Southwark Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established in 1924

Ken Hayes Life Member

Few areas have undergone as dramatic a change as that covered by the Southwark Chamber of Commerce over the past 100 years.

It’s a story that stretches back hundreds of years, characterised by a rapid development which began in the 1500s.

The small but important medieval town surrounded by undeveloped land turned into a major industrial area between the 16th and 19th centuries, prompted largely by trade on the Thames, its proximity to the markets of the City of London and its position on the road to the only bridge across the Thames in London until 1750.

Although created in 1924, the Chamber can trace its own story back to 1900 when the first Metropolitan London Boroughs were created by amalgamation of the former Rating Parishes. Three Metropolitan Boroughs were created in SE London namely Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark.

In the 1920’s the United Kingdom was recovering from the economic recession following the end of WW1 and the influenza pandemic that followed it.

In 1924 the business communities in the three Metropolitan Boroughs of Bermondsey Camberwell and Southwark established Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Membership was open to all businesses based in the three boroughs or trading with business in those boroughs. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 made the Chamber’s work redundant until the end of the War in 1945.

In 1965 Local Government in London was re-oganised again and the Metropolitan

Boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark were merged to create the London Borough of Southwark. Bermondsey and Southwark Chambers of Commerce and Industry also merged but Camberwell Chamber remained independent until 1984. The aims of the Chamber have not changed. A Chairman’s annual report to members in the 1980s said: “Southwark Chamber of Commerce was formed to promote the interest of trade in the borough. Its existence exemplifies the truth of the old saying ‘Unity is Strength’. Whereas the individual views of a few traders may carry very little weight, the collective opinion of an active organisation is too powerful to be ignored.”

This is as true today as when it was first written 30 years ago.

To survive for 100 years supporting business in Southwark through good and bad times is a great achievement. The Chamber looks forward to continuing to support local businesses.