Leathermarket Street

Leathermarket Street takes its name directly from the tanneries and leather market formerly located here. The street was not always known by this name: the Bermondsey Street end was formerly called Market Street, while the Weston Street end was called Manning Street—all now consolidated as Leathermarket Street.

The renaming reflects how thoroughly the hide-and-skin trade came to define this block. The trade generated three institutions in the immediate vicinity: the Leather Market of 1833 on Weston Street, the Leathersellers’ College of 1877 on Tower Bridge Road, and the Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange on Leathermarket Street itself. Once the Exchange opened in 1878, the old functional name “Market Street” gave way to something more specific—and more pungent.

The leather-making industry in Bermondsey dates back at least to the fifteenth century. The combination of a good water supply, oak trees and plenty of space to keep animals led to Bermondsey producing one third of all leather in the country by the 1790s. Tanning was banned by the City of London owing to the abhorrent smells the industry generated, and so the trade moved south to Bermondsey, beyond the City’s jurisdiction.

The Leather and Skin Market opened in 1833 on Weston Street, established by a group of local tanners and leather-dressers. After moving from Leadenhall Market to Bermondsey, the trade initially concentrated on skins—untreated pelts from sheep and calves—with heavier ox-hides following later. As detailed in the records of British History Online, the building, together with the ground whereon it stood, cost nearly £50,000.

In 1878, the Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange building opened next door, as a trading centre, on Leathermarket Street. It was designed by George Elkington FRIBA, a notable district surveyor and architect. The Exchange, faced with red bricks and Portland stone, was set on a granite plinth. Its impressive porch flanked by Atlas figures contrasted with the grimy industrial surroundings—and was welcomed, as contemporaries noted, as “an ornament to the district.” In August 1879, a banquet celebrated the formal opening of the Exchange. Leather magnate and future MP, Alfred Lafone, presided over a gathering of dignitaries and well-respected members of the trade.

Step outside the Exchange building on Leathermarket Street and look up: its porch is supported by twin Atlases, and a series of five roundels depicting the leather trades circles the façade. The five roundels around the outside depict various stages in the leather production process. The first depicts ‘fellmongering’—the most unpleasant part of the process, which involved scraping the flesh and hair from the skins. The roundels are among the most vivid pieces of Victorian trade iconography surviving in south London.

Inside, the Exchange was no mere trading hall. A broad staircase led to the dining rooms on the first floor, with rooms for public meetings and reading offering a club-like atmosphere. Hallways were laid with Minton tiles and hot water pipes heated the building. This part of the market complex was destroyed in the Blitz of 1941, but the Exchange building itself survived. The Exchange apparently only functioned as a trading floor until 1912.

The archaeology beneath these streets has its own story. A series of post-medieval timber tanks associated with the tanning industry were recorded by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) following ground reduction prior to redevelopment works in nearby Bermondsey Street—a reminder that the industry penetrated deep below the modern streetline as well as above it.

The yellow-brick warehouses that once stored stacked hides from floor to ceiling are now offices, studios and flats. Many of the warehouse buildings from this era survive around Bermondsey Street, Tanner Street, Morocco Street and Leathermarket Street, including the huge Leather Market of 1833 and the Leather, Hide and Wool Exchange of 1878; virtually all are now residential and small work spaces or offices. At No. 15, the Leather Exchange pub still occupies the tavern that opened when the Exchange building was constructed.

Planning permission has been granted for a six-storey mixed-use development at 26 Leathermarket Street, delivering 26 new homes, all at 100% social rent, alongside new community workspace. The project is led by Leathermarket Community Benefit Society, a resident-governed body that reflects the street’s shift from industrial enclave to actively managed neighbourhood.

The nearest green space is practically on the doorstep.