I Was a Stranger

In Spa Road, Bermondsey, immediately opposite a new block of council flats stands a group of buildings which its most affectionate supporters would hesitate to describe as attractive. It looks like a converted warehouse - which in point of fact is not so very far from the truth: it is a factory and a hostel run by the Salvation Army. Here, a stone's throw from Tower Bridge, and across the road from young families in their new flats, lives a community of men, a floating population that is never less than a hundred and is often four times as many.