For Peter Jackson, setting up a microbrewery in a railway arch a short walk from Tower Bridge was a move back to the future. The manager of Southwark Brewery Company explained that the borough was once home to two of London’s biggest breweries, Barclay Perkins and Horseley Down. Both closed in the 1980s.

“I wanted to follow the history of brewery in London as SE1 was once the brewing capital of London. Having decided on SE1, there weren’t many commercial premises. A railway arch made perfect sense and it’s a popular venue for tourists,” he said while lining up large bottles of dark beer in readiness for the Saturday lunch crowd.

Once associated with dark and sooty garages and light industry, railway arches in London and across the country are increasingly playing host to fashionable bars and restaurants.

Many of Manchester’s arches are home to craft brewers from Blackjack Beers and Marble Beers in the Green Quarterto First Chop Brewing Arm near Salford Central station.

Similarly, railway arches that open on to Newcastle’s Westgate Road and Forth Street have become home to new businesses, including The Split Chimp, a micro-pub, and the Herb Garden restaurant.

But it is London that is leading the way. Just around the corner from Southwark brewery more trendy eateries have sprung up, including 40 Maltby Street, with a menu that features crispy endive with a layer of hazelnut and grated egg, kale and onion and steamed pudding in shin of beef gravy with pumpkin rarebit parcels.

Entrepreneurs are attracted by the aesthetic value and quirkiness of arches, as well as their practical advantages. E5 Bakehouse, an independent, organic bakery moved into a railway arch beneath London Fields station in Hackney five years ago, has now spread to two other arches.

“It was a blank canvas; a big open space plan. There is a large amount of floor space, which is essential for making our sourdough loaves. It’s very linear so you can see everything going. There is a theatrical element,” said Edward Maltby, E5’s general manager.

The company was attracted by the low rent and its proximity to Broadway market and its restaurants. E5 and nearby outlets such as Climpson & Sons, a coffee roaster turned bar and restaurant in the evenings and London Fields Brewery has made the neighbourhood a foodie destination.

Digby Nicklin, Network Rail’s commercial director of commercial estate which manages the arches, says the company wants to encourage the growth of such hubs, where firms with overlapping interests can mutually reinforce each other. Besides the success of E5, Nicklin cites current efforts to assemble a fashion hub in Morning Lane, also in Hackney, which was once the centre of London’s rag trade. Some see the area as east London’s answer to Carnaby Street in the West End, with Nike opening a flagship store.

“We are trying to create hubs that have a clear sense of purpose,” said Nicklin. “In Peckham [south London] there is a heavy emphasis on food manufacturing so businesses can help each other become more successful.”

Network Rail owns 4,000 railway arches in London as part of its commercial estate. The rent from the estate in 2014/15 came to £266m, with £90m coming from the arches, which house businesses ranging from scrap metal merchants and garages to bakeries and climbing walls. Nationally, NR is landlord to more than 7,000 small and medium-sized businesses.

Most arches (46%) are still for industrial use, but the share of retail and leisure has grown in the last decade and now stands at 23%. The shift reflects deliberate policy and changes within communities. NR’s priority is to have tenants presenting minimum safety risk. It means moving away from fast food outlets or manufacturers that pose fire hazards as fire can disrupt rail traffic.

The trend has not, however, been welcomed universally. NR’s current refurbishment of arches in Brixton has led to accusations that it is ripping the heart out of the community. The changes have been caught up in a tide of protests by some about unwanted gentrification.

In its defence, NR says tenants will be offered considerable discounts if they want to move back in after the work is finished. E5’s Maltby also grapples with the issue of gentrification and the loss of variety. The bakery expanded into adjacent arches after an architectural metal worker and a cabinet maker moved out partly because of rising rents, which have increased threefold in five years.

“NR may be a victim of its own success,” Maltby said. “The attraction of a railway arch is that it feels like a hidden gem, but if they all become the same, then it’s boring.”

It is no surprise that NR has increased rents on its assets. The company is poised to sell its commercial property portfolio to raise cash for its rail upgrade programme.

Back in Bermondsey, a few doors down from Southwark Brewing, is Tower Porsche. A specialist repairer, it epitomises the railway arch old-timer and its manager, John Scarrow, fears that the arches new-found popularity will change the area for good.

“It’s a great location near the Jubilee line and Canary Wharf. I hope we get to stay here among all the food outlets,” he said. “The problem is that people are paying astronomic rents by raising money from investors willing to pay NR what they ask. When you remove an area’s character you kill it.”