* “Horsleydown Old Stairs”-London SE1 & the ‘Old Justice’ pub-Bermondsey-London SE16

One of the  things I like about my little London Shoes hobby is that sometimes, it inspires Shoes followers to giving me a nudge in the direction of some aspect/topic about London that they feel I might not be aware of, and might be interested covering-off as London Shoes publication…….and this specific piece epitomises exactly that sort of scenario.

The other week I received a text message from Dave – a lad I worked with at the Barclays Bank branch in Whitechapel, almost 40ys ago now. I’ve probably only seen Dave briefly a couple of times since those days – but he’s been a loyal London Shoes follower since its inception 10yrs ago.

Anyway – Dave’s text had a snippet of film attached which was all about a London landmark that I never knew existed, even though I would have walked past its ‘entrance’ hundreds of times, without a scoobie as to where that entrance led to.

The landmark that Dave suggested my Shoes paid a visit to is :-

“HORSLEYDOWN OLD STAIRS” –

“Horselydown Old Stairs” are one of London’s oldest set of stairs still in situ, that provide access to the River Thames. These ‘stairs’ are situated on the southern banks of the River, just a couple of hundred yards east from the iconic London landmark,,,,,,,Tower Bridge.

Maps of the area dating back to the mid 1700’s – a century+ before Tower Bridge was built – clearly show the ‘Horsleydown Old Stairs’ – and the fact that they were described even then as ‘old stairs’, would indicate that these stairs existed there long before that.

Back in the day when the River Thames was a full-blown working river, there were several similar ‘stairs’ providing direct access to the River, from the northern and southern banks of the Thames.

The Horsleydown Old Stairs were once accessed from ‘Horsleydown Lane’ and, like all of London’s other similar ‘river’ stairs they served as a public access points for watermen, ferrymen, and for loading/unloading cargo – and smaller boats transporting stuff out to the larger ships moored on the Thames – long before the London Docklands and today’s modern buildings reshaped the Thames shores.

‘Horsleydown Lane’ itself disappeared from London maps a couple of centuries ago – Horsleydown Old Stairs now leads off from the historic and popular  ‘Shad Thames’ street – once a strategic part of London’s Docklands.

The narrow passageway that leads from the Shad Thames entrance to the stairs, used to run beneath the famous Anchor Brewery that was once situated there.

Horsleydown Old Stairs and its route to the Thames, can only be accessed at low tide, as the steps lead straight into the Thames and obviously become extremely  slippery with green slime, as a result of being completely submerged when the tide comes in. Navigating the stairs can be a little risky – you have to choose your moments to go exploring.

However – the view you get when you get at the foot  of the Stairs is amazing and unique – as you find yourself on a stony shoreline in spitting distance of Tower Bridge – I can’t think of any other access route to the River that gets you a view like the one you get at the foot of Horsleydown Old Stairs – it’s stunning.

The shoreline (or ‘beach’ as some like to call it) is made up of shingle/gravel/old bricks/old bits of masonry – most probably from all the old buildings that once lined the Thames.

My London Shoes had a great time exploring the shoreline at the bottom of  the Stairs – and interestingly, I wasn’t the only one down there, as around me were groups of tourists and their children, plus a ‘Mudlarker’ forensically trawling the ‘beach’ for old artifacts such as old coins and clay pipes etc, of which, (I was told) – there are loads of down there.

When you’re down on the ‘beach’ you get a clear understanding of just how high the River Thames can get – as the massive riverbank walls are completely covered in the green slime where the water levels rise to – many metres above the shoreline. No wonder London is heavily reliant on the Thames Barrier a little way further down to the east.

Taking advantage of the low tide, me & my London Shoes enjoyed a good old mooch around on the shoreline – but you have to be a bit careful as negotiating all the rocks/bricks/debris etc can be a bit iffy, and you certainly wouldn’t wanna fall and cut/injure yourself down there.

My London Shoes deliberately chose a time of low tide low the day of my visit – and the weather was good too.

Also, I should mention that for this particular Shoes day out, I was accompanied by my good mates Pete and Lee (not Peters & Lee of ‘Welcome Home’ fame). Now – they were a bit reluctant to be as adventurous as me, when down on the Thames shoreline -they clearly didn’t fancy trawling the shoreline and the experience of being beneath Tower Bridge, but they did make friends with the Mudlarking lady who was busy cleaning up the stuff she’d discovered (mainly extremely old ‘buttons’). But I think my 2 companions were far more interested in a little liquid refreshment in a nearby pub!!!

I think I must have spent a good hour or so exploring the shoreline at the foot of the Horsleydown Old Stairs – it was a great experience, and all the time I was down there I couldn’t help thinking of all those people throughout the previous centuries, who would have been down there in exactly the same spot – going about their business – it was a sobering, what I call a ‘standing on the shoulder of giants’ moment.

Anyway, having taken the photos I wanted, to the delight of my 2 companions, I suggested that we go seek out a nearby pub for a little liquid refreshment, and I had just the place in mind.

Just a couple of minutes’ walk eastwards from Horsleydown Old Stairs, in Bermondsey, we found ourselves outside a riverside pub called ‘The Old Justice’.

Now – there was a reason why I had selected this particular pub as our stopping place – it was my mate Pete’s family’s local back in the day – in fact, I think at one time, members of Pete’s family used to run the pub. When Pete was a lad living in Bermondsey, he used to sit on the pub steps with a lemonade and a packet of crisps or something similar, whilst a gathering of his family members would be congregating around the piano inside the pub enjoying a drink or two.

From the outside, you’d think that the ‘Justice’ was a very old Victorian or even earlier pub – but it’s not – the Old Justice pub was actually built in 1933 – in a mock-Tudor design with interior wood panelling and 2 bars

In 1984 the pub achieved international fame when it was one of the filming locations for Paul McCartney’s ‘Give My Regards to Broad Street’ – and his subsequent chart hit ‘No More Lonely Nights’. Today, a blue plaque and photos from that time are displayed on an interior wall of the pub.

In 2017 the ‘Justice’ sadly closed down and developers planned to convert the pub building and site into residential flats. However, local residents and some celebs campaigned against the conversion of the pub – which resulted in Southwark Council successfully getting the building a Grade II Listing preservation status – however, the building’s owner at that time, still went ahead and ripped out the pub’s 2 bars and interior wood panelling. Following legal pressure and other activity, the owner was forced to pay for the reconstruction of the pub interior to what it was using original materials and restoring its original features.

New owners took the pub over and in 2023 the Old Justice reopened its doors again to the public – and today, it’s a very popular and busy pub.

So – there you have it….the amazing ‘Horsleydown Old Stairs’ experience –  plus a trip to The Old Justice pub in Bermondsey – all in all, a very enjoyable Shoes’ day out – hope the accompanying photos help bring the story to life a bit for you.

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See below, the entire gallery of photos taken to accompany this London Shoes article