The central London district of Waterloo is a business area inhabited by theatres The Cut, the Old Vic and the Young Vic, and has become a tourist destination due to the Coca-Cola London Eye, the Florence Nightingale Museum and the Southbank Centre. Originally marshland at the north end of the ancient parish of Lambeth, Waterloo was drained in the eighteenth century and made reference to in the street named Lower Marsh.
Waterloo was once the heartland of a thriving street market called The New Cut, which was founded in the early 1840s and was, at nearly three miles long, the largest and longest street market in London and written about by Charles Dickens. Waterloo is linked to the northern bank of the River Thames and the Strand area by Waterloo Bridge. The first bridge was opened in 1817 and the current bridge in 1945 and takes its name from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
The Waterloo area is now packed with cafés, bars, restaurants and specialist food shops, which pulled together to form The Waterloo Food Festival in July with a month long diary of events, tastings and demonstrations. Check out independent deli Greensmiths for great meat, bread, coffee and wine, and Konditor & Cook for delicious cakes, while you can eat out in style at Cyrus Todiwala’s Assado restaurant, specialising in Pan-Indian dishes.
