Over the past decade, Bermondsey has evolved into one of London's arty nooks. It has done so under the radar, in a gradual, hush-hush fashion. The neighbourhood is popular but relaxed, with none of the clamour of the South Bank at weekends even though it is only a few minutes' walk off the beaten track.

During the 1990s artists began to look for cheap studios here. Just as happened in the East End, buildings in Bermondsey had gradually fallen into disrepair as small firms went bust or moved to larger factories. Artists looking for affordable workspaces came to rent the old tanneries; their studios often served as makeshift live-work spaces. The gastro-pubs, boutiques and hipsters followed, pushing local rents out of reach of the first wave of artists. Those still there are the successful ones. Adam Ball, a 30-year-old painter, is selling his warehouse flat on Archie Street, just south of Tower Bridge. Forget grubby windows and paint-splattered concrete, this is the new-look SE1: spruced-up, with en suite bathrooms. Ball made his name five years ago with a 32ft-high depiction of a tree displayed in Soho. His work has since drawn the attention of the Beck's Futures competition, the Goss-Michael Art Foundation and the Jerwood Drawing Prize; Mick Jagger owns one of his pieces.

Ball is getting married and is keen to sell, so he has dropped the price of his two-bedroom flat (on with Cluttons) from £695,000 to £655,000. He bought it in 2004 and still loves the space, largely for the light in the open-plan living room. So what does he like about Bermondsey? “It's just a really good area, with quite a young community; the main age group is probably between 25 and 40. You can walk to Tate Modern in 15 minutes and Borough Market is not far.” His marital home will be in the same area.

The appeal of SE1 has not escaped developers. Igloo, which is described by the United Nations as “the world's first sustainable property fund”, is building Bermondsey Square, a £60million regeneration project, at the south end of Bermondsey Street. The square will have 76 flats, an art gallery and an art-house cinema run by Rob Wray, a Bermondsey man and the head of Shortwave Films. There will be a boutique hotel, offices, shops and a restaurant that will display remnants of the 11th-century abbey formerly on the site. The square, bordered on one side by a Georgian terrace, will be the new home of Bermondsey Antiques Market and will hold weekday food and craft markets.

The flats will be finished in September; prices start at £305,000 for a studio apartment and rise to £650,000 for three bedrooms.

Tom Griffin, of Cluttons in Bermondsey, is bullish. He says: “Bermondsey Street has come into its own and the prestige of the area has shot up. With companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers taking on new office space and City Hall near by, there is an ongoing supply of prospective buyers and tenants.”

Cluttons : 020-7407 3669, adamballonline.com

Bermondsey Square : 020-7710 8111

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