Approaching St John’s Waterloo‘s (SJW) bicentennial celebration in late 2024, we started working on a heritage project to remember the Bullring (also known as Cardboard City), the North Lambeth Day Centre and the related ephemeral and neglected heritage of homeless people in the area. This is funded by Historic England’s Everyday Heritage grant programme, celebrating working class histories.

‘The Lost City of Cardboard’ initiative is being spearheaded by artists and project leaders who have experienced homelessness, and it is engaging directly with individuals who resided in the Bullring, those who provided support to its inhabitants, and local residents with recollections of or an interest in shedding light on this heritage. Additionally, the project involves participants of our wider community programme and the devoted churchyard garden volunteers.

Through our ongoing conversations and discussions, we have been gathering accounts of love, support, and solidarity prevalent in both Cardboard City and the North Lambeth Day Centre. Simultaneously, we've come across narratives that shed light on the fear, distress, and profound destitution that characterised life in the underpasses. These narratives are swiftly vanishing, as more residents pass away, underscoring the urgency of creating an archive as part of this project. This imperativeness has been emphasised by those already in contact with us, who have been instrumental in shaping this collaborative proposal.

Co-creation is at the heart of this project. We engaged Bekki Perriman (an art therapist and artist whose work focuses on homelessness and mental health) and David Tovey (an artist, educator, and activist with experiences of homelessness). They are supported by journalist Samir Jeraj who has written on housing, homelessness and Carboard City, Saz Denny (an artist, poet and former resident of the Bullring) and the team at SJW and The Bridge At Waterloo (TBAW).


In February 2025, we presented the first outcome of the project in the form of an exhibition within the Crypt at St John’s Waterloo. It sought to remember and memorialise the community of the Bullring and the North Lambeth Day Centre. Through the lens of photographers Liza Hamlyn and Moyra Peralta, alongside personal accounts, artworks, and historical commentary, it preserved the stories while supporting the ongoing campaign to help those experiencing homelessness today.

As with the nature of the whole wider project, this exhibition didn’t aim to provide a comprehensive account of the origins, history, significance, or lived experiences of the Bullring. Instead, it offered a heartfelt endeavour to conserve and reflect upon the memories shared by and archival fragments of those whose lives were shaped by it, while honouring the legacy of those who are no longer with us.

The exhibition title - "The Spirit of the Bullring lives on..." - was adopted from a late 1990s photograph by Moyra Peralta, capturing an inscription made by a resident of the Bullring.