The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated between County Hall in the west to the Oxo Tower on the borough boundary with Southwark, to the east.

[1] South Bank consists of a narrow strip of riverside land opposite the City of Westminster and adjoins the Albert Embankment to the west and Bankside in the London Borough of Southwark to the east.

[2] During the Middle Ages this area developed as a place of entertainment outside the formal regulation of the City of London on the north bank; this included theatres, prostitution and bear-baiting.

The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated between County Hall in the west to the Oxo Tower on the borough boundary with Southwark, to the east.

[4] South Bank consists of a narrow strip of riverside land opposite the City of Westminster and adjoins the Albert Embankment to the west and Bankside in the London Borough of Southwark to the east.

The Royal National Theatre, the London IMAX super cinema and BFI Southbank adjoin to the east, but are not strictly part of the centre.

Polish-British visual chronicler and artist Feliks Topolski was provided a studio under one of the arches of Hungerford Bridge in 1951, where he worked consistently until his death in 1989.

[6] Offered to him by David Eccles, it was not until 1953 and Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, when the windows from the dismantled annex to Westminster Abbey were repurposed to fit Topolski's studio.

Several major railway terminals are within walking distance of the South Bank, on both sides of the river, including Waterloo, Charing Cross and Blackfriars.

The development of the Thameslink Blackfriars railway station in the early 2010s, which has access from both the southern and northern side of the river, prompted the additional named signage "for Bankside and South Bank".

Accessibility to the north bank is high, with connections made, from west to east, over the Westminster, Golden Jubilee, Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges.