About this site
The SE1 postal district is an area of central London on the south bank of the River Thames between Vauxhall Bridge and St Saviour's Dock (just east of Tower Bridge).
SE1 stretches as far south as the Elephant and Castle. It also includes the localities of Bankside, the Borough, South Bank, Waterloo and parts of Bermondsey and Lambeth.
Our history
The London SE1 community website was established in 1998 by Leigh Hatts and James Hatts.
We were inspired by the example of the SE1 community newspaper published between the late 1970s and early 1990s.
Between 1998 and 2004 we also produced a printed monthly listings publication, called 'in SE1' but for the last decade we've been a purely online outlet.
What we do
We try to cover local news and events in Bankside, the Borough, Bermondsey, Elephant & Castle, the South Bank and Waterloo.
We publish on www.SE1.news, in our weekly email newsletter and on our social media channels.
We believe that high-quality local journalism can help build better informed, stronger communities.
Networks we belong to
We belong to the Independent Community News Network, a national federation of like-minded grassroots news publishers. We also participate in the Independent News Forum hosted by the Public Interest News Foundation. We are also signed up to the BBC's Local News Partnerships.
Our values
As members of the Independent Community News Network (ICNN) we are required to "uphold high professional standards, including accuracy, transparency, integrity, accountability and fairness".
Whilst we do not belong to a formal regulatory mechanism such as IMPRESS or IPSO, we regard the Editors' Code of Practice and the NUJ Code of Conduct as setting benchmarks of good practice for the industry in general and our work in particular.
Our legal structure
The website is published by Bankside Press Ltd (registered in England & Wales 10114024) whose shareholders and directors are Leigh Hatts and James Hatts.
How we are funded
We are funded by advertising (though there are no ads running right now!) and voluntary subscription payments from our readers.
Media coverage about the SE1 website
- 2021: Conversations on Press Freedom #3: James Hatts (Waterloo Festival)
- 2021: Retrieving and Repurposing: A Grounded Approach to Hyperlocal Working Practices through a Subcultural Lens (Digital Journalism)
- 2019: BBC-funded local democracy reporters filed 50,000 stories in first year (Press Gazette)
- 2016: Hyperlocal website appeals to readers in bid to secure future (HoldtheFrontPage)
- 2011: Hyperlocal voices: James Hatts, SE1 (Online Journalism Blog)
- 2011: Community websites give the info you need on your neighbourhood (The Times)
- 2010: London hyperlocal site wins right to record council meetings (Journalism.co.uk)
- 2010: London council to allow people to tape and film its meetings (Guardian)
- 2010: Local websites tackling councils and the multinationals (BBC News)
- 2009: Making hyper-local work in print and online (Guardian)
