The Sands Film Studio of Rotherhithe & The Rotherhithe Picture Research Library.

If there is one thing you might have picked up on during my walk through Rotherhithe, it is that many of the old buildings and locations that were once grimy industrial buildings in unpleasant parts of London have been refurbished and re-purposed for modern use.   This walk has been good at showing this, whether it is police stations and mortuary’s into cafes and restaurants, slums into designer living, warehouses into hi-tech offices and old pubs into err old pubs with modern trimmings.

This is something that has always gone on in London and Britain as a whole.  This is exemplarified by the next place on this tour which at one time was a warehouse for the storage of grains and wheat or a granary as I guess it would once have been called.

Amongst a huddle of narrow streets in old Rotherhithe village sit one of many anonymous though attractive old buildings. The Sands Films Studios in Rotherhithe are housed in an unprepossessing Grade II listed former granary.

The granary actually sits on the site of a much older Ship and Eight bells pub and if you look at the bollards on the pavement you can see they are likely old cannons from some old sailing ship, these are quite common in areas of Britain with a maritime history such as Portsmouth.

The Studios were founded in the 1970s and offer film production facilities, as you may expect, but also a free cinema club.  They are also home to a wonderful Costumier and they have such a wealth of experience for producing period costumes for the big screen and many of the recent hit television shows that aired on BBC and ITV in the UK before beaming round the world.   These include Poldark, Taboo,  Roots, Versailles, Queen Victoria, Beauty and the Beast, Holmes and Watson, Wolf Hall, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, The Hollow Crown, Harry Potter, Mr Turner, Far From the Madding Crowd and countless others.

If this wasn’t enough for one modest granary there is also the wonderful Rotherhithe Picture Research Library. Neatly tucked on the ground floor of the oldest part of the building, its ceiling is supported by 18th century reclaimed ships’ timbers. Inside, imagine a giant scrapbook of thousands of images, photographs and other magazine clippings brought together in a serendipitously haphazard way, covering subjects as varied and far apart as advertising and packaging to costumes, via domestic utensils, nature, transport or war.

Originally the facility started life as an archive so that film makers could research and get an authentic take on what life was like, right down to the most tiny detail.  It is still used for its original purposes but has now metamorphosied into a much grander and dare I say it even more noble cause.

There is a great collection about local history and you begin to get a picture of the visual cornucopia treasured here and used by researchers, stage and fashion designers as well as local school kids. The staff are incredibly friendly, welcoming and passionate and I had a right good chin-wag with 2 very helpful and friendly ladies.

There is also what looks like a cafe just inside the front door but it is actually a staff canteen, however if it is quiet I have a feeling the odd visitor would find a welcome home to park their bum for a while and recuperate.