Charlton Riverside, previously known as New Charlton, is the area along the south bank of the

river Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Charlton, London Charlton is an area of southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east of Greenwich and west of Woolwich, on the south bank of the River Thames, southeast of Charing Cross. An ancient parish in the county of Kent, it b ...

, which forms part of the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. It was formerly a primarily industrial zone, known for the glass and rope making industries, but is now an area of regeneration.

Geography

The area formerly known as New Charlton is situated in the Greenwich wards of Peninsula and Woolwich Riverside. It is bounded by the river Thames in the north and the

A206 List of A roads in zone 2 in Great Britain starting south of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the ...

(Woolwich Road) in the south. On the west it borders the

Greenwich Peninsula The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the rest of Greenwich, to the s ...

at Horn Lane and Horn Link Way. On the east it borders

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

at the

Thames Barrier The Thames Barrier is a retractable barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. When needed, it is c ...

and Eastmoor Street. The Westminster Estate, the area between the Thames Barrier and Warspite Road, has at times been referred to as part of New Charlton. The

Survey of London The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...

however regards it as a part of Woolwich, since it is situated in the historic parish of Woolwich. From 1863 until 1968 this was the site of

Siemens Brothers Siemens Brothers and Company Limited was an electrical engineering design and manufacturing business in London, England. It was first established as a branchThe company started with a small factory at 12 Millbank Row, Westminster SW1, London, nea ...

, where many who were living across the road in New Charlton worked. This is also where Charlton Athletic F.C. played their first football matches at Siemens Meadow from 1905 until 1907.Saint & Guillery, ''The Survey of London vol. 48: Woolwich'', Yale, 2012
online PDF
pp. 44-53). In the Charlton Riverside Masterplan SPD the Westminster Estate is considered a part of Charlton Riverside. The SPD also includes Charlton railway station and a small section of Charlton Church Lane.

History

Industrial development on the flat land adjoining the Thames at Charlton Riverside began in the middle of the 19th century, especially after the opening of a private railway branch line to Angerstein Wharf in 1852. A notable establishment was the

Telegraph Works opened in 1863 (although the factory was largely in Woolwich). The company manufactured two new transatlantic cables in the 1880s, and contributed to the

PLUTO Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

project in World War II. Since the 1960s the area had sunk into industrial decline, with most of the original factories closing (Siemens Brothers in 1968).

Recent history; regeneration

There have been several regeneration projects in the area, starting in the 1980s, after the opening of the Thames Barrier. It was identified as part of an Opportunity Area by the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

in 2008 and, more clearly, in the

London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority. The regional planning document was first pu ...

of 2011. Regeneration of the area is now focused on the Charlton Riverside Masterplan agreed by the Royal Borough of Greenwich in April 2012 and updated in February 2017. The masterplan envisages a series of new neighbourhoods with medium-rise housing and a significant proportion of family homes. A network of streets and open spaces will be shaped by the area's industrial heritage. In 2013, Royal Greenwich UTC opened as part of this plan. The college failed to attract sufficient numbers of students and in 2016 was converted into a free school, Royal Greenwich Trust School. Adjacent to it, also on Woolwich Road and officially in Woolwich, is Windrush Primary School, formerly Maryon Park School, from the 1990s until 2015

Holborn College Kaplan Holborn College was a college of higher education in London, England, specialising in accounting, finance, law and business. It was originally established as Holborn Law College in 1969 to prepare young lawyers from overseas for the Univ ...

. New commercial developments include the Greenwich Shopping Park, the Peninsula Retail Park and Stone Lake Retail Park. A new

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

superstore opened in 2015 between Woolwich Road and Bugsby's Way. Sainsbury's also has a large distribution centre in New Charlton; it was rebuilt and expanded in 2012 and re-opened by deputy prime minister

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...

in 2013. A new IKEA-store is expected to open in 2019.Ikea coming to Greenwich – can we stop it grinding Charlton to a halt?
on ''charltonchampion.co.uk'', March 11, 2015.

Description

Northern part

In total there are around 400 businesses in Charlton Riverside (including the section east of the Thames Barrier). One of the few remaining industrial facilities on the riverside is the construction aggregate and ready mix

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

works of

Aggregate Industries Aggregate Industries, a member of the Holcim Group, is a company based in the United Kingdom with headquarters at Bardon Hill, Coalville, Leicestershire. Aggregate Industries manufactures and supplies a range of heavy building materials, prima ...

at Angerstein Wharf adjacent to the Greenwich Peninsula. The southern end of the

which opened in 1983 is at Charlton Riverside. The

Thames Path The Thames Path is a National Trail following the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 but it only opened in 1996. The ...

was laid out here shortly afterwards but officially only opened in 1996. There is only one functioning

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

in the area, the Anchor & Hope, with an outdoor café overlooking the Thames. A set of watermen's stairs has survived here, reconstructed in concrete. The former Lads of the Village pub was later named the Thames Barrier Arms. It is now a veterinary clinic. A former industrial site near the Thames Barrier houses an indoor

paintball Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy a ...

facility.

Southern part

The southern part of Charlton Riverside along Woolwich Road and Bugsby's Road is now dominated by shopping centres, supermarkets and retail warehouses. Large retailers are

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

Makro Makro is a Dutch international brand of warehouse clubs, also called cash and carry stores. Makro was founded by SHV Holdings, a Dutch conglomerate based in Utrecht in partnership with German company Metro AG, with the first warehouse club ...

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

and

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

. In the south-west corner, around Woolwich Road and Aldeburgh Street there is some housing, as well as along Anchor and Hope Lane. East of this street is Ropery Business Park with several small business. File:2018 Charlton Riverside 07.jpg, Conveyors handling bulk aggregate File:2018 Charlton Riverside 22.jpg, Cemex Silos at Angerstein Wharf File:2018 Charlton Riverside 31.jpg, The Anchor & Hope public house File:2018 Charlton Riverside 29.jpg, Reconstructed watermen's stairs File:2018 Charlton Riverside 36.jpg, Thames Path near the Anchor & Hope File:2018 Charlton Riverside, Thames Barrier 01.jpg, Thames Path near Thames Barrier File:2018 London, Thames Barrier.jpg, Thames Barrier park and administrative buildings File:2018 Woolwich, Eastmoor Place, former pub.jpg, Former Thames Barrier Arms public house

References

{{LB Greenwich Areas of London Districts of London on the River Thames Districts of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Port of London Charlton, London