The emergence of a shopping centre hierarchy in South London during the nineteenth century

This article examines the changing relationship between urban population growth and the size, composition, functions and ranking of shopping centres in South London during the nineteenth century. It addresses some of the methodological issues that arose in previous studies of nineteenth-century retailing in England and Wales. The fifteen largest shopping centres have been ranked using the mean of the respective scores of their eight functional variables. Regression analysis has been used to examine the changing relationship which existed between urban population and the size, composition, and functions of shopping in 1824, 1872 and 1901. This analysis suggests that the hierarchy of shopping centres in South London was a linear continuum rather than a stepped-liked structure. It shed light on significant changes in the number of retail and commercial properties in the shopping centres. Some 68 of these centres are classified as either metropolitan (4) major (16) central area zones (3) and district (45) in the 2021 London Plan.