St Katharine's Dock
London E1

St Katharine's Dock, the capital's first Docklands redevelopment, has a splendid location just east of Tower Bridge and Tower of London. 

Situated on the north bank of the Thames, St Katharine's once had over 1,000 cottages, a brewery, hospital and the 12th century church of St Katharine.  In 1828 all this was removed to make way for a new docklands development, designed by Thomas Telford. 

St Katharine's Dock, the most central of the capital's docks, flourished during the 19th and early-20th centuries but by the mid-20th century the dock became too small to handle the new, larger, container ships. 

In 1968 St Katharine's Dock closed when larger docks opened downstream.  The capital's other docks followed 15 years later. 

In 1973 St Katharine's was transformed as one of London's most successful redevelopments, with residential and commercial areas and entertainment facilities.  

The old warehouse buildings now have shops, restaurants, cafés and pubs on their ground floors and offices above.  There is often live music here during summer lunchtimes. 

On the north side of the dock is the London FOX (Futures and Options Exchange) trading in such commodities as oil, sugar and coffee. 

St Katharine's Haven is a yacht marina with a lighthouse ship and has a group of russet-sailed, turn-of-the-century barges.