I think I’ve found the best place in South London to gaze upon the majestic Shard. Platform 9 of the hugely and impressively revamped London Bridge railway station – London’s very first rail terminal but no longer the poor relation of its main stations . This is yet another significant infrastructure project quietly undertaken and successfully completed in this century; easily the most impressive period of building works in the capital since the height of the Victorians.
When you walk around South London the Shard – another great 21st century building – seems to be with you at every turn, looking over the top of buildings or waiting just round the next corner for you. It is is impossibly sci-fi futuristic and dwarfs everything but somehow, and unlike other new buildings such as the Walkie-Talkie and the Cheese Grater, is of London rather than above it. It has character and belongs.
I spend most of my time looking for odd nuggets of old London but the modern city is wonderful too and on a summer’s day, this view is difficult to beat.