Keppel Row

Keppel Row is a formerly dingy alley in Southwark that’s been recently refurbished. The alleyway links Southwark Bridge Road and Great Guildford Street, serving as a traffic-free pedestrian route through The Borough. For decades it remained a neglected passage, with hop warehouses to the north and an asbestos factory nearby—a forgotten space between busier streets.

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Today

Kepple Row — near Keppel Row

Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0

The transformation of Keppel Row is complete, with attractive and functional rain gardens, improved accessibility, a striking example of public art and many small details that keep the changes true to the character of the historic alley. A mysterious golden figure, created by artist Marian Grolmus, carefully watches over the street from a parapet. Today the alley has become a model for sustainable urban design—but its name carries a much older story.

The field surrounding Keppel Row was laid out with streets by 1799 and known as Keppel Street, reputedly after Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel. Keppel Row is named after Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, an 18th-century naval figure. The renaming as Keppel Row seems to have taken place sometime between 1896 and 1940. The word’s etymology adds another layer: the golden figure references the etymology of the word Keppel, deriving from ‘cappa’ meaning cape.

In the 1740s, the area was still fields, although by now surrounded by increasing amounts of development. Development accelerated as London expanded southward. The field surrounding Keppel Row was laid out with streets by 1799, creating the framework that would define this quarter of The Borough for the next two centuries.

By the late nineteenth century, the old houses had gone along the north side, and wouldn’t have been a nice place to live for those left, with hop warehouses to the north, but more worryingly, an asbestos factory next to the hops. The alley became a forgotten corridor between busier roads, neglected and overlooked for over a century. It took a modern push toward sustainable urban design to restore it.

The 2019 renovation transformed Keppel Row into an exemplar of environmental design. Research conducted by the Environmental Research Team at King's College revealed that people were exposed to 25 per cent less air pollution by walking on Keppel Row or America Street, compared to walking on Southwark Street. The raingardens help to manage surface flooding, with timber sleeper edging that references the nearby railway viaduct. The alley now demonstrates how a neglected space can be reimagined as a cleaner, more pleasant alternative to congested main roads.

Where it was once rather run-down, today it is a clean space lined with planting and a special surface to walk on that is made of a permeable gravel that enables rain water to pass through. Keppel Row now functions as one of The Borough’s most striking examples of responsive urban greening. The permeable paving filters stormwater, rain gardens manage surface runoff, and the art installation gives the alley an identity that rewards a second glance.

For residents and workers in the area, Keppel Row offers a quiet alternative to Southwark Street’s traffic and noise. The transformation shows how even the smallest, most overlooked spaces can be reimagined with vision and care—and how the names we give our streets, rooted in naval heroes and old fields, connect us to the deeper layers of London’s past.