0:00:02 > 0:00:04London, in 1886.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06The largest city in the world,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10the financial and industrial centre of a vast empire.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14It was a city divided between fabulous wealth and miserable poverty.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18It seems a mystery to us now.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22It was a different world. An entirely different world.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25But there is a guide to this human jungle -
0:00:25 > 0:00:29Charles Booth, Victorian London's social explorer.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Booth produced a series of pioneering maps
0:00:32 > 0:00:34that colour-coded the streets of his London,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38according to the ever-shifting class of its residents.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Booth's maps are like scans,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44X-rays that reveal to us the secret past
0:00:44 > 0:00:46beneath the skin of the present.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48If people knew how many cattle was killed there,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I don't think they'd live there!
0:00:50 > 0:00:52He wanted his maps
0:00:52 > 0:00:56to chart stories of momentous social change.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58I was on the bottom,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00and those houses were the lowest of the low.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05The ebb and flow between enormous wealth and terrible poverty.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09How easily desirable or well-to-do neighbourhoods
0:01:09 > 0:01:13could descend into the haunts of the vicious and semi-criminal,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and back again.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Now the maps can help us reveal the changes
0:01:18 > 0:01:22that have shaped all our lives and made the story of the streets
0:01:22 > 0:01:25the story of us all.
0:01:25 > 0:01:26Oh my goodness!
0:01:26 > 0:01:29The old toilet's gone!
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Gentrification has swept across
0:01:34 > 0:01:37much of the Victorian housing stock in London.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Reverdy Road in Bermondsey
0:01:39 > 0:01:42has largely resisted the middle-class invasion.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48A street that hasn't changed much at all in the last hundred years.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54I'm working class, I always will be, you know.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58I don't aspire to be anything else.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03I've got friends who say they're middle class, it makes us laugh.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Bloody Cockneys, the same as us!
0:02:05 > 0:02:07Who wants to be middle class anyway?
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Terry Sullivan has lived in Bermondsey all his life
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and has been in this house since 1962.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20I don't think because you drink fine wine
0:02:20 > 0:02:22it makes you middle class
0:02:22 > 0:02:26or if you like good music it makes you middle class.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32I think you should be proud of your roots, and I am.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38We call this the eating room, but actually we never eat in here.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Lynne uses it for her artwork.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43It's one of her pictures she's doing at the moment, I think.
0:02:49 > 0:02:50Waterbed.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Oh, I'm proud of that.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56See that marble?
0:02:56 > 0:02:58It's not marble, it's wood.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01That's what I did, marbling. I do marbling sometimes.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03That's one of my more successful ones,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06because I think that does look like marble, doesn't it?
0:03:06 > 0:03:10That's across the road. That's my grandfather, my father,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15my Aunt Mary and Lena, Aunt Lena, and that's John.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20That's in Reverdy Road, looking down towards Southwark Park Road.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30In 1900, Charles Booth visits Bermondsey in south-east London.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33It's an area bounded to the north by the River Thames
0:03:33 > 0:03:35and to the south by the Old Kent Road.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Reverdy Road is a street of 85 two-storey houses,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46built in the 1860s.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Booth classifies this street as pink,
0:03:48 > 0:03:53meaning fairly comfortable, with good ordinary earnings.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56His first impressions of Reverdy Road,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59as recorded in his notebook, are favourable.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03These are all two-storied houses on comfortable streets.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Yellowed brick and built at the time of the Crimea.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Some were tenanted by one family like salesmen and travellers,
0:04:15 > 0:04:16but the majority, by two.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Good gardens at the back,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25railwaymen, engine drivers, police and guards live here.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31The houses are seldom empty and hard to get.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Fairly small fronts, with iron railings.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Fairly clean and broad streets.
0:04:42 > 0:04:48I remember coming first, and my husband fetched his friend in here.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51We were looking around the house, empty,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56looking around, and we went upstairs and looked at a bedroom.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01This friend of his, "Oh, this is the master bedroom, isn't it?" you know.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06And I looked at the garden.
0:05:06 > 0:05:12"Ooh, I'd need a bus to get down there," you know. It was a really big, if you know what I mean...
0:05:12 > 0:05:17Compared to the place I lived in when I was young.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Reverdy Road has always been a respectable street
0:05:21 > 0:05:24for respectable working-class people.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28But the house on the corner is different.
0:05:28 > 0:05:34It's bigger and ever since 1891, it's been home to a doctor.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38This house has seen the formation of important principles of public health provision.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Max Gammon arrived here in 1979
0:05:45 > 0:05:50with a keen sense of being a community-based doctor.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54'You saw a patient right through as a person.'
0:05:54 > 0:05:58The numbers of cases that I've had
0:05:58 > 0:06:03in which I've seen a patient through
0:06:03 > 0:06:07from the early stages, say, of a carcinoma,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10to the deathbed...
0:06:12 > 0:06:17You were part, an organic part, of this community,
0:06:17 > 0:06:23and one could actually feel that one was playing a crucial part
0:06:23 > 0:06:29in the life not only of that patient, but also of that family.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34How many people had been seen in that surgery
0:06:34 > 0:06:39since it began? I said, I thought, probably,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44- 50-week year, and we saw 200 a week. - Right. So that's...
0:06:44 > 0:06:49- For 100 years. - OK. So that's 10,000 a year,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54and then for 100 years, so then 10,000 times by 100,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57which is a million.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Yeah, a million is a ballpark figure. It certainly wouldn't be less.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04That's quite extraordinary. A million patients.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11The doctor's house was built in 1861 for local farmer William Poupart.
0:07:11 > 0:07:17This house was part of also the row of houses in Southwark Park Road,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20which was once Blue Anchor Lane,
0:07:20 > 0:07:26and it was Lily Cottage, Rose Cottage, etc, down the road,
0:07:26 > 0:07:32and we were part of a farmstead built for the farm workers.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41The farm and mill attached to the cottage burned down in 1866,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45making way for the rest of Reverdy Road to be built two years later.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49The first census was in 1891,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and reveals that Dr George Cooper was resident in the house,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55along with his wife, eight children and a servant.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01Cooper had a strong notion of public service
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and was devoted to his work as a Bermondsey GP.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09In 1906, he was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Bermondsey.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11When he wasn't in the House of Commons,
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Cooper would've been treating people in the Reverdy Road surgery.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21We found this in the old stables,
0:08:21 > 0:08:27because just through there, beyond the surgery, there was the coach house,
0:08:27 > 0:08:32because Mr Cooper had a coach and horse,
0:08:32 > 0:08:40and behind the coach house, there's a stable and a tack room.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43This would have been the coach house.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46There would have been a highly polished carriage...
0:08:46 > 0:08:52single horse, I think, but I did have a patient who remembered Dr Cooper.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56He was 90 years old, this patient of mine,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58when I first came here,
0:08:58 > 0:09:05and he said he remembered Dr Cooper visiting in his carriage, wearing a top hat.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09Even though the area was a very poor area,
0:09:09 > 0:09:16they'd got a very smart doctor in a very smart equipage,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20you know, the equivalent today of a decent Mercedes, I suppose.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Booth assessed Reverdy Road as being "fairly comfortable".
0:09:28 > 0:09:33The majority of houses contained two families, one living upstairs, one down.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Cooking facilities were shared, and nobody had a bathroom.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Then, as now, Reverdy Road was slightly superior,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45a little posher, perhaps, than neighbouring streets,
0:09:45 > 0:09:50mostly working class, but very respectable working class.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53Census material tells us the kind of people
0:09:53 > 0:09:57who were living here at the turn of the 19th century.
0:09:57 > 0:10:03Charles Gibbs, born 1818, living on my own means.
0:10:03 > 0:10:10Elizabeth Fences, widow, born 1849, with six children.
0:10:10 > 0:10:16My name is Rebecca Newhouse. I'm 11 years old, I was born in 1880 and I'm a scholar.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23The most surprising thing about Reverdy Road is that it's hardly changed
0:10:23 > 0:10:26since Booth had a look around in 1900.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29He found a street of hard-working people,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33most of whom were born in south London.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36And it's still not far off of that, is it?
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Still not far off of that.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41There's not that many foreign people here,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43I would have thought,
0:10:43 > 0:10:48in relation to the area, in relation to the area.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52My brother, he's gone to middle class.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56He lives in Surbiton and he had a good job. He had brains.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Went to a good school and got a good job
0:10:59 > 0:11:03and earned a lot of money, and he's very comfortable.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06But I'm not.
0:11:06 > 0:11:12I'm not academic like he was, I'm more artistic, you know,
0:11:12 > 0:11:17which doesn't earn you money.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20I wasn't good enough at that, anyway.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22But I'm working class.
0:11:26 > 0:11:27I gamble a bit.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Bingo. Only once a week. But I like that.
0:11:36 > 0:11:37Look at the camera, look!
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Terrible. Sorry about that!
0:11:56 > 0:11:58I'll tell you a funny thing.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01I've got a picture, taken by the South London Press,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03of my two daughters at the school.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06The photographers took the picture of all the schoolchildren.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07They'd grown flowers or something.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12And the caption to the photograph said, "These are the children from a deprived area.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17"They've probably never seen the sea and never seen a tree."
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Bermondsey never seen a tree!
0:12:20 > 0:12:24And we laughed, because that day, my two daughters had taken
0:12:24 > 0:12:27pate de foie gras for their lunch break.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37120 miles to the north of Reverdy Road stands Alscot Hall,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41a rococo Gothic pile in the Warwickshire countryside
0:12:41 > 0:12:46and once home to James West, former Secretary to the Treasury,
0:12:46 > 0:12:52now occupied by his descendant, Emma Holman West.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Pretty special, isn't it? As I say to everyone,
0:12:55 > 0:13:00the day that I wake up and I don't enjoy the view is the day I need to retire.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06The West family had acquired a chunk of rural land in Bermondsey
0:13:06 > 0:13:09in the mid 19th century and soon saw an opportunity
0:13:09 > 0:13:16to profit from the population boom in London. They built 790 houses on that land.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20This became known as the West Estate, part of which was Reverdy Road.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24The Wests were Victorian property developers.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26James West, who was married to Sarah,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31it was her family estate land. And basically Sarah's brother,
0:13:31 > 0:13:36who should have inherited, died, and so it then came to the Wests.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38It was basically farmland
0:13:38 > 0:13:42and it was part of the railways, and they had the river,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44and it's near where London Bridge is now.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55This map is a commercial map of London from 1807...
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Emma knows little about the building of the estate that bears her name.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Most of the documents relating to it were donated years ago
0:14:01 > 0:14:04to the John Harvard Library in Bermondsey.
0:14:04 > 0:14:10Historian Stephen Humphries has brought back some of these documents to show her.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15The estate has coloured in all its lands in pink and purple.
0:14:15 > 0:14:22The purple bits are going to be disposed of, but the pink bits,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25including Reverdy Road, were kept down to 1960.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29And is there any reason where they decided to build?
0:14:29 > 0:14:34London was expanding, and by the 1860s, anything south of Southwark Park Road
0:14:34 > 0:14:37was the next area in line to be developed.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42- The value of it for building land was greater than it was for market gardens...- Sure.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44..or farming of any other sort.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48And do we know how the Wests financed the building of it?
0:14:48 > 0:14:54The usual way was to sell off chunks of the land on building leases,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57so the builder took the responsibility
0:14:57 > 0:15:02for paying out all the money needed to build the houses.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07And then the builder would sell on the lease and get his money back,
0:15:07 > 0:15:09and the estate would then have the ground rents...
0:15:09 > 0:15:13- OK. - ..which, on each house put together, would be vastly bigger
0:15:13 > 0:15:16than what one meadow had had before.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Rents would vary according to which builder owned the lease.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26But people wanted to make a profit,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30so anyone wanting to live in this shiny new development needed proper employment.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35In the early years, there was a wide variety of occupations,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38ranging from a music publisher to an errand boy.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46Florence Barker, draper's assistant, born 1871.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49There are 12 people living in this house, and my name is Tom Shepherd,
0:15:49 > 0:15:55and I was born here in 1867 and I work on the transport system.
0:15:55 > 0:16:02Tom Ashdown, born 1856, food and sanitary inspector.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06So the West family were quite particular about renting
0:16:06 > 0:16:08to people in employment,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and to ensure their tenants enjoyed good spiritual health,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14James West helped fund the building of a church
0:16:14 > 0:16:17in nearby Thorburn Square.
0:16:20 > 0:16:27In the late 1850s, a young curate called Thornton Wilkinson
0:16:27 > 0:16:32was given the task of actually founding a congregation in this area.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36And Thornton Wilkinson did it by standing on street corners
0:16:36 > 0:16:41and holding impromptu services. He'd done that for quite some time,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45very bravely, when a group of people who must have had some money
0:16:45 > 0:16:48came to him one day and said, "Look, we've seen you,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52"we admire what you're doing, we'll build a church for you."
0:16:52 > 0:16:56- He is in fact named on here. - Oh, right, OK.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00- JR West Esq.- Yep.- He's giving £100
0:17:00 > 0:17:05to the contributions for the new St Anne's Church.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09- Oh, right.- Which was to be built in Thorburn Square.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11- It's on that map. - And is the church still there?
0:17:11 > 0:17:14There's still a church there, yes.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18He's giving twice as much as the Bishop of Winchester on this list.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22When Booth paid his visit in 1900,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24the vicar of St Anne's was a Mr Walsh.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29The vicar mentioned the reluctance of men to attend organised religion,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32saying, "It is no use blinking the fact
0:17:32 > 0:17:36"that the bulk of our congregation are boys and women who cannot get the men to church."
0:17:39 > 0:17:42So the women of Reverdy Road attended church regularly
0:17:42 > 0:17:45and made a good impression on the vicar.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Perhaps it was the air of hard-working respectability
0:17:48 > 0:17:54that led him to describe his parish as the Belgravia of Bermondsey.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56His wife had formed a different view
0:17:56 > 0:18:01and spoke despairingly about her life in what she called
0:18:01 > 0:18:05the desert of Bermondsey. Her middle-class snobbery about the local women was undisguised.
0:18:05 > 0:18:12The women think of themselves ladies. That is the word that expresses it best. Ladies.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16It is terrible. What do they do? Well, it is very difficult to say.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22They're very difficult to classify, and most are a very mixed set.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29Life down here is very hard for my daughters,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33as, except for the local clergy, there is no-one to know.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Mr Stobart is a snob, and Mr Ainsworth is a cad.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40And as for the wife of the latter,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44she is an obnoxious person, impossible.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51Poor Mrs Walsh, marooned amongst the proles with no-one to speak to.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53At the other end of the street,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57Dr Cooper was able to bridge the class divide
0:18:57 > 0:19:00as a popular GP and Member of Parliament.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05He died at home in 1909, after a late sitting in the House of Commons.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09By 1920, the surgery had been taken over by Dr Alfred Salter,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13a republican and pacifist.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Dr Salter was born in Greenwich in 1873.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19He trained at Guy's Hospital
0:19:19 > 0:19:23and took up residence in the Bermondsey settlement in 1898.
0:19:24 > 0:19:30He married Ada in 1900. Writing to Ada just before they married,
0:19:30 > 0:19:37Alfred Salter said this. "I have no lingering hankering for the flesh bots of Sudbury
0:19:37 > 0:19:39"or Guy's or Harley Street,
0:19:39 > 0:19:44"but I have sometimes quailed before the dull, interminable,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48"leisureless grind, the weary, monotonous treadmill of work
0:19:48 > 0:19:51"that certainly awaits me if I have to practise down here
0:19:51 > 0:19:54"among the working people of Bermondsey."
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Alfred considered himself to be a Christian missionary
0:20:02 > 0:20:05and described his work as a divine vocation
0:20:05 > 0:20:07and said in a letter to his wife, Ada,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09"We are to be given over to the service of Bermondsey,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12"to be her faithful servants, to live for her,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15"if need be, to give our lives for her."
0:20:16 > 0:20:19He began to work with Bermondsey Council on a mission
0:20:19 > 0:20:22to put in place a radical set of public health measures.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Well, I knew about Dr Salter,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29because of the fact he used to...
0:20:30 > 0:20:34It was him who got the council
0:20:34 > 0:20:38to send a van round with pictures.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42These vans used to open up the back
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and they used to have a screen there,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49and the pictures were health, hygiene,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51and all that kind of thing, you know -
0:20:51 > 0:20:55keeping everybody sort of healthy.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58"You should always wash your hands." It showed your hands, sort of thing,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01and children walking about and things like that.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06As kids, we just sat there, stood there, watching it,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09until the thing was finished, they closed the things
0:21:09 > 0:21:14and away they went to somewhere else. It was good. It was free pictures.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Alfred Salter had started out as an idealistic young doctor.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26He made a big impression on Charles Booth, who met him in 1900
0:21:26 > 0:21:27and wrote the following.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Mr Salter is above average -
0:21:29 > 0:21:34a cheery, pleasant fellow, whose visits are more likely to be welcome
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and much more tactful than many of his brother missionaries
0:21:38 > 0:21:41in approaching the spiritual side of his task.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46The teetotal doctor liked to joke
0:21:46 > 0:21:49that he charged publicans' wives double for his services.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Everyone else paid what they could afford.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55If they couldn't afford the treatment, it was free.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56He was a familiar sight,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59peddling the streets of Bermondsey on his bike,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03and became immensely popular with his patients.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07If we are a little sick, Mother sends for Dr Khan.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10But if we are proper sick, she sends for Dr Salter.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17A man turned up to the surgery one day with his wife
0:22:17 > 0:22:21and was told that Dr Salter was away but that he could see another doctor.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25However, the man said that no-one else would do for his wife,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28not even if it was the bloke who does for the Queen.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37Bermondsey had the highest rates of scarlet fever in London.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Overcrowding and proximity to the river
0:22:40 > 0:22:44meant this highly contagious bacterial illness spread rapidly
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and often with deadly effect.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Today, it is easily treated with antibiotics,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54but in the early decades of the 20th century,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56scarlet fever was a killer.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Alfred and Ada lost their beloved daughter Joyce to the fever.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02She was eight years old.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08But their tragic loss did not deter them
0:23:08 > 0:23:10from continuing their work in Bermondsey.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Alfred Salter never wavered
0:23:14 > 0:23:17in his commitment to the people of the borough
0:23:17 > 0:23:22and he was most concerned to tackle the social conditions that give rise to illness,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25as revealed in another of his letters to his wife.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29I've been paying numerous visits
0:23:29 > 0:23:31to derelict families
0:23:31 > 0:23:34all the afternoon and evening.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Several of the homes I've just been into have made me feel aghast
0:23:39 > 0:23:42at my helplessness to lift their occupants
0:23:42 > 0:23:45out of their existing poverty and squalor.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51Oh, the cruelty and wickedness of this society today.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56Like Dr Cooper before him, Salter embraced politics,
0:23:56 > 0:24:01first for Bermondsey Council and then as a Labour Member of Parliament.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06Ada was also a politician and became the Mayor of Bermondsey.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09The Salters were part of a political movement
0:24:09 > 0:24:12that dominated the politics of the early 20th century.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15It could be called municipal socialism.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19They were intent on creating a new Bermondsey,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21a place with decent homes and green spaces,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and they were intent on eliminating the diseases of poverty.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29People used to talk endlessly about the trees,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33which I believe Dr Salter...had trees planted.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Apparently, we were told as kids,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39it was one of the first areas in London that had trees, you know,
0:24:39 > 0:24:40working-class area, I suppose.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Working with the council, the Salters were responsible for planting
0:24:53 > 0:24:57more than 10,000 trees throughout the Borough of Bermondsey.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Reverdy Road became tree-lined.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Alfred said of this venture,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05"The trees not only add to the beauty of the neighbourhood
0:25:05 > 0:25:08"all through the spring, summer and autumn,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12"but the green matter of the leaves is purifying the atmosphere
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"and helping to make Bermondsey a more healthy place."
0:25:20 > 0:25:24The Salters' life of self-sacrifice gave hope to many.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Through their efforts, both medically and socially,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Bermondsey became a better place.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37The Salters, working with the council,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39had an ideological as well as a practical agenda.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44They wanted to demonstrate that they could build a local socialist republic in south London,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48even if it would be at odds with national government.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52The council built libraries, baths and parks.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55And their public health policies
0:25:55 > 0:25:57included building the first solarium
0:25:57 > 0:26:00to combat tuberculosis in Britain.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03Those suffering more severe cases of TB
0:26:03 > 0:26:06were sent to sanitaria in the Swiss Alps -
0:26:06 > 0:26:10an unusual use of local authority money in the 1920s.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15That's one good thing he did. The solarium -
0:26:15 > 0:26:18we called it the solarium - is still there.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Take the welfare.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22They used to have all the babies there
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and weigh them there and whatever,
0:26:24 > 0:26:29and all my children went to get orange juice
0:26:29 > 0:26:31and stuff like that there.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34But they really looked after you in them days.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Dr Salter did. I think he was a good man. I really do.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46You would go to the solarium, you were given spoonfuls of malt,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I remember, tablespoons of malt.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50It was a great place, I think.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54It had a strange atmosphere about it, a strange smell, I remember.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56A kind of medical smell.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01The solarium offered artificial sunshine
0:27:01 > 0:27:03to thousands of Bermondsey people.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Real sunshine was to be found in the summer in the fields of Kent.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10There was a long-established tradition
0:27:10 > 0:27:14that each year, families would escape the grime of south London
0:27:14 > 0:27:17and spend weeks picking hops for the beer trade.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22'Hop-picking is round again, and the family is setting out on its pilgrimage
0:27:22 > 0:27:24'to the green fields of Kent. It's a thrill for the kids.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27'New things to see, new games to play,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29'new kids to meet and swap things with.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32'It's a break for Mum. Still plenty of work to do,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36'but she doesn't mind that when there's a change of scene and air to do it in.'
0:27:39 > 0:27:43The popular perception is of chirpy Cockneys having a lark in the hop fields,
0:27:43 > 0:27:48getting fresh air and having a grand old time.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50It's seen a distant rural paradise,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53a taste of the simple joys of the countryside.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57But Bermondsey Council was having none of that.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00They produced their own film, a piece of propaganda
0:28:00 > 0:28:03attempting to deter people from going to Kent to be exploited
0:28:03 > 0:28:06by the brewing industry.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Families went down to the Kent hop fields,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22and it was regarded as a working holiday.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25You know, families didn't have much money, and that's what you did.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32When I was down there, my memory is of my mother with a long brush
0:28:32 > 0:28:34trying to paint the back of my throat
0:28:34 > 0:28:37and me trying to throw up.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39My mother was arguing with the farmer,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43demanding that he phone the local doctor.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46My mother spoke to him on the phone, and he got in his car
0:28:46 > 0:28:50and drove straight down to Kent and gathered me up from my mother
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and brought us back. I remember being carried out of the house
0:28:54 > 0:28:57into an ambulance in a bright red blanket.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59I had contracted diphtheria,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02which is a membrane growing over your throat.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05It sort of like suffocates you or strangles you.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Apparently, my mother told me later,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12they told them that there was no hope,
0:29:12 > 0:29:14that I was going to die that night.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17And then in the morning, the doctor said to her,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19"It's a miracle he's still alive.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22"But we don't know how or what's happening."
0:29:22 > 0:29:24And, as you see, I survived.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28So that was a miracle, really, for which I'm grateful.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37Today, summer holidays are spent further afield than Kent,
0:29:37 > 0:29:39but there are still hops growing in Reverdy Road,
0:29:39 > 0:29:43a reminder of how the street's working-class families
0:29:43 > 0:29:44used to spend their summers.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50The tradition of Christian doctors continued
0:29:50 > 0:29:53when William Mumford joined the Reverdy practice.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00He originally intended to be a foreign missionary but wrote in his diary,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02"After I had been in Bermondsey for two years,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05"I felt very much that this foreign work wasn't the call after all.
0:30:05 > 0:30:12"I felt increasingly that I wanted to be as good a Christian doctor as I could be,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14"working among ordinary people."
0:30:26 > 0:30:28I had two children when I came to live here.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31And did you have more children while you were living here?
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Yes, I had two more.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36And Dr Mumford came to me.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42The midwife delivered it, but he had to come and check on everything,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45make sure everything was all right. A nice man.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48He wasn't tall. A nice spoken man.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52I think they all are, aren't they? They all had college education.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Didn't in those days, do you know what I mean?
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Only the rich got anywhere in those days, didn't they?
0:31:02 > 0:31:04The lady over the road, as I say,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06her mother lived downstairs, she lived upstairs,
0:31:06 > 0:31:11and she had a baby over there in there at the same time
0:31:11 > 0:31:13I had my baby upstairs here.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17And we were holding our babies up, showing each other our babies.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19Up at the windows, you know,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23talking to each other across from the bedroom.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26AIR-RAID SIREN WAILS
0:31:35 > 0:31:39The Blitz started on the 7th of September, 1940.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42The nearby docks, the railway and local industry
0:31:42 > 0:31:45all made Bermondsey a prime target for the Luftwaffe.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50The second bomb to fall in the Blitz fell at the end of Reverdy Road.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Subsequently, five houses on the street
0:31:53 > 0:31:55were destroyed by a German bomb.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Dr Mumford, still at Reverdy Road, wrote in his diary,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12"The populace of Bermondsey dropped from about 120,000
0:32:12 > 0:32:16"to 20,000 during the war.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18"But we kept the practice going.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22"Several of our Reverdy Road residents had direct experience of being bombed."
0:32:24 > 0:32:29The air-raid siren had gone, and we ended up sheltering in a school.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34Then suddenly... they dropped a bomb on the school.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Then all we could see was sky.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46See, all the debris had fallen on us,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50and the man my mother was talking to was standing there dead.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57All my family stood up and not a scratch on us.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Yet all the people were dead, and pieces of bodies,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03and all the debris all round us.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07And we stood up off that floor, shook the dust off -
0:33:07 > 0:33:10what we could shake off -
0:33:10 > 0:33:13and not a scratch on any of us.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22It was exciting for kids, in some way.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25I mean, I was playing tin can copper -
0:33:25 > 0:33:29you know, a can with two sticks and you throw a ball - with Wally Betts in Reverdy Road.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33We threw the ball, it hit the can, and the siren went.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36So I ran one way, picked up the can and sticks,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40and he ran the other way and picked up the ball. We shouted, "See you later, see you at the all-clear."
0:33:40 > 0:33:44We both ran home. When the all-clear went, we came out and resumed.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56There is a gap on Reverdy Road, a hole where houses used to stand.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00One night during the Blitz, those houses were destroyed
0:34:00 > 0:34:04by a German bomb. At the time, each house was fully occupied.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Remarkably, nobody was killed.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11Keith McLaren was two years old and living at number 12 with his parents
0:34:11 > 0:34:13when the bomb dropped.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Well, this was a house that we lived in
0:34:16 > 0:34:19when I lived with my mother and father, obviously,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22as a baby and a very small child.
0:34:22 > 0:34:23Bombed out
0:34:23 > 0:34:29and then moved just across the road behind us to number 17.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34In Bermondsey, the fashion was for families to live close together.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38Keith's grandparents lived at number 17.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Two-year-old Keith and his parents moved in with them.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45Today, it's occupied by New Zealander Isolde Sommerfeldt.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47The people who lived in the house opposite,
0:34:47 > 0:34:49when they were bombed out, they came and lived here.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52And that's going to be amazing to meet them.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54They kind of felt that safe just moving across the road,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58so that'll be interesting to see what they have to say.
0:34:58 > 0:35:03It feels very strange to be standing in an empty space
0:35:03 > 0:35:05where I used to live.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10Keith grew up at number 17, living with both his parents and grandparents.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Eventually he got married to Maureen, and they had a son called Kevin.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18They moved from Reverdy Road to Kent in 1965.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Today, all three of them are coming back
0:35:20 > 0:35:22to see the house they once lived in.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24How little it's changed!
0:35:24 > 0:35:27We've just gone back in time, quite honestly.
0:35:29 > 0:35:30We really have.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33- Eh, Kevin?- Yeah.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35It's just the same. It's a childhood memory for me,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37but it looks exactly the same.
0:35:37 > 0:35:38Exactly.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41Was it what you would have called a working-class street?
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Yes. Definitely.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47But it was always a nice road.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Yeah, it was.
0:35:55 > 0:35:56Wow!
0:35:56 > 0:35:57SHE LAUGHS
0:35:59 > 0:36:00This is different.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03- It's so different.- It is. - So different.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08We said, as soon as we come in, we don't remember it being as narrow.
0:36:08 > 0:36:09It seems very narrow our there.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11It does.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13This was two rooms.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17This door was just like this. Obviously, this was the wall.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And this... But it looks smaller!
0:36:22 > 0:36:24It does, doesn't it!
0:36:24 > 0:36:29Well, in this room, at one time, we had a small snooker table,
0:36:29 > 0:36:33a dartboard and a football game.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34SHE LAUGHS
0:36:34 > 0:36:40And I don't know how it all got in there! In that area there!
0:36:42 > 0:36:44It was me mum and dad who lived downstairs.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47When we got married, we lived upstairs.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49That's nice, so you were all together.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53And before that, before that,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56my nan and grandad lived upstairs,
0:36:56 > 0:37:01so when I was younger, it was Mum and Dad down here, and me,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04and Nan and Grandad upstairs.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13Here, I always had a funny feeling.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16The sense of foreboding, shall we say?
0:37:18 > 0:37:22And if Keith's mum was out and Keith's dad were out,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24I was petrified.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28- Oh, dear!- You didn't want to know that, did you?!
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Kevin, when he was about five or six,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Keith's dad was looking after him, and he wanted something,
0:37:36 > 0:37:38one of his toys,
0:37:38 > 0:37:43and he came up here and he saw somebody,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46who shouted at him to go away,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50and he just literally laid down and put his hands over his head.
0:37:50 > 0:37:56He told me, but I never, ever said to him what I felt all the time.
0:37:56 > 0:37:57Right.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59I don't feel it now.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03I think there are a lot of stories like this down this street.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05Yes, this is what we've heard since.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08- Maybe they're just moving around, finding a home.- Yes.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18More than a million homes were damaged in London during the Blitz.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23Given how close Reverdy Road is to the prime targets of the railway and the docks,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26it was fortunate that so few houses were destroyed.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32Across the whole of Bermondsey, the council felt the Blitz damage
0:38:32 > 0:38:35was an opportunity to continue the slum clearance
0:38:35 > 0:38:39that had been one of the passions of Alfred Salter.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42In 1930, in the House of Commons, he'd said,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45"We intend, over the next 20 years, steadily and systematically
0:38:45 > 0:38:49"to purchase the whole of the house property
0:38:49 > 0:38:51"and rebuild the borough from end to end."
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Unfortunately, he didn't get to see the post-war rebuilding work,
0:38:54 > 0:38:58as he died in 1945.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02In Bermondsey, Alfred Salter is still held in high regard,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06and in 1991, a statue called Dr Salter's Dream
0:39:06 > 0:39:09was unveiled by the Thames.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12It shows Alfred and his daughter, Joyce, and her favourite cat.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20In the post-war period, Reverdy Road was still fairly comfortable
0:39:20 > 0:39:25and ever so slightly up-market, despite having rudimentary sanitary arrangements.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31I had a bath hanging out in the garden on a hook on the wall.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Tin bath.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37And every...Friday, I think it was,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41all the saucepans would be put on the gas stove
0:39:41 > 0:39:46to boil the water with, and I'd have a bath then.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49But we never went in the bath one after another.
0:39:49 > 0:39:55We all had our own bath water. Some families, you shared the bath water.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58My mum wouldn't have that.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03Bathroom, no. We used to get the... what's its name, bath.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07You know, tin bath. Put it in front of the fire.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10And by the time the last person got in it...
0:40:10 > 0:40:12it was really black!
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Keith's mum and dad had the bath in the kitchen
0:40:15 > 0:40:17with a cover over the top,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20but we used to go to my mum and dad's for a bath!
0:40:20 > 0:40:23And before that up Bermondsey Baths as well.
0:40:23 > 0:40:24Did you?
0:40:24 > 0:40:28Not me! Something was a bit awkward with Keith's mum and dad,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32to have a bath downstairs in their kitchen!
0:40:32 > 0:40:33SHE LAUGHS
0:40:33 > 0:40:36So what was the rent?
0:40:36 > 0:40:3826 shillings.
0:40:38 > 0:40:39A week?
0:40:41 > 0:40:43We paid a pound for upstairs,
0:40:43 > 0:40:48and your mum and dad paid six shillings at the time.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57Personal hygiene became quite the thing towards the end of the 1950s.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00People wanted running water and bathrooms.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05The move towards cleanliness was given a boost by the 1957 Rent Act.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07It abolished rent controls
0:41:07 > 0:41:11but imposed certain new obligations on landlords.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15Why did your father decide to sell in 1960?
0:41:15 > 0:41:19From what I've heard, it was all to do with the new regulations
0:41:19 > 0:41:23that were coming in with regards to bathrooms being put into the houses.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28Basically, Dad couldn't afford to do this, into that quantity of housing.
0:41:28 > 0:41:33And so he had no option but to put the estate up for sale.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38The West Estate comprises 797 houses,
0:41:38 > 0:41:4126 shops, 14 sites,
0:41:41 > 0:41:446 factories, etc!
0:41:44 > 0:41:47And the total income after deduction of rates
0:41:47 > 0:41:51is £43,000 per year.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54It's being sold by auction.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58I remember reading in the South London Press that a mystery buyer
0:41:58 > 0:42:03had bought West Estate, and nobody knew who it was,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06then it turned out he was acting on behalf of the council,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10and this caused an absolute uproar amongst the developers,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12cos they said it was cheating.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14I could never understand why it was cheating, but...
0:42:14 > 0:42:18the council said they bought the estate to prevent the developers coming in
0:42:18 > 0:42:21and all the problems that would cause.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26Bermondsey Council knew this was housing stock worth keeping.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30One change for the existing community was that the system
0:42:30 > 0:42:32of subletting parts of houses to family members and friends
0:42:32 > 0:42:37by informal word-of-mouth was now frowned upon.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Everybody who lived in the street would have one of their family
0:42:40 > 0:42:44living in the street or letting rooms upstairs to them,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46which kept the family close.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49It was only when the houses broke up and the council then moved us
0:42:49 > 0:42:53to the Setchell Estate or the Bonamy Estate that it broke the families up.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01There was a fervour to modernise public housing,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05from the planning of it to the way it was allocated.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08It was supposed to be done without fear or favour,
0:43:08 > 0:43:14but in Bermondsey, there was a distinct tendency towards keeping local housing for local people.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18If you wanted a council house, you'd go round the town hall.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Given that...lots of people moved out of Bermondsey anyway
0:43:22 > 0:43:23during the war,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26and there had been lots of empty properties at the end of the war,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28you know, you had a fair chance.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32To you, you are the top priority, obviously, but to us...
0:43:32 > 0:43:35'As you got to the counter, they asked
0:43:35 > 0:43:37'what your connection was with Bermondsey.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41'If you had none - reject. Next. It went like that.'
0:43:41 > 0:43:44There was a policy to keep Bermondsey for Bermondsey people?
0:43:44 > 0:43:46Definitely. Absolutely sure of that.
0:43:46 > 0:43:51And I think Robert Mellish, the MP, he was accused of that.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55They said it was pure parochialism, you know, outsiders were kept out.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57I absolutely believe that, yeah.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59I absolutely believe it was right, by the way.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Everybody in Bermondsey would agree with that policy,
0:44:02 > 0:44:03and I'm sure it was true.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08You didn't have many coloured people here, not many immigrant families.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10It was that policy, you know.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14So whereas, like, Peckham and Southwark, it was all immigrants,
0:44:14 > 0:44:16here was a sea of white faces, you know,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19because it was the policy of the council.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Not because they were black but because they were outsiders,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24you know, not part of Bermondsey.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27We were insular people.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29My grandmother, for example,
0:44:29 > 0:44:31had never been out of Bermondsey.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33She'd never been over Tower Bridge even, you know.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36She'd never been through Rotherhithe Tunnel.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Why would she want to go there? She was happy here, you know!
0:44:39 > 0:44:43It wasn't a paradise, but you know what I mean - people belong.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46People were more parochial in those days, I suppose.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49The isolation of Bermondsey was dealt a blow
0:44:49 > 0:44:53when a Conservative government decided to reorganise London local authorities.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58The Borough of Bermondsey was swallowed up by a neighbour in 1965.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04Southwark took over then, Ted Heath merged us with Southwark,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08and the housing list went up from 70 to 70,000,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12you know, which was, by any measure, a disaster.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15We'd lost our insularity, if you like.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24In 1980, public housing policy changed forever.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27A radical Conservative government decided that
0:45:27 > 0:45:31every council tenant should be given the right to own their own house.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35Legislation was introduced, giving people the right to buy
0:45:35 > 0:45:39from the local authority, and at a knockdown price.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43The Belgravia of Bermondsey looked like a good investment.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45I bought this one.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Do you mind me asking how much you paid for it?
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Do you want me to tell you?
0:45:50 > 0:45:51Yeah.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55- In confidence.- OK.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58You could scrub it.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Some people like to go into a house
0:46:02 > 0:46:06and, as it is, they want to put their own mark on it.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10Do it as they want. So...
0:46:10 > 0:46:12I just leave it as it is.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15I'm happy here.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21And we put in the register - the right to buy thing -
0:46:21 > 0:46:28I think it was 14,000, 14,600, or something like that.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33I can see social objections and the reasons for them,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36because council housing is moving into private ownership.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Soon there'll be no council houses. I can understand that.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42But then you're in individual living in a society
0:46:42 > 0:46:44where you've got to look after yourself.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48Nobody else will, so we looked after ourselves by buying it, you know.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54My sister, who lives down here across the road,
0:46:54 > 0:46:59she bought hers, and it was at such a low price.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04But, erm...I was on carer's money,
0:47:04 > 0:47:08which was about £55, £60 a week.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12Looking after me son and me mum and dad.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14And I couldn't afford it.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19And they never had a lot of money. And we wasn't rich enough.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22It was just a shame.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32House prices have continued to rise,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35and so the character of Reverdy Road has changed.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40Only 40% of the houses are still owned by the council.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45Reverdy Road there. And here's Southwark Park Road.
0:47:45 > 0:47:46Younger people are moving in -
0:47:46 > 0:47:51professional people attracted by the proximity to central London and the City.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54People like Stacey Cox.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57When I pulled up with a moving van on day one, the neighbours
0:47:57 > 0:48:00across the street came across to welcome me to the neighbourhood
0:48:00 > 0:48:04and as soon as they heard the accent, they said, "Why did you move here?"
0:48:04 > 0:48:07But also I thought this area was supposed to be
0:48:07 > 0:48:09an up-and-coming neighbourhood.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12They were redeveloping Bermondsey Street, Bermondsey Square.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16And of course it's close to central London.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18We're just on the border of Zone 1, Zone 2,
0:48:18 > 0:48:20so it's easy for me to get into work.
0:48:20 > 0:48:26Across the road from Stacey's one-bedroom flat is number 62.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31The tenant recently died, and the council have put the house up for auction.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Stacey wants to upgrade.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35TOILET FLUSHES
0:48:37 > 0:48:38The toilet flushes.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42This is a really large bathroom, actually.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49This paper reminds me of the paper in my flat across the street
0:48:49 > 0:48:51when I bought it.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53Nice and dark.
0:48:53 > 0:48:58As you can see, the curtains don't match at all.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02It just really makes this room feel almost like a cave.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06We want it as a family home.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10And our objective is to go and bid on Monday.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15There's old pieces of paper under here.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19I could find all kinds of good things under these floorboards.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Something about the BBC. It is saying,
0:49:24 > 0:49:29"If this is entertainment on a grand scale, then the BBC might as well pack in."
0:49:30 > 0:49:32Hey!
0:49:32 > 0:49:37Basically, after I buy this property, I'm going to have to do
0:49:37 > 0:49:41a full search to see what I want to save before the builders come in,
0:49:41 > 0:49:44because it will all then go in the skip, won't it?
0:49:47 > 0:49:51I feel quite sad sometimes when I see some of the elderly people
0:49:51 > 0:49:55who I know around here, because once they go, you know
0:49:55 > 0:49:58that those houses, cos they're not owned by the council now,
0:49:58 > 0:50:02they saved up and bought their houses and cherished them,
0:50:02 > 0:50:07they'll go to the estate agents, and that's when things are really going to change.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10It's down to whether you can afford it now.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13The properties for sale in these areas is way beyond...
0:50:13 > 0:50:17I mean, my children...and we're talking about ten years ago,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21my children could not buy anywhere in Bermondsey.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25Most of my friends and families have children
0:50:25 > 0:50:29- that have all had to move out of Bermondsey. Forced out. - That make you sad?
0:50:29 > 0:50:31That makes me very sad, yeah.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40The West family sold the estate in 1960.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Emma brought her son, the ninth James West,
0:50:43 > 0:50:48to see what the family once owned and to meet some of their former tenants.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51- Hello!- Hello.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54- How are you?- Good, thank you. How are you?
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Hello, I'm Emma. And this is James.
0:50:56 > 0:50:57Hello, James.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03And they brought you some cakes. My girls have made some cakes.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06- Hello. Tracy?- Hello!
0:51:06 > 0:51:08- Hi. Emma. Good to meet you.- Hi.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11- Emma. Nice to meet you. You're Mike. - Pleased to meet you.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14- And this is James.- Come in. - Thank you.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16Wow, this looks incredible!
0:51:16 > 0:51:19I hear you've got lots to tell me. I'm fascinated.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21It's always been a business premises.
0:51:21 > 0:51:22Please tell me about that.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25Way back, it was a moneylenders, I do know that,
0:51:25 > 0:51:29because the little window in the front there, in the front gateway,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33- they used to lend the money out through the window.- Oh, OK!
0:51:33 > 0:51:35That's pretty amazing.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38So would this have been the original loo? Sorry.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40Don't open it, please!
0:51:40 > 0:51:42No, no, no.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45The reason I'm interested in it - I'm not going to look in, don't panic -
0:51:45 > 0:51:48is because one of the main reasons our family sold up
0:51:48 > 0:51:51was because all the bathrooms were outside,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53and we couldn't afford to put them all inside.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55- Really?- Yeah, in the '60s.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58So what else is in this house's history?
0:51:58 > 0:52:07During the war, the 1939 war, right, he had a haulage contract business.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11And he used to have horses - big grey horses out there in the yard.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15- They were lovely. - Where did you keep the horses, Elsie?
0:52:15 > 0:52:18- Where did he keep them?- Mm. - In the backyard!
0:52:18 > 0:52:20It's got a story to tell, hasn't it?
0:52:22 > 0:52:24It's fantastic what you've done.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27It's just not like living in London in any of these houses, is it?
0:52:27 > 0:52:32Well, totally. It's so... Again, it's so very quiet.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35- Exactly what I've being saying all day.- Down this road.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37It is huge!
0:52:37 > 0:52:40James can touch him - I'm not very good at stuff like that.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42What kind of lizard is it?
0:52:42 > 0:52:45- A bearded dragon. - I'll be daring. OK.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50How do you feel about coming back to your family history, then?
0:52:50 > 0:52:53I'm totally overwhelmed, if you want me to be honest.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58It's fantastic. I love where you live.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01- Yeah, so do we.- It's fab.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07I know it's a really cliched thing to say - I feel like I'm coming home.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10It's left a lasting impression that will never be forgotten,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and I think I was saying to Mark earlier,
0:53:13 > 0:53:17it makes me want to sell up our flat where we live in London at the minute,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20cos my husband works in the City, and actually buy a house down here
0:53:20 > 0:53:21and come back.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23- Seriously?- Yeah, I really mean that.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28- You'd seriously buy a house in Reverdy Road?- Yeah, I would in this area. Come back to the West Estate.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31I feel really strongly about it. It's twitched something in me.
0:53:31 > 0:53:37Lot 12 is 62 Reverdy Road in Southwark SE1. Freehold.
0:53:37 > 0:53:38Two floor, end-of-terrace house.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41Selling this by order of the London Borough of Southwark.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43Where shall we start the bidding?
0:53:43 > 0:53:47Reverdy Road and the surrounding streets are now highly desirable,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51and the cash-strapped council are selling them off as soon as they become vacant.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55Stacey wants to buy number 62 and raise a family there,
0:53:55 > 0:53:59but she's competing against a roomful of property developers.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02At £319,000, selling for the first time.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06319,000 for the second time.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08Third, last time.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11Sold. £319,000.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15Stacey didn't have the financial muscle
0:54:15 > 0:54:18and lost the house to a property investor -
0:54:18 > 0:54:21somebody who sees a quick profit in a Victorian house
0:54:21 > 0:54:24rather than a permanent part of the community.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31Number 62 Reverdy Road was home to three families in 1891.
0:54:31 > 0:54:37By 1911, it was home to one family, headed by a police officer, James Lowder.
0:54:37 > 0:54:43Now it's been bought from the council by a property developer.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48After renovation, it will sell for close to half a million pounds.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53One house costing more than all 797 houses together
0:54:53 > 0:54:56when the council bought them in 1960.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03In my younger days, these properties were not wanted at all.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Everybody wanted to get out of the old houses and get into the new places,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09and now it's completely circled again.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14If you was to offer anybody a flat or one of these houses,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17I would've said 99.9 would jump at one of these houses.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29Bermondsey is quite chic now, and all is changing on Reverdy Road.
0:55:29 > 0:55:35Prices have gone up, and people with money and interior design plans are moving in.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38Gentrification has finally arrived.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45If Booth came to Reverdy Road today, he might upgrade it from pink
0:55:45 > 0:55:50perhaps to red or even yellow, and if he took a stroll by the river,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53which used to be blue and black, meaning poor and semi-criminal,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56he'd certainly upgrade it.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00Today this is an area of swanky apartments and business developments.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Even so, not all the criminals have left.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09This was the statue of Dr Salter,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12and you can see where it was fixed to the seat,
0:56:12 > 0:56:15and recently some thieves came and stole it.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Local people have got together to form some association
0:56:19 > 0:56:23to either try and recover the statue, which I think is highly unlikely,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26or get a new one commissioned.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Alfred has no doubt been melted down,
0:56:32 > 0:56:35but at least his daughter and cat were spared
0:56:35 > 0:56:38and have been taken into protective custody.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42The surgery on Reverdy Road closed in 1994.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Max Gammon is the last in a long line of doctors who have lived here
0:56:46 > 0:56:49and served the people of Bermondsey.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52I do believe it is the end of an era.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58I'm the last of a line, really,
0:56:58 > 0:57:03and so I'm very satisfied - and very privileged -
0:57:03 > 0:57:08to have been the last doctor to live in this house.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11All nice people. They really are.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14Yeah.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18No, if I chose to live anywhere, it'd be down this street.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20Yeah.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26Next week, we go to Arnold Circus.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30It's like walking into, I don't know, somewhere so different.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35A Victorian model village in the heart of the East End.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38And you would get six of the best if you misbehaved.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42It hurt. Left marks on your buttocks, as most of us never wore underpants!
0:57:42 > 0:57:46A haven in the heart of the city.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52Home, sweet home. Hello, Mum. Hello, Dad.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55To discover more about Britain's Secret Streets,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58the Open University has produced a free guidebook.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Go to...
0:58:01 > 0:58:03..and follow the links to the Open University.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05Or call...
0:58:07 > 0:58:11THEY PLAY JAZZ
0:58:43 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd