Why I live in Bankside: DJ Cuppy on her ‘energetic and colourful’ London enclave

I fell in love with this area as a student at King’s College and lived in halls on Stamford Street. After I’d DJed all over the world, I came back 12 years later to live and bought my first place. It has changed a lot in that time; it’s busier and much more luxe than it was back then.

You have to love colours and art to live here — Tate Modern is its heartbeat — and you’ve got to love diversity and be ready to give people directions!

For me, it’s a nice pocket of London that’s still untapped and has a good balance of professionals and creatives. It’s global and local, which is exactly what I am.

Eating and drinking

I love the shakshuka at Brother Marcus and they allow dogs, which is great. I take my pomeranians there and we get a table for four and the dogs have bacon.

I also like Terry’s Café for the Cumberland sausages and we’re really lucky to have Borough Market so close by.

Meating place: DJ Cuppy rates Terry’s Café for its Cumberland sausages (Matt Writtle)

Where I work out

I don’t really work out, but I walk my dogs daily down Great Suffolk Street. I like to walk over the Millennium Bridge but it’s a bit wobbly for pomeranians.

I’ve started doing meditation and a morning stretch in my winter garden as I’m 30 and DJing involves a lot of jumping up and down. The view over the river is amazing.

To commune with nature

I head to Bankside Beach, which is a pebble beach and is great when the tide is down. You can walk to the South Bank and chill and I often find myself having an ice cream there.

Boats are DJ Cuppy’s preferred mode of transport (Matt Writtle)

I love water — it’s very calming and healing — and the view is unobstructed; to the right you can see all the way up to London Bridge, especially in summer. It can be foggy in the winter, but I love the different seasons.

Grocery shopping

There are some really cool shops at Gabriel’s Wharf, which is painted pink in my honour! Mostly I’m on the move though, so I nip over to Amazon Fresh. I’m not that much of a chef — I kiss better than I cook!

DJ Cuppy is a Young Patrons Ambassador for Tate Modern (Matt Writtle)

For a culture fix

I’m a Young Patrons Ambassador for Tate Modern so I help organise events at the gallery. We also have the Africa Centre for London on Great Suffolk Street. They do African dancing and creatives and I’m working on a partnership with them. I was born and bred in Lagos, Nigeria, so it’s great to have this on my doorstep.

I also like going to the Globe and watching plays and the LGBTQ+ centre is here. I’m hoping to DJ there for the community, as it’s everything that Bankside represents.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (Matt Writtle)

Getting around

My preferred way is going by boat as the Thames Clippers Uber Boat stops outside my house. I get it to Greenwich Park or Canary Wharf and skip all the traffic. It takes about 40 minutes but it’s so picturesque and dog friendly. If I’m not going by water I take the Tube or walk. It takes about 15 minutes to get to Green Park from Southwark Tube station.

One of the downsides of living here is that parking is rare and it’s easy to get a ticket, especially if there’s a pink Ferrari involved! We also have the slowest traffic lights in London where Stamford Street goes into Southwark Street at Blackfriars Bridge. You will be an hour there.

Dream street

There’s a cute, quiet street I came across on my dog walks called New Globe Walk. It leads to the back of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, where the original was.

Something you only see in your area

A bubble busker on Bankside (Matt Writtle)

One hundred per cent it’s the daily bubble buskers in the lovely busking section right by Bankside Beach and Tate Modern.

We also have a shop dedicated to selling just saxophones — not any other instruments, just saxophones. I have furry children but, if I had human children I’d send them to the London Nautical School, which teaches children about the sea.

What’s the catch?

Road closures — we get all the passersby on the way to Westminster. Every marathon and protest, like Extinction Rebellion, means that they close all the roads around here.

In three words

Energetic, colourful and open.

Schools

Tower Bridge Primary School, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, The Borough and Friars Primary Foundation School are all nearby primary schools rated good.

For secondary schools, towards Waterloo and Elephant & Castle, you’ll find Oasis Academy South Bank, Haberdashers Borough Academy, Ark Globe Academy and St Saviors and St Olave’s Church of England School.

What it costs

Buying in Bankside

Average flat price: £638,790

Renting in Bankside

Average flat, pcm: £2,720