Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market hall in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with a market on the site dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were built in the 1850s, and today the market mainly sells speciality foods to the general public.
Borough Market cake stallThe market itself claims to have existed since 1014 "and probably much earlier"[1] as Snorri Sturluson describes Southwark as a "great market town" when describing an incident in Heimskringla dated to 1014. A market that originally adjoined the end of London Bridge was first mentioned in 1276 and was subsequently moved south of St Margaret's church on the High Street.[2] The City of London received a royal charter from Edward VI in 1550 to control all markets in Southwark (see Guildable Manor), which was confirmed by Charles II in 1671. However, the market caused such traffic congestion that, in 1754, it was abolished by an Act of Parliament (28 Geo. 2. c. 9).[3][4]
A second Act that year (28 Geo. 2. c. 23) allowed for the local parishioners to set up another market on a new site, and in 1756, it began again on a 4.5-acre (18,000 m2) site in Rochester Yard.[3][4] During the 19th century, it became one of London's most important food markets due to its strategic position near the riverside wharves of the Pool of London.[3]
By the mid 1990s the market had declined and trustees decided to revive it as a retail rather than a wholesale market.[5]: 119 In 1998 they invited Henrietta Green to hold a Food Lovers' Fair, which recruited several long-term traders for the market.[5]: 119–120 From 1996 they let unused space to wholesale businesses such as Neal's Yard Dairy, Brindisa and Monmouth Coffee Company. The new tenants were encouraged to open their premises to retail customers.[5]: 233
In 2011, seven traders were expelled from the market for trading from their storage units at Maltby Street Market a mile away. In turn the traders criticised poor facilities at the market and a move to selling takeaway food.[6]
In the 2017 London Bridge attack, three attackers drove a vehicle over London Bridge and then ran to the area, where they stabbed and killed eight people with knives before they were shot dead by armed police.[7] The market was then closed for 11 days following the attack.[8]
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