We Walworth ran between May 2022 and August 2023 and was a partnership between local residents, Pembroke House, local organisations, Southwark Council and the Department for Levelling-up, Housing and Communities. Drawing on the legacy of collaborative working during the pandemic, it aimed to bring local people together with local and central government officials to work on issues that matter in Walworth. We hoped to demonstrate a different type of working partnership between local places and government bodies and mobilise our community to take action.
By 2023, our cross-sector Working Group was well underway, focused on the challenge of revitalising the much loved East Street Market market. The group, made up of market traders, Southwark Council market managers, local residents and organisations, met weekly and engaged hundreds more people in developing a shared vision for a ‘Thriving Future for East Street Market’.
90 people, including more than 20 market traders, gathered for a special East Street Market Ward Forum at East Street Baptist Church to hear more about their work. The vision they presented for a “Thriving Future for East Market” was organised into four themes: Market Offer and Community Hub, Infrastructure & Environment, Expanded Publicity, PR & Comms and changes to Governance & Management.
The group’s vision formed the basis for a bid to Southwark Council’s Thriving High Streets Fund to take forward and build on this vision. However in the weeks that followed, we decided to withdraw our own bid, and instead put our support behind a bid from the newly formed trader-led East St Community CIC who are preparing to play a leading role in the market renewal.
Our earlier We Walworth Working Group had produced a vision for a new outdoor eating area and BBQs in Burgess Park, after recognising it was an issue of importance for many in the local community. Over the past two years we have continued to work with the council, and community members and organisations to make the vision a reality. The group identified and approved a new area of the park to be designated for outdoor eating, and worked towards the upcoming launch of an exciting trial of electric hot-plates in August 2024.
We worked hard to ensure that We Walworth could leave a legacy in Walworth and beyond, including our zine-style ‘Guide to Changing Your Neighbourhood’. The guide covers how to generate mass engagement, planning an event, and building a collective vision. We distributed it locally to community spaces, libraries, bookshops, and academic institutions, and the guide features in the current ‘Making Southwark’ exhibition at the Walworth Heritage Centre & library until 2025.
If you would like to learn more about We Walworth and any of its projects visit the website here.