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 The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

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, i ...

, which forms part of the

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

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

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

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

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, 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 mainta ...

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, ne ...

, where many who were living across the road in New Charlton worked. This is also where

Charlton Athletic F.C. Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, London, Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Thei ...

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 Charlton railway station is a railway station in Charlton, Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is measured from . The station is operated by Southeastern. Trains serving the station are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink. It is in Travelcard ...

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 Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

project in World War II. Since the 1960s the area had sunk into

industrial decline Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...

, 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 ...

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. It is updated from time to time. The regio ...

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

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

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 retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...

in 2013. An

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

store opened in 2019.Ikea Greenwich: opening day and times, parking and why you should visit the new Ikea store in south-east London
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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 Construction aggregate, or simply aggregate, is a broad category of coarse- to medium-grained particulate material used in construction. Traditionally, it includes natural materials such as sand, gravel, crushed stone. As with other types of ag ...

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 UK Limited, 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 materi ...

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 one of its sources near Kemble, Gloucestershire, Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Woolwich foot tunnel, south east London. It is about long. A path was first proposed in 1948 ...

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 in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

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 sport, competitive team sport, team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called Paintball equipment#Paintballs, paintballs that b ...

facility.

Southern part

The southern part of Charlton Riverside along Woolwich Road and Bugsby's Road is now dominated by shopping centres,

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

s and

retail warehouse A warehouse store or warehouse supermarket is a food and grocery retailer that operates stores geared toward offering deeper discounted prices than a traditional supermarket. These stores offer a no-frills experience and warehouse shelving stocke ...

s. Large retailers are

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

Makro Makro is a Netherlands, Dutch international brand of warehouse clubs, also called Cash and carry (wholesale), cash and carry stores. Makro was founded by SHV Holdings, a Dutch conglomerate based in Utrecht in partnership with German company ...

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

and

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

. 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