Blackfriars Road

Christ Church, Southwark, is a church of the Anglican denomination situated on the west side of Blackfriars Road, London. At the time of the foundation there was no bridge at Blackfriars and so no major road connecting the area to the south or to the City. The current church was built in 1958, following total destruction of the previous building in 1941, during the London Blitz. It has been Grade II listed since 2010.

Christchurch was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was located south of the River Thames straddling either side of Blackfriars Road. It originated as the manor of Paris Garden in the parish of St Margaret, Southwark. The parish of St Margaret was replaced by St Saviour in 1541 and then in 1670 the area was split off as a parish in its own right when Christ Church was constructed. It was prone to flooding and was not heavily built upon until after 1809. In 1855 the parish was included in the metropolitan area of London where local government was reformed. The parish was united with St Saviour to form part of the St Saviour's District. When the district was abolished in 1900 the parish became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark. It was abolished as a civil parish in 1930. The area now forms the northwestern part of the London Borough of Southwark.

Blackfriars was a short-lived railway station on the South Eastern Railway (SER) line, in the parish of Southwark Christchurch, between Charing Cross and London Bridge. It was opened in 1864 with the name Blackfriars but closed less than five years later when it was replaced by the station now called Waterloo East (originally named Waterloo). In 1886 the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) opened a station on the north bank of the river called St. Paul's – this was renamed Blackfriars in 1937. The former entrance to the South Eastern Railway Blackfriars station under the railway bridge on Blackfriars Road itself is still clearly visible. In 2005 the bricked-up former street-level entrance and original wording were restored. At track level, widening of the viaduct on its north side is the only indication of its site. In July 2009 planning permission was granted for a café to be built over the entranceway to the station.

Poured Lines is a 2006 painting by the British painter Ian Davenport. It is the largest painting to be publicly displayed outdoors in the United Kingdom. It is situated under the rail bridge at the western end of Southwark Street in London SE1.

The Surrey Chapel (1783–1881) was an independent Methodist and Congregational church established in Blackfriars Road, Southwark, London on 8 June 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill. His work was continued in 1833 by the Congregational pastor Rev. James Sherman, and in 1854 by Rev. Newman Hall. The chapel's design attracted great interest, being circular in plan with a domed roof. When built it was set in open fields, but within a few years it became a new industrial area with a vast population characterised by great poverty amidst pockets of wealth. Recently the site itself has been redeveloped as an office block (currently occupied by the London Development Agency), and Southwark Underground Station has been built opposite.

XXL was a gay nightclub in London and Birmingham which catered to the bear sub-group. The club was founded by Mark Ames and his then partner David Dindol in 2000. They separated in 2005, after which Mark purchased his ex-partner's share of the club. It was the largest dedicated "bear" venue in the United Kingdom and the world. It was not just the bear scene's longest-running weekly disco but London's too, having not missed a night in over 16 years. Between 2012 and 2019, XXL London was based at Pulse, which closed in September 2019 to make way for a future development of luxury apartments. There are currently no public plans for a future venue but it is understood that discussions are ongoing.

CentreComm, now known as the NMCC (Network Management Control Centre) is Transport for London's emergency control room for London Buses. CentreComm's primary purpose is to provide an emergency control centre for London Buses contracted bus network. It is co-located with Transport for London's LSTCC centre which control London's traffic lights and traffic flow. Should an incident require an emergency response such as road closures, accidents, robberies, theft, vandalism or assault; CentreComm would activate an emergency response such as calling the emergency services or diverting buses as appropriate. CentreComm was conceived in 1979 and consisted of a mere handful of people equipped with two-way radios and paper records. In 2013 they had constant radio contact with all 8500 buses on the network via the iBus radio system. Through GPS fitted to each of London's buses they can monitor their location at all times. CentreComm is in operation 24 hours a day 364 days a year, with Christmas Day being the only day it is closed. For bus drivers, conductors and passenger assistants their services are activated via the iBus system by initiating a code red (emergency) or code blue (information) call. For garage-based bus operator staff they are contacted via the telephone or by email.

The Swan was a theatre in Southwark, London, England, built in 1595 on top of a previously standing structure, during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. It was the fifth in the series of large public playhouses of London, after James Burbage's The Theatre (1576) and Curtain (1577), the Newington Butts Theatre (between 1575 and 1577) and Philip Henslowe's Rose (1587–88). The Swan Theatre was located in the manor of Paris Gardens, on the west end of the Bankside district of Southwark, across the Thames River from the City of London. It was at the northeast corner of the Paris Garden estate nearest to London Bridge that Francis Langley had purchased in May 1589, four hundred and twenty-six feet from the river's edge. Playgoers could arrive also by water landing at the Paris Garden Stairs or the Falcon Stairs, both short walking distances from the theatre. The structure originally belonged to the Monastery of Bermondsey. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it became royal property and passed through several hands before being sold to Langley for £850. The Mayor of London opposed Langley's permit to open a theatre, but his protests held no ground as the property had formerly belonged to the crown and the Mayor had no jurisdiction. Langley had the theatre built almost certainly in 1595–96. When it was new, the Swan was the most visually impressive of the existing London theatres. Johannes De Witt, a Dutchman who visited London around 1596, left a description of the Swan in a manuscript titled Observationes Londiniensis, now lost. Translated from the Latin, his description identifies the Swan as the "finest and biggest of the London amphitheatres", with a capacity for 3000 spectators. It was built of flint concrete, and its wooden supporting columns were so cleverly painted that "they would deceive the most acute observer into thinking that they were marble", giving the Swan a "Roman" appearance. (De Witt also drew a sketch of the theatre. The original is lost, but a copy by Arendt van Buchell survives, and is the only sketch of an Elizabethan playhouse known to exist. If the Lord Chamberlain's Men acted at the Swan in the summer of 1596—which is possible, though far from certain—( they toured in the provinces in July and August 1596 under the name of Lord Hunsdon's Players) they would be the actors shown in the Swan sketch.) When Henslowe built the new Hope Theatre in 1613, he had his carpenter copy the Swan, rather than his own original theatre, the Rose, which must have appeared dated and out of style in comparison.In 1597, the Swan housed the acting company Pembroke's Men, with Actors Richard Jones, Thomas Downtown, and William Bird. (They later approached Henslowe to rejoin the Admiral's Men at The Rose). Edward Alleyn They joined the Pembroke troupe after leaving their positions in Lord Admiral's Men at the rival playhouse The Rose. In 1597 Pembroke's Men staged the infamous play The Isle of Dogs, by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, the content of which gave offence, most likely for its "satirical" nature on the attack of some people high in authority. Jonson was imprisoned, along with Gabriel Spenser, an actor in the play, and Robert Shaa. Langley, already in trouble with the Privy Council over matters unrelated to theatre, may have exacerbated his danger by allowing his company to stage the play after a royal order that all playing stop and all theatres be demolished. This order of the Privy Council called for all London Theatres to be "plucked down", but may have arisen because of Langley and the 'seditious, lewd play'. The other companies were under inhibition to stop playing. The Lord Chamberlain's Men went on tour to six areas of the south east and south west, and the Admiral's Men did not perform again at The Rose until the inhibition was lifted at the end of October. Johnson was released from jail on October 3rd. Nashe however went on the run. All but the Swan Theatre were granted licenses to perform. The Swan continued to operate without a license until 19 February 1598, when the two licensed companies called attention to them. Following the scandal, the Swan only held sporadic performances. Another scandal rocked the Swan in 1602, when Richard Vennar advertised a new play, England's Joy, to be performed at the Swan on 6 November. Vennar claimed the play was a fantastical story in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and seats sold out quickly. However, the play was never performed. The townspeople were enraged and vandalised the theatre, and the theatre never seemed to recover its former popularity. Because both court and city were interested in limiting the number of acting troupes in London, and because there was, consequently, a glut of large open-roof venues in the city, the Swan was only intermittently home to drama. Along with The Isle of Dogs, the most famous play to premiere there was Thomas Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, performed by the newly merged Lady Elizabeth's Men in 1613. The theatre offered other popular entertainments, such as swashbuckling competitions and bear-baiting. For the next eight years, the building was used occasionally for special entertainment. After 1615 the Swan was deserted for five years, but used again in 1621 by some actors who are unknown. They did not stay for long.The building grew decrepit over the next two decades. In Nicholas Goodman's 1632 pamphlet Holland's Leaguer, the theatre is described as "now fallen into decay, and, like a dying swan, hangs her head and sings her own dirge." Historical sources do not mention the Swan after that date.

One Blackfriars is a mixed-use development at No. 1 Blackfriars Road in Bankside, London. It is informally known as The Vase or The Boomerang due to its shape. The development is made up of a 50-storey tower of a maximum height of 170 m and two smaller buildings of six and four storeys respectively. Uses include residential flats, a hotel and retail. In addition, a new public space will be created. The site was formerly occupied by the headquarters of Sainsbury's supermarket.

TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sister station of national stations Talksport (itself originally known as Talk Radio UK), Talksport 2, Virgin Radio UK and Times Radio.

The Surrey Institution was an organisation devoted to scientific, literary and musical education and research, based in London. It was founded by private subscription in 1807, taking the Royal Institution, founded in 1799, as a model. The Institution lasted only until 1823, when it was dissolved. (A separate and distinct charity, The Surrey Institution was formed in 1812 with aims to discharge persons confined to gaol in the county for debt. The Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution founded in 1831 by Edward Cross was unconnected, being a vehicle for the Royal Surrey Gardens. )

The Blackfriars Rotunda was a building in Southwark, near the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge across the River Thames in London, that existed from 1787 to 1958 in various forms. It initially housed the collection of the Leverian Museum after it had been disposed of by lottery. For a period it was home to the Surrey Institution. In the early 1830s it notoriously was the centre for the activities of the Rotunda radicals. Its subsequent existence was long but less remarkable.