The Shard

I took this at 7am this morning. Behind me and to the left a bit is The Leather Market. In a former life I used to rehearse with my band in the basement which was then called Blackboard Studios. It was rank but very cheap.
Bermondsey Leather Market.-This great leather or hide market lies in Weston-street, ten minutes' walk from the Surrey side of London-bridge. The neighbourhood in which it stands was devoted entirely to thinners and tanners, and the air reeked with foul smells. At twelve o'clock the men poured out from all the works. Their clothes are marked with many stains; their trousers were discoloured by tan; some had apron and gaiters of raw hide; and about them all hung a scent of blood. The market itself stands in the centre of a quiet block of buildings on the left hand side of Weston-street. Most of it was roofed, but there was an open space lathe centre. Under the roofing were huge piles of fresh hides and sheep-skins. There was no noise or bustle, and only few people about. There were no retail purchasers, the sales being almost entirely made to the great tanners in the neighbourhood. The warehouses were all full of tanned hides; the yards behind the high walls were all tanneries, with their tens of thousands of hides soaking in the pits.

Parts of the building, including a clocktower and slaughterhouses were destroyed by bombing in WWII. The adjacent Leather Exchange building dates to 1879 and is now occupied by various offices and workshops including glassblowing.

Courtesy of the Lyons Family website.