Escorts in Borough, SE1: who is close, and how soon
Is there anywhere green to walk in Borough, or is it all brick, market roofs and railway viaduct? More than a first look suggests. Within a few streets of Borough High Street there is a Victorian garden made for the neighbourhood's poorest families, a churchyard with a prison wall still standing in it, a pair of nineteenth-century squares round railed lawns and a modern park named after a long-vanished mint, and the Thames is a walk to the north. None of them is big, and each fits round a dinner with escorts in Borough rather than replacing it. Not one of the board's women has a home on this bank, so Borough escorts need roughly an hour once the office has agreed the booking, longer in the rush, with the chat giving her time exactly; each length and its price is on the rates.
On the ground
Borough in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameSE1 9SG, SE1 9QU, SE1 0UG, SE1 0NZ.
Nearest stations
Walking timeBorough, 1 minute. London Bridge, 7 minutes. Elephant and Castle, 9 minutes.
Getting there
SE1Travel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to Borough
Who works here
On the board in Borough
The six prints above are a first shortlist for Borough tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Red Cross Garden
Red Cross Garden is the one Octavia Hill made. She laid it out on Redcross Way in 1887, eight years before she helped start the National Trust, as somewhere for the families in the cottages she built alongside to sit out of doors, and those cottages still look onto it. The planting and paths have been brought back close to what she intended. Like the other small gardens round here it belongs to the lighter hours, so check the gate before building an evening round it.
Note 03
A churchyard and a prison wall
A few steps from Borough station, St George the Martyr stands on the High Street, and its old churchyard has become a small public garden. Along one side runs a long brick wall, the last piece left of the Marshalsea, the debtors' prison where Charles Dickens's father was held in 1824 and where Dickens later set Little Dorrit. It is a quiet spot to sit for a while on the way to dinner, with the traffic of the High Street just out of sight.
Note 04
Two squares behind railings
East of the High Street along Trinity Street, Trinity Church Square is a set piece of terraces round a railed garden, with the former Holy Trinity church in the middle and a weathered stone statue, often said to be King Alfred and among the oldest in London. Merrick Square, a street away, is smaller and quieter still. Both gardens belong to the residents of the squares, so the lawns are seen through the railings, and a slow circuit of the pavements after dinner is the way to enjoy them.
Note 05
Mint Street Park and the river
West of the High Street, Mint Street Park is a modern open space of grass and trees. Its name comes from the Mint, the old quarter round a Tudor royal mint that later became a notorious refuge for debtors.
From there, Redcross Way and the streets beyond lead north towards Southwark and the river, where the path along the south bank runs east past Southwark Cathedral to London Bridge, with the City lit up on the far side. That stretch of water is the largest open space Borough has, and at the end of an evening it is the one that still works after dark.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Borough
Asked most often
Borough, asked and answered
Can we walk into the gardens in the two squares?
Which green space is closest to Borough station?
Is the riverside worth the walk after dinner?
One zone either way
Next along from Borough
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with a length, a time and the zone you are staying in, and a name from the board comes back with a window attached. That is the whole of the arrangement.