![Camden markets entrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Camden_markets_entrance.JPG)
The Camden markets are a number of adjoining large retail markets, often collectively referred to as Camden Market or Camden Lock, located in the historic former
Pickfords
Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of Pickfords Move Management Ltd.
The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies, although the similar ...
stables, in
Camden Town
Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. It is situated north of the Hampstead Road
Lock
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
of the
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in e ...
(popularly referred to as
Camden Lock). Famed for their cosmopolitan image, products sold on the stalls include crafts, clothing,
bric-a-brac, and
fast food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...
. It is the fourth-most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 250,000 people each week.
A small local foodstuffs market has operated in Inverness Street in Camden Town since the beginning of the 20th century, the only significant market in the area. On 30 March 1974 a small weekly crafts market that operated every Sunday near Camden Lock developed into a large complex of markets. The markets, originally temporary stalls only, extended to a mixture of
stalls and fixed premises. The traditional Inverness Street market started losing stalls once local
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s opened; by mid-2013 all the original stalls had gone, being replaced by stalls similar to those of the other markets, including fast food but not produce.
The markets originally operated on Sundays only, which continues to be the main trading day. Opening later extended to Saturdays for most of the market. A number of traders, mainly those in fixed premises—an increasing proportion—operate throughout the week, although the weekend remains the peak period.
Since 2014 most of the markets were acquired by Israeli billionaire
Teddy Sagi
Teddy Sagi ( he, טדי שגיא; born 1971) is an Israeli billionaire businessman based in London and Cyprus. Sagi is the founder of the gambling software company Playtech and owner of London's Camden Market. His personal wealth is estimated at ...
,
[ who heavily developed them from stalls set up for the day to permanent structures. In 2022 they were offered for sale, the owner hoping for a price of around £1.5 billion.][
]
The markets
There are six distinct Camden markets.
Camden Lock Market
Camden Lock Market is situated by the Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in e ...
on a site formerly occupied by warehouses and other premises associated with the canal. By the early 1970s the canal trade had ceased and a northern urban motorway was planned that would cut through the site, making any major permanent redevelopment impossible, and in 1974 a temporary market was established. By 1976, when plans for the motorway were abandoned, the market had become a well known feature of Camden Town
Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...
. Originally, the Lock was a market for crafts, occupying some outdoor areas by the canal and various existing buildings.
While the range of goods has since widened, with stalls selling books, new and second-hand clothing, and jewellery, the Lock retains its focus as the principal Camden market for crafts. There is a large selection of fast food stalls. In 1991 a three-storey indoor market hall designed by architect John Dickinson was opened on the site of the first outdoor market. In the style of the traditional 19th century industrial architecture and housing in the area, it is built of brick and cast iron. It attracted large numbers of visitors partly due to stalls being open on Sundays, when previous to the Sunday Trading Act 1994
The Sunday Trading Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing the right of shops in England and Wales to trade on a Sunday. Buying and selling on Sunday had previously been illegal, with exceptions, under the Shops Ac ...
, shops were not permitted to operate on Sundays. On 28 February 1993, the Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
exploded a bomb hidden in a litter bin on Camden High Street near the market, shortly after lunchtime. The bomb injured 11 people.
From 2006, a large indoor market hall was constructed in a yard between the Camden Lock Market and the Stables Market that was previously used for open air stalls. In November 2007 a large part of the Stables Market was demolished as part of a long-term redevelopment plan for the area and rebuilt as a year-round permanent market area.
In 2016, Urban Markets Company acquired Camden Lock and paid between £300m and £400m for the one-acre site. The joint venture between the founders of Camden Lock and Millitarne Retail Resorts International, the retail developers, was financed by Brockton Capital, a real estate private equity fund. Camden Lock Market is set to have a £20 million makeover to transform it into a traditional arts and craft centre for Londoners. The Urban Market Company plans to double the enclosed area and increase trading space by 15,000 square feet.
2017 fire
Early on 10 July 2017, shortly after midnight, a large fire (cause currently unknown) occurred at the Camden Lock Market. At least 70 firefighters and 10 engines attended.
Stables Market
The Stables Market was owned by Bebo Kobo
Zari David "Bebo" Kovo (a.k.a. Kobo; born February 1951) is an Israeli-Bulgarian property developer, the co-founder of property company Camden Market Holdings & Developments (including Stanley Sidings and the Stables Market Property Group), with ...
, Richard Caring
Richard Allan Caring (born 4 June 1948) is a British businessman. He initially built a business, International Clothing Designs, supplying Hong Kong-manufactured fashion to UK retailers. After surviving the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, he div ...
and Elliot Bernerd of Chelsfield Partners until 2014. It was sold in 2014 for $685 million and is owned today by Market Tech PLC, a UK AIM listed public company. The market is located in the historic former Pickfords
Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of Pickfords Move Management Ltd.
The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies, although the similar ...
stables and Grade II listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
horse hospital which served the horses pulling Pickford's distribution vans and barges along the canal. Many of the stalls and shops are set in large arches in railway viaducts.
Chain stores are not permitted and trade is provided by a mixture of small enclosed and outdoor shops and stalls, of which some are permanent, and others hired by the day. In common with most of the other Camden markets the Stables Market has many clothes stalls. It is also the main focus for furniture in the markets. Household goods, decorative, ethnically-influenced items, and second-hand items or 20th-century antiques, many of them hand-crafted, are among the wares. There are also clothing and art pieces for alternative sub-cultures, such as goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
and cybergoth
Cybergoth is a subculture that derives from elements of goth, raver, rivethead and cyberpunk fashion.
Opinion differs as to whether cybergoth has the requisite complexity to constitute a subculture, with some commentators suggesting that it is ...
s. These shops include Black Rose, which caters for goths, with items such as coffin-shaped handbags, and Cyberdog
Cyberdog was an OpenDoc-based Internet suite of applications, developed by Apple Computer for the Mac OS line of operating systems. It was introduced as a beta in February 1996 and abandoned in March 1997. The last version, Cyberdog 2.0, was r ...
, which houses much cyber-style "neon" PVC and rubber clothing.
During the weeks before Christmas 2004, radio DJ and TV presenter Chris Evans sold many of his possessions, ranging from sofas to TVs and crockery, on a stall in the Stables Market.
In October 2006 a large indoor market hall was built in a yard between the Stables Market and Camden Lock Market that was previously used for temporary open-air stalls. In the summer of 2007 redevelopment of the back of the Stables Market took place. This redevelopment consisted of two new four-storey buildings housing shops, food outlets, offices, workshops and storage facilities, as well as an exhibition space. The redevelopment included a new pedestrian route through the rear of the Stables Market exposing 25 of the existing railway arches. Pedestrian walkways—in the style of the existing historic ramp and bridge system—has opened up the site and increased access for visitors. A glass roof and cycle parking spaces has also been added.
On 19 May 2014, at around 8:00 p.m., a fire broke out at the Camden Stables Market on Chalk Farm Road where a reported 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters dealt with the blaze. No injuries were reported by the London Ambulance Service and the London Fire Brigade announced that the fire had been controlled since 9:00 p.m.
Hawley Wharf, previously Canal Market and Camden Lock Village
Owned by Bebo Kobo and OD Kobo
Oded David "O. D." Kobo (Hebrew: קובו עודד) is a Hong Kong-born Internet businessman. He is the co-founder of PIR Equities and Israel Investment Partners (IIP), both employee owned private equity firms, and a member of the partnership ne ...
, Camden Lock Village was the section along the canal to the east of Chalk Farm Road was known as the Canal Market and had a covered entrance tunnel leading into a general outdoor market. The market was devastated by fire on 9 February 2008 caused by unauthorised use of a liquified petroleum gas heater. After crossing the railway line, the fire badly damaged the rear of the Hawley Arms on Castlehaven Road. The market reopened in May 2009 as the Camden Lock Village. The cover over the original street entrance was removed, and a new entrance created near the railway bridge.
The market closed in early 2015, to be redeveloped over several years at a cost exceeding £500m as Hawley Wharf. The stalls were replaced by a four-storey covered structure, with units housing sixty fast-food providers, 150 shops, and co-working offices. The development also provided 200 homes. Hawley Wharf's sites started opening in 2021.
Buck Street Market
The Buck Street Market was an outdoor market focusing on clothes. There is no formal or legal definition of Camden Market; the Buck Street Market's sign read 'The Camden Market'. A few stallholders designed their own wares, while at the weekend these designs were more likely to be found in the Electric Ballroom market.
The market closed in its existing form, initially during later postponed plans to rebuild Camden Town tube station
Camden Town is a London Underground station on the Northern line. It is a major junction for the line, as it is where the Edgware and High Barnet branches merge from the north, and is also where they split to the south into the Bank and Charin ...
. It reopened as a multi-floor structure.
Electric Ballroom
The Electric Ballroom
The Electric Ballroom is a 1,500-capacity performance venue (primarily for rock bands) and indoor market located at 184 Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, England.
History
The Electric Ballroom started as an Irish ballroom in the 1930 ...
on Camden High Street has been a night club since the 1950s. The weekend market had been operating here for at least 24 years but closed at short notice in 2015, leaving many staff and traders unemployed.
Inverness Street Market
A small street market has operated in Inverness Street near Camden Town Tube station since the late 19th century, mostly selling produce, rather than ready-to-eat food, until the 21st century. It started losing its traditional stalls once local supermarkets opened, a trend accelerated by the closing of a nearby bus stop which facilitated access; by mid-2013 all the original stalls had been replaced by "touristy" stalls similar to those of the other markets, including fast food but not produce.
Ownership
The markets were originally a collection of stalls on land with various owners, evolving into a patchwork of more than 1,000 stalls, bars, shops, and cafes.
In 2014, Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi
Teddy Sagi ( he, טדי שגיא; born 1971) is an Israeli billionaire businessman based in London and Cyprus. Sagi is the founder of the gambling software company Playtech and owner of London's Camden Market. His personal wealth is estimated at ...
started buying property in the Camden Market area. By March 2015, having purchased the four most important of the six sections of the market, he announced plans to invest £300 million in developing the market area by 2018. The markets, initially a collection of simple stalls plus the Stables building, were heavily developed with permanent structures. In 2022 they were offered for sale with investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
Rothschild & Co
Rothschild & Co is a multinational investment bank and financial services company, and the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the French and British branches of the Rothschild family.
The banking business of the firm covers th ...
overseeing the sale process, the owner hoping for a price of around £1.5 billion for the markets plus housing, co-working spaces, and a three-floor leisure centre called Babylon Park.
See also
* Camden Catacombs
* Markets in London
*Portobello Road
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is ...
References
External links
*
*
Camden Council's street markets page
the operator of Inverness Street Market with opening times and other information
Camden Town London website
– News about the Camden Markets and Camden Town
{{Coord, 51, 32, 29, N, 0, 8, 47, W, type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Camden
Retail markets in London
Camden Town
Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Camden