Three decades ago, residents would have chosen to live in the north of London over the south any day of the week. The north has always been more popular and has always been seen as the upmarket side of the capital city.
There are fewer than 10% of tube stations situated south of the Thames and more than 200 north of the river. This is mainly due to the fact that the ground in north London was made from clay, making it easier to tunnel through than the gravelly ground in the south. It’s also because the money provided for the Underground came from private companies looking to open stations in areas that were harder to get to:
Candice Jones, marketing manager at the London Transport Museum, says:
“They preferred to build new lines into areas not previously well served by transport links, rather than areas already served by local mainline railways or tramway networks, as was the case in south London”
Once the trams stopped, travelling to the centre of London from the south became much harder, meaning commuters had an absolute nightmare trying to get to work. Due to this, the north became a much more popular place to live, as transport was better and communities were quickly being built.
Over the last 20 years however, London’s Southbank has been completely revamped, and no longer is it a bare and unfriendly wasteland – it is lined with luxurious apartments, extending from Wandsworth to Woolwich.
This has all come about since Canary Wharf was built and the Jubilee Line was opened. The London Overground has also been developed, meaning you can now travel from south to north London in an easy and convenient way.
Those who are interested in buying an apartment with views of the river on the Southbank can expect to pay anything between £500,000 and £50 million, but wealthy buyers are quickly snapping up these properties.
The most popular area to buy property in is currently Nine Elms, as this part of the city covers a length of the river that is one and a half miles long. There are currently 30 different building projects taking part in Nine Elms and they are all going to be linked by parkland.
The American Embassy is the most famous construction to be built in this area, but there will plenty of other great buildings surrounding it too. Two new Underground stations are also being built for the Northern Line – one at Nine Elms and one at Battersea. These are both being funded by the developers and due to open in 2020.
As well as the residential areas of Southbank being rejuvenated, the River Thames is also being given somewhat of a makeover. The river has previously been associated with rodents and mud, but it is now being promoted as a tourist attraction.
The area of London south of the Thames has been completely rejuvenated and is seeing a total transformation as a residential location. London is one of the best cities in the world, so it is great to see the southern area flourishing and building in popularity.
