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Come out of Waterloo Station, ignore the London Eye, turn away from the crowds and follow me.
Just a few minutes away is Roupell Street—a remarkably preserved pocket of London where workers once crowded into tiny houses, the modern circus was born nearby, a Victorian pub still guards the corner, and the family whose name is on the street produced one of the more spectacular scandals of the 19th century.
Welcome to Streets of London, a new Ready. Set. London! series where we take one short London street and discover the stories most visitors walk straight past.
And, naturally, there’s a strategically placed pub.
Today we're exploring Roupell Street, tucked behind Waterloo Station.
We’ll discover how this corner of London went from marshland to a working-class neighbourhood; meet Philip and Patty Astley, whose extraordinary horsemanship helped give birth to the modern circus; and step inside The King’s Arms, a Grade II listed pub that tells us something about how people lived when as many as twenty people could share one small house.
Then things get wonderfully messy.
Meet William Roupell - grandson of the man who developed the street, property heir, Member of Parliament…and forger.
There’s a family fortune, a destroyed will, a replacement forged will, mounting debts, a dash to Spain, the Old Bailey and a sentence of penal servitude for life.
Honestly, Netflix, call me.
But Roupell Street's biggest story may simply be that it's still here.
Railways transformed the neighborhood. Waterloo grew into one of Britain's great stations. The Blitz came. London redeveloped around it.
Yet this little street survived.
Today, people admire its brick houses, sash windows and extraordinary sense of stepping back in time. But behind all that charm is another London—the builders, bakers, blacksmiths, printers, nurses, teachers and families who actually lived and worked here.
So grab your metaphorical walking shoes.
We're going behind Waterloo.
