020 7525 5000
www.southwark.gov.uk
