Borough Market’s ripple effect

A bread stall at Broadway Market, east London

It is now 12 years since Borough Market in south London, once a wholesale market, reinvented itself as a food market open to the public. It has 129 stalls, offering edibles from Britain and around the world, and is a fantastically successful model of enjoyable, sociable food shopping. It is almost too successful. On a sunny Saturday, the large space next to Southwark Cathedral becomes crowded with as many camera-laden tourists as dedicated food shoppers.

Beyond Borough, though, there is evidence of a ripple effect: its model has inspired newer London food markets that are becoming big attractions in themselves – and important parts of the local economy. Specialist farmers markets, which give local producers a chance to sell their food directly to the public, are also booming.

Randolph Hodgson of cheese specialist Neal’s Yard Dairy, which has a shop in Borough, played a crucial part in setting up the food market there. His company now runs stalls at a number of the markets that have sprung up across London, including one at Hampstead Community Market. “The potential for these new markets is huge,” says Hodgson, “but it’s very important that actual food shopping takes place. If it’s just lifestyle shopping – have a lovely cappuccino, buy a few olives, then go to a supermarket – the market-traders won’t sell enough food to sustain it.”

Another thriving example of a “beyond Borough” food market lies just off the King’s Road in Chelsea. Every Saturday, Duke of York Square hosts a picturesque array of 60 food stalls under striped awnings. Partridges Food Market was set up in 2005 by John Shepherd, owner of Partridges, grocers to the Queen, whose shop is on the square. “When we moved the shop here, nobody had heard of the square,” says Shepherd. “With all this space outside, I suggested to [its owners] Cadogan Estates that we had a market.”

Having started with just 15 stalls, Shepherd now gets a lot of new applications. “We get approached by a lot of enthusiastic amateurs. We only have 10 hot food stalls, as I didn’t want it to be a fast food market.”

Given the wealthy and international neighbourhood, the food on offer at Partridges market is predictably upmarket, including fresh oysters, posh salad leaves and expensive chorizo. Andrew and Susie Carmichael run Olive Oil From Crete, selling freshly-pressed, young olive oil from their own land on the island. “It’s quite fun to be an Englishman selling Greek olive oil to an Italian,” says Andrew.

Cambridgeshire farmer Will Woodward says selling beef here “works really well. We didn’t push our prices up to reflect the area, so we offer a quality product at reasonable prices. Eighty to 90 per cent of our business is from regulars.”

Shepherd is happy. “I am so glad we did this. I love the buzz of the market and the camaraderie of the stallholders.” Following the success of the Chelsea market, Shepherd has opened other markets in London (at Russell Square, Regent’s Place near Euston station, and St Katharine Docks near Tower Bridge).

Over in east London, and serving a very different international community, Hackney’s Broadway Market has an eclectic mixture of food and craft/fashion stalls. I sip Vietnamese coffee while listening to buskers, and try to decide whether to buy Ghanaian or Iranian dishes for lunch.

The market’s success has transformed the local area since it opened in 2004. “The community had collapsed,” explains Andy Veitch, director of Broadway Market Projects, a non-profit company that runs the market. “The street was blighted with empty shops and properties. This market came from the community, through volunteers from the Broadway Market Traders’ and Residents’ Association. We wanted to crowd out the junkies and we did.”

There are now hundreds of would-be stallholders on the waiting list. Wiltshire pig farmer David Wilkinson gets up at 2.30am on Saturdays to bring his pork, bacon and ham to Broadway Market. “I used to be stuck in a field all day and never spoke to anyone. I like meeting my customers and talking to them.”

For decades Brixton Market in south London has served the area’s African and Caribbean community and its three huge vaulted structures, built in the 1920s and 1930s, were recently awarded Grade II listed status. Stalls here offer an astonishing range of tropical fruits and vegetables, with bunches of tart guineps and yellow yams piled high and sold at bargain prices.

The market, in common with the surrounding area, is starting to lose its “edgy” feel, and new outlets (including the excellent Franco Manca pizzeria) attract a middle-class crowd. “I encourage [my customers] to explore Brixton Market, not just buy a piece of cake or a coffee,” says Rosie Lovell of nearby Rosie’s Deli Café.

The market is shut on Sundays but part of the site, at Brixton Station Road, is used by a farmers market. Here, with trains clattering overhead and soul music blaring from shops , Indian chef Mridula Baljekar sells seasonal chutneys “based on my memory of what my mother used to make with fruit from our orchard”. She says she is surprised and pleased at how well she’s doing . Soon, every borough in London may have its own mini-Borough.

A new edition of Jenny Linford’s guidebook ‘Food Lovers’ London’ will be published in July by Metro Publications

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Details

Partridges Food Market, London SW3, www.partridges.co.uk, open Sat 10am-4pm

Broadway Market, London E8, www.broadwaymarket.co.uk, open Sat 9am-5pm

Brixton Market, London SW9, www.brixtonmarket.net, open Mon/Tues/Thurs-Sat 8am-6pm and Weds 8am-3pm

Brixton Farmers Market, London SW9, www.lfm.org.uk, open Sun 10am-2pm

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What is a farmers market?

Farmers markets, as opposed to general food markets such as Borough Market, aim to put the farmer or food producer in direct contact with the consumer. The trend began about 25 years ago in the US, and the first British farmers’ market opened in Bath in 1998.

The term “farmers market” has no legal meaning but the trade body for farmers who sell direct to the public, the National Farmers Retail and Markets Association (Farma), has set up its own criteria for farmers markets. According to these guidelines, the food producer or anyone involved in its production should be on the stall, and the food must be sourced from within a defined locality.

London Farmers Markets, which launched London’s first farmers market in Islington in 1999, runs 17 markets in London. All are certified by Farma and only work with producers within 100 miles of the M25 motorway.

“Farmers markets bring alive spaces that have been underused,” says Mark Handley of London Farmers Markets, “from school playgrounds at weekends to corporate plazas. We offer something long-term and sustainable.”

www.lfm.org.uk