The Pioneer Health Centre

In 1935, two groundbreaking doctors opened the Pioneer Health Centre in St Mary’s Road, Peckham.

It housed the “Peckham Experiment” – a unique attempt to raise public health through a combination of education, community care and preventative medicine.

The experiment came about in response to worryingly low levels of health and fitness amongst low income inner-city families. Doctors Scott Williamson and Innes Pearse (a husband and wife team) believed that social and physical environment could have a direct affect on health – and looked to prove it.

Just as we now join gyms, 950 families signed-up, paying one shilling a week to relax in a club-like atmosphere where physical exercise, games, workshops and relaxation were all encouraged. The families were constantly observed by Williamson and Pearse’s team of doctors – and attended thorough medical examinations once a year.

The experiment was a bold departure in the medical field in the 1930s, concentrating on a preventative, rather than a curative approach to health – and its setting was equally pioneering. The well-lit and open-plan design of the building (designed by Sir Owen Williams) was far ahead of its time, providing an ideal environment for observation and relaxation.

The experiment continued until 1950, concluding that: “It is not wages that are lacking … but quite simply … social opportunities for knowledge and for action that should be the birthright of all; space for spontaneous exercise of young bodies, a local forum for sociability of young families, and current opportunity for picking up knowledge as the family goes along”.

This philosophy forms the basis of today’s Peckham Pulse Healthy Living Centre.