Old Kent Road health centre and a number of primary and secondary schools. Officials have also suggested the development of a "green spine" of parks and green spaces along the mostly disused Surrey Canal. Old Kent Road is the first property square on the British Monopoly board, priced at £60 and forming the brown set along with the similarly working-class Whitechapel Road. It is the only square on the board in South London and south of the Thames. The road makes several appearances in literature. In Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield", the titular character runs down the road trying to escape from London to
Old Kent Road were constructed by John Lamb in 1815, and feature Ammonite capitals, ornamental features resembling fossils, a feature also used in contemporary architecture in Brighton. The Licensed Victuallers' National Asylum (now Caroline Gardens), an extensive almshouse estate off Old Kent Road at Asylum Road, opened in 1827. Its first patron was Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex who was followed by Prince Albert and Prince Edward. The Metropolitan Gas Works, identifiable by its large gasometers, was founded in 1833. It serviced an area of more than , including parts of Southwark, Croydon, Newington, Lambeth and Streatham. Expansion of the gas works