About us
Pembroke House is a centre for social action and residential community in Walworth, south-east London.
We were founded in 1885, by students from Pembroke College, Cambridge, as one of the first settlement houses. Shocked by growing poverty and inequality, the pioneers of the settlement movement sought a new approach; taking up residence in areas like Walworth to live, work and solve problems alongside local communities.
In this common endeavour, everyone had as much to learn and gain as they had to give, and settlements like Pembroke House had a profound impact – inspiring the architects of the modern welfare state in the UK.
Today, we are convinced that we need to find new solutions to widening inequality and the traditional ways of working that keep us apart. We want to build a new settlement model, fit for the challenges of the 21st Century and that starts, once again, at the neighbourhood level.