About Lambeth's business districts town and district centres

Lambeth’s three most prominent commercial centres are South Bank & Waterloo, Vauxhall and Brixton. The borough is a very diverse place and each of these centres has a unique character that reflects its history, established community and forward trajectory.

Lambeth is also home to Streatham, West Norwood, Clapham, Herne Hill and Tulse Hill – some of South Lambeth’s most popular residential neighbourhoods where vibrant business communities contribute greatly to their local character.

South Bank & Waterloo is an area of great contrasts, from the highly polished finish of the riverside South Bank with its world class cultural institutions and high-end developments such as Southbank Place to the underground scene of Leake Street and The Vaults, a home to street culture and London’s most famous graffiti art spots.

Developments in the area look to protect these contrasts whilst bridging them with improved public realm and pedestrian walkways, investment in new green and community spaces, improvements to the traditional marketplace of Lower Marsh and a new retail quarter in the redeveloped station.

Vauxhall is undergoing huge transformation. Home to new mixed-use and high rise clusters, an equal amount of attention is being paid to ensure quality of life on ground level.

Vauxhall will see improved green and public spaces, a new town centre and town square along with a host of amenities to cater to the new businesses, existing and new residents moving to the area.

Lambeth are also working to protect Vauxhall’s cultural integrity, as one of London’s leading LGBT nightlife centres with iconic venues such as the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, alongside supporting the growth of one of London’s most exciting contemporary art scenes.

Brixton is a much loved town centre, home to a community who are passionate about its past and future. A largely retail, leisure and evening based town centre economy is becoming increasingly popular as an office location for a growing creative and digital cluster of micro business and larger SMEs.

A major focus for inward investment, Lambeth is using council owned land in Brixton to leverage investment for much needed new business space, homes, and public realm improvements.

Brixton Design Trail is an annual cultural festival and an ongoing network of local creative businesses.

Streatham has a strong retail offer which builds on its heritage of having the longest retail street in Europe. The area has recently benefited from large amounts of investment, including new leisure facilities and improved shop fronts, creating a more attractive and inviting business location.

West Norwood is home to a large proportion of Lambeth’s industrial activity alongside an increasing number of new independent businesses. The town will benefit from a new cinema and other leisure facilities that have recently been given the green light to start development.

Town Centres and Business Improvement Districts

Business Improvement Districts

Lambeth Council recognises the value businesses bring to the community. The council has played an instrumental role in creating seven Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) for all of its commercial areas.

BIDs represent the needs of local businesses. They work alongside the council to support a myriad of business-friendly programmes.

Brixton BID The Brixton BID exists to protect Brixton’s diverse range of businesses. It pledges to focus on three key issues: • To strengthen business partnerships • To better market the area • To improve the local environment

Photographer: Isabelle Plasschaert

This is Clapham Clapham’s BID has four objectives: (1) to promote, (2) to enhance, (3) to make Clapham a safer place and (4) to connect local stakeholders.

The BID delivers projects such as: • Free business recycling • Additional street cleaning • Local area marketing • Crime and anti-social behaviour reduction

The BID also manages the Clapham Card a discount card for employees and owners of businesses who are members of the Clapham BID. It is designed to support Clapham businesses and encourage local trade.

Visit: www.thisisclapham.co.uk South Bank BID The South Bank BID focusses on destination marketing and public realm improvements. It is funded by 183 businesses.

The BID is one of the Capital’s leading destination management organisations with a dynamic and highly engaged audience via the website southbanklondon.com and successful tourist and visitor reach through seasonal destination guides.

The South Bank BID also focuses on providing a quality public realm: • Deliver a safer, cleaner more accessible neighbourhood • Assist in reducing operational costs for businesses • Help drive forward enhancements to the quality of the street environment

Visit: Southbankbid.co.uk

WeAreWaterloo The BID works on a number of schemes to improve the area; from environment and public realm projects, to marketing and promotion activities to Lower Marsh Market, to networking events, to crime prevention, to corporate social responsibility, to licensing forum and graffiti removal.

The role of the BID is to: • Enhance the Environment and the area by ensuring it is clean, green, well-maintained and somewhere to be proud of; aiding staff recruitment and retention, improving the visitor experience, attracting new businesses and investment. • Celebrate & Promote both the area and the businesses within the BID; increasing footfall, raising the profile of Waterloo's cultural and retail offer, supporting the growth of existing businesses and new companies to maintain a thriving local economy. • Connect & Represent local businesses by providing frequent opportunities to share knowledge and expertise, as well as bridging relations between businesses, local government, community groups, transport providers, development companies and local authorities to ensure that any decision-making results in the best possible environment for business to flourish.

Vauxhall One Vauxhall One’s has four core objectives: • Safer: the Bid is helping to reduce street crime and antisocial by becoming one of the first BIDs in the

UK to build on the Met Police's S92

Police Officer scheme which sees

Vauxhall One pay for the cost of one police officer with the Met matching that funding for an additional officer. • Destination: Vauxhall has a thriving mix of day and night-time businesses,

Vauxhall One is dedicated to supporting and integrating both economies. Vauxhall One promotes our shops, hotels, restaurants and clubs to local employees and to wider

London. • Cleaner: Vauxhall One is dedicated to keeping clean, the BID runs weekly street cleaning, litter picks and graffiti removal sessions. As well as larger scale deep clean projects with are partners Community Clean. • Greener: Vauxhall is changing fast and the management and transformation of the public realm is key. Vauxhall has key assets in the local parks, green open spaces and rail arches. We aim to connect these through a cultural green trail.

www.vauxhallone.co.uk InStreatham InStreatham is the Streatham BID, created by local businesses for local businesses.

The Aims of the inStreatham are: • Improving the look and feel of the high road. • Introducing enhanced security and crime prevention in our town centre. • Boosting Streatham’s footfall by delivering a programme of events and festivals. • Promoting and supporting the night-time economy.

www.instreatham.com

Station to Station Station to Station Business Improvement District is dedicated to making West Norwood and Tulse Hill a great place to live, work and play.

Station to Station is the Business Improvement District for Tulse Hill and West Norwood. It is investing more than £700,000 in the local area during its first five-year term and works to attract additional funding from external bodies.

Our theme groups focus on raising the profile of the area, growing your businesses and making sure the public realm is one of the best in Lambeth.

www.stationtostation.london

Business associations, networks and meet ups

Outside of our business improvement districts, Lambeth has a range of business associations and networks. These include the Herne Hill Forum.

Herne Hill Forum

The Herne Hill website and online forum helps the local community connect with each other and to help one other another.

The forum is staffed by volunteers. They welcome inspiring new ideas, comments and suggestions.