mobileWaterloo Bridge and the O-X-O Tower
The original bridge on this site was opened in 1817 and was named to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's famous victory over Bonaparte. The bridge fell into ruin and was closed in 1923 before being re-built, mostly by women (as many men were fighting in Europe), during the war years. It was re-opened in 1945.
London Television Centre, the tall white building you will pass just before Gabriel's Wharf, is home to London Weekend Television and London Studios, where a number of programmes are filmed.
Gabriel's Wharf is a crafts market, converted from a number of old garages. It is part of the Coin Street community area.
The OXO Tower (pictured) was originally built as a power station in the 1900's to supply electricity to the Post Office, and in the 1920's it was converted into a meat packing factory. The factory's most famous products were OXO stock cubes and powder, which you can still buy today.
If you look to the top of the tower you will see the letters O-X-O made out of glass bricks. This was because during the second world war, there was a night-time ban on advertising and the only way the designers could avoid the ban was by including the advertising within the building's design.
Did You Know?
The area of London you are currently in is called Lambeth. Before the nineteenth century, it was mainly a marshland but during that century it became one of the worst slum areas of London as many of the city’s factory workers took up residence there.