Lambeth Village is the local neighbourhood of Lambeth Palace, adjacent to Lambeth Bridge and the place from where the whole Borough of Lambeth takes its name. Walk in Lambeth Village and nine centuries of history lie beneath your feet. Here a wealth of historical architecture forms a high-quality urban environment centred around the green spaces of Old Paradise Gardens and the emerging plans for Lambeth Green.
Amongst the most significant historical features are Lambeth Palace, St Mary’s Church, which is now the Garden Museum, the London Fire Brigade Headquarters building and its equally Art Deco workshops, China Works (formerly known as South Bank House and originally built as the Royal Doulton headquarters) and Old Paradise Gardens, whose walls (like a number of the buildings) are listed. The park and these significant buildings are part of the Albert Embankment and Lambeth Palace conservation areas.
Lambeth Village is a mixed community in many senses of the word. It already contains a mix of private luxury apartments, housing association rent and shared ownership flats, local authority social rent and leasehold flats, as well as employment spaces centred on the designated South Bank House (now China Works) and Newport Street KIBA (Key Industrial Business Area). The latter is home to, amongst others, Beaconsfield Gallery, Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery, Pimlico Plumbers and local employer James Knight of Mayfair.
Local shops can be found clustered around the southern end of Lambeth Walk and Black Prince Road, which forms a hub for the local community. Here you’ll find a cafe in the Queens Head and a busy public house, The Jolly Gardeners, both built as 19th-century pubs with many external original features still intact. The parade includes a newsagent/convenience store, sandwich shop, barber, hairdresser, bookies and whole food general store called Millars. Lambeth High Street, as any local will tell you, is not a high street, but the back lane (its original name) to Albert Embankment.
