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Many London sites were considered for the location of the Festival's centrepiece exhibition. Hyde Park made the obvious commemorative link to the Great Exhibition, Osterley Park, in west London, offered plenty of space and for some time Battersea Park was a strong contender. Eventually the land adjacent to Waterloo Station, running west to County Hall, was chosen. Although small (only 27 acres), it was central and, most significantly, was the site on which the London County Council planned to build a new concert hall.

against the odds

The winter of that year, 1951, and the months before seemed to be perpetually wet and cold. The site was muddy and churned up, mud was everywhere. The atmosphere though was optimistic. All over the South Bank foundations were happening and soon strange buildings were rising everywhere. (contributor Barry Evans, aged 28 in 1951) Why not contribute your memories?

Building the South Bank Exhibition was beset with problems. The building programme lurched from crisis to crisis. Pavilion architects and designers had to contend with an ever changing list of material shortages and the construction work was affected by a series of labour disputes. Critical voices, particularly in the press, questioned the validity of the government using large sums of public money on a temporary exhibition when there was a desperate housing crisis and need to rebuild British industry.

The Festival will make everyone recognise the mistake of imagining that the Thames is a river with only one bank. (Herbert Morrison M.P. in the 'Times Festival Supplement')

Prior to redevelopment, the South Bank site had been associated with London's working river. Warehouse buildings, most famously the monumental Lion Brewery, stood alongside the river front whilst poor quality housing nestled behind. The whole area was badly damaged during the war and, by 1951, was falling into dereliction. Its clearance, along with the reclamation of land from the Thames and the construction of a new river wall and walkway, opened up previously concealed vistas across the city. Londoners could now enjoy panoramic views of the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's and the City. By developing the South Bank for the Festival a claim was made not only for treating the river as a public space but also for bridging the divide between north and south London.

a national enterprise

The Festival is not, as all its predecessors have been, a single exhibition. It is a celebration in which the whole nation will itself be on show. ('Festival of Britain' Scottish Committee pamphlet)

Whilst the South Bank was home to the Festival's principal exhibition, organisers were determined to make the Festival a genuinely national event. Six officially sponsored and organised exhibitions were sited across the country - including the Ulster Farm and Factory Exhibition in Belfast and the Exhibition of Industrial Power in Glasgow. Two travelling exhibitions - one by land and the other by sea on the Festival Ship Campania - toured condensed versions of the South Bank displays to cities and ports throughout the nation. The official programme of events was also complemented by a huge number of local initiatives. Over 2,000 towns and villages organised special events - tours of the Morris Minor car factory were arranged in Oxford, artists opened their studios in Bardfield, Essex and a Regency Exhibition was held in Brighton.