A May 2022 walk from Charing Cross crosses the Thames for lunch at Southbank Centre Food Market, follows a duck confit burger from griddle to riverside table, then continues through the book market and the Southbank Undercroft.

Archive note, updated August 2026: This Roberts London film was published on 8 May 2022. It records the traders, menu and price seen on that visit. Southbank Centre Food Market continues in the same location, but The Frenchie is not included in the market’s current published trader list. Treat the duck confit burger as part of the 2022 archive and check the official market page for today’s line-up.

Walking from Charing Cross to the South Bank

The film opens outside Charing Cross Station on a Saturday lunchtime. Barry is hungry and looking for somewhere convenient between filming locations in central London. The answer lies directly across the Thames: Southbank Centre Food Market, tucked behind the Royal Festival Hall rather than facing the river.

The walk crosses the Golden Jubilee Bridges beside Hungerford Bridge. It is a short transition with an unusually large view. The London Eye fills one side of the river, the Palace of Westminster sits farther downstream and the South Bank’s post-war buildings rise directly ahead.

The riverfront itself is busy, but the market is reached by turning inland beside the Southbank Centre. That slight displacement matters. It is close enough to serve visitors, office workers and anyone already walking by the Thames, while remaining partly hidden behind the arts complex.

The market behind the Royal Festival Hall

Southbank Centre Food Market occupies Southbank Centre Square on the Belvedere Road side of the Royal Festival Hall. In the film, a rainbow-painted staircase leads down to rows of black canopies, smoking griddles and large pans of food.

The camera looks rather than rushes. There are samosas arranged around broad pans, crepes prepared to order, coffee equipment, slow-cooked dishes and queues forming in front of individual counters. The aromas provide the direction before any menu does.

Barry admits that he should probably try something new, but has already decided what he wants: the duck confit burger from The Frenchie. It was an established favourite rather than a discovery made for the camera.

The Frenchie and the duck confit burger

The Frenchie’s stall is built around a large flat-top griddle. Its yellow counter makes the cooking visible: shredded duck is warmed and crisped, the brioche bun is toasted and the finished burger is assembled in front of the customer.

The filmed price is £10.50 for the burger. Barry declines the meal deal and orders the burger on its own. That figure belongs to May 2022 and should not be read as a current price.

The construction explains why the dish works on film. The toasted brioche holds a generous layer of duck confit, blue cheese, salad leaves, sauce and crisp onions. Barry describes an onion relish or chutney and mayonnaise, while making clear that the exact “secret sauce” is his own guess rather than a disclosed recipe.

What follows is not a stylised restaurant tasting. The market is busy and the riverside seating is full, so lunch is eaten standing outside. The setting is free, open to the Thames and completely dependent on finding a piece of space. Barry’s verdict after the first bites is direct: the burger still tastes as good as he remembers.

What changed after the 2022 visit?

The market remains active, but a street-food market should never be treated as a fixed directory. Traders move, menus change and prices follow the cost of ingredients and operating in central London.

When checked in August 2026, the Southbank Centre’s current trader page did not list The Frenchie. The official line-up instead covered a changing mixture of Asian street food, grilled meat, comfort food, Mediterranean cooking, sweets, coffee and drinks. The useful distinction is simple: the market remains a current destination, while this particular burger is a documented meal from 2022.

That archive status does not weaken the film. It gives the visit a sharper purpose. Street-food markets are constantly rewritten, and an old menu can be as revealing as an old shopfront. The camera preserves the stall, the cooking method, the price and the ordinary problem of finding somewhere to eat on a busy Saturday.

The South Bank Book Market under Waterloo Bridge

After lunch, the route turns east along Queen’s Walk to the South Bank Book Market. The tables sit beneath Waterloo Bridge, protected by concrete overhead and open to the river on one side.

The market opened on 2 July 1983. Leslie Hardcastle, then controller of the British Film Institute, conceived it as a way to animate the dark space below the bridge. It became part of the Southbank Centre in 2001 and now brings together eight stalls selling contemporary fiction, children’s books, vintage and antiquarian editions, maps, prints and postcards.

In the film Barry knows it as a weekend fixture and is unsure about the other days. The current official page lists the market as daily, normally from 10am to 7pm, while noting that individual stall hours can vary. That is a useful example of why archive observations and present visitor information should be separated rather than blended together.

The London Eye and the Undercroft

The final third of the film becomes more visual. A time-lapse places the London Eye against changing clouds, then the walk reaches the concrete space beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

This is the Southbank Undercroft, often called the Southbank Skatepark even though it was never designed as one. The Queen Elizabeth Hall opened as part of the Southbank Centre’s brutalist complex in 1967. Its open undercroft supplied pillars, ledges, banks and cover from the weather; skateboarders began adopting the space by 1973.

The Southbank Centre describes it as the world’s oldest continually used skate spot. Its survival was not automatic. Proposed redevelopment prompted skaters to form Long Live Southbank in 2013, and the resulting campaign led to preservation and later renovation of the space. By 2026, the Undercroft was marking approximately fifty years at the centre of British skate culture.

The sequence gives the walk a better ending than another food recommendation. Lunch, books, architecture and skateboarding coexist within a small stretch of river because the South Bank was built in layers and repeatedly adapted by the people using it.

What remains useful from the film?

• The route still works: Charing Cross, the Golden Jubilee Bridges, Southbank Centre Food Market, the book market and the Undercroft form a compact central-London walk.
• The market remains in the same place: Southbank Centre Square, on the Belvedere Road side of the Royal Festival Hall.
• The Frenchie meal is an archive detail: the stall was filmed in May 2022 but is not on the market’s current published trader list.
• The book market is more frequent than Barry remembered: the current official page lists daily trading, subject to individual stall hours.
• The Undercroft remains an active skate space: it is a living part of the Southbank Centre rather than a static heritage display.

Planning the South Bank walk now

• Starting point: Charing Cross Station, followed by the Golden Jubilee Bridges
• Food market: Southbank Centre Square, Belvedere Road side of the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 8XX
• Current published market hours: Friday 12 noon–9pm, Saturday 11am–9pm and Sunday 12 noon–6pm
• Book market: Queen’s Walk beneath Waterloo Bridge; current published hours are daily, 10am–7pm, with individual stalls varying
• Undercroft Skate Space: beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre

Opening times and trader lists can change. Check the official Southbank Centre pages linked above before making a special journey.

Watch the original Roberts London film

The 15-minute film follows the complete May 2022 route from Charing Cross to Southbank Centre Food Market, The Frenchie’s griddle, the riverside meal, the book market and the Undercroft.

For more Roberts London food archives, continue to Seven Dials for coffee, bao and a pub, London Chinatown street food, the Borough Market full English breakfast or Camden Market street food and pubs. More stories are collected in Hospitality.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Southbank Centre Food Market?

The market is on Southbank Centre Square, on the Belvedere Road side of the Royal Festival Hall. Waterloo and Embankment are the nearest Underground stations, while Charing Cross provides the riverside approach used in the film.

What did Barry Roberts eat at the market?

Barry ate The Frenchie’s duck confit burger with blue cheese, salad, sauce and crisp onions in a toasted brioche bun. The burger cost £10.50 during the May 2022 visit.

Is The Frenchie still at Southbank Centre Food Market?

The Frenchie was not included in the Southbank Centre’s current published trader list when checked in August 2026. The film and meal should therefore be treated as a 2022 archive visit rather than confirmation of current availability.

When is the South Bank Book Market open?

The Southbank Centre currently lists the book market as open daily from 10am to 7pm, although the opening days and hours of individual stalls may vary.

How old is the Southbank Undercroft skate space?

Skateboarders began using the Undercroft beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall by 1973. The Southbank Centre marked approximately fifty years of the skate space in 2026.

When was the Roberts London Southbank film published?

The film premiered on 8 May 2022. This expanded Journal article keeps that original archive date and adds current context checked in August 2026.