It might be more synonymous with long queues of traffic for people just passing through, or for those curiously wide pavements that took forever to build, but for local residents, the long Walworth Road is a trip through London’s architecture from the past one hundred and fifty years.
So the decision by members of Southwark Council’s planning committee to agree to make it a conservation area will delight groups, including the Walworth Society, who have fought hard to preserve the area’s history and identity.
The declaration comes at a fitting moment, just as a public meeting takes place next Tuesday at St Peter’s Church in Liverpool Grove over the future of the fire damaged Walworth Town Hall.
The council’s top brass will be there, and genuinely want to hear people’s views and ideas on how best to proceed with this badly damaged, but well-loved listed building – it will be well worth making the effort.