East Street Market also known locally as 'The Lane', or 'East Lane', is a
street market
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from the Arabic lang ...
in
Walworth
Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross.
Major streets in Walworth include the Old ...
in
South East London.
Location
East Street is in the
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...
and is between
Walworth Road
The A215 is an A road in south London, starting at Elephant and Castle and finishing around Shirley. It runs through the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Croydon.
Beginning as Walworth Road, the A215 becomes Camberwell Road—much o ...
on the western side and the
Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London, England, passing through the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæceli ...
on the Eastern side.
The market runs down East Street from the junction with Walworth Road to Dawes Street, passin
East Street Baptist Churchand a multitude of shops. The main entrance to the market is from Walworth Road. A bus stop on Walworth road serves the market, with buses arriving from
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...
or
Camberwell Green. These include bus numbers 12, 35, 40, 45, 68, 148, 171, 176 and 468.
History
There has been street trading in the Walworth area since the 16th Century, when farmers rested their livestock on
Walworth Common
Walworth Common in Surrey was a cricket venue known to have been used in the 18th century. pp.41–45. There are no records of matches on the common after 1732 but a later venue in the area was Aram's New Ground, also known as the Bee Hive Ground ...
before continuing to the city. During the
industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, stalls lined the whole of the Walworth Road, but the market has only been officially running since 1880.
In the 17th century, the area through which East Street now runs was rural fields and ‘common’ land where people could graze their animals. The area to the north was known as ‘Lock's Field’ and, in 1878, was described as little more than ‘a dreary swamp’. Conditions improved and by 1881 it was recorded as a site for gypsies to stay during the winter months. To the south was Walworth Common; a popular point for the farmers of Kent and Surrey to stop overnight before making their journey into the city. People would buy produce directly from these drovers and eventually a market was established.
![East Street Market History](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/East_Street_Market_History.jpg)
Most of the land in the area was owned by the Church, but some was eventually sold or leased. By the 1770s, some land near the junction with Old Kent Road (known then simply as The Kent Road) was cultivated as a flower nursery by the Driver family, who were also responsible for commissioning the grand buildings at nearby Surrey Square. A legal document from 1780 describes the sale of the land which led to the creation of East Street as a public highway, connecting Walworth Road with the Kent Road. By the 1800s London was expanding rapidly. Open fields were built upon and in the 1860s, Walworth Common was developed. The old markets were moved onto the Walworth Road and the vegetable sellers (Costermongers) were joined by an array of other traders. In 1875, the electric tram ran down Walworth Road bringing to an end the market. After heated negotiations with the traders, the market was split up and moved into the side streets of Westmoreland Road, East Lane and Draper Street. Draper Street was built over in the 1960s by the Elephant and Castle development. The construction of the
Aylesbury Estate
The Aylesbury Estate is a large housing estate located in Walworth, South East London.
The Aylesbury Estate contains 2,704 dwellings, spread over a number of different blocks and buildings, and was built between 1963 and 1977. There are approx ...
led to the decline of the Westmoreland Road market.
![Charlie Chaplin plaque - East Street Market](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Charlie_Chaplin_plaque_-_East_Street_Market.jpg)
Unlike the regulated market which serves the shoppers on East Street today, the original traders did not have allocated plots for their stalls. At 8am, a policeman blew a whistle and traders would rush to claim the best pitches, with shop owners on the Lane claiming the patches outside their front doors. This ended in 1927 when the licensing system was introduced. Many local men were called up in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and the market declined. In 1948 it was described as "a drab, dead thing, infinitely remote from the cockney tradition". However, the market survived and evolved. As the population of the area has diversified so have the goods on offer and, along with the traditional fruit and vegetables, the market now sells a mix of Caribbean food, ethnic clothing, CDs and household goods.
Recently, the Walworth Society has run an animated East Street tour to share the history of the market.
East Street was likely to have been the birthplace of
Charlie Chaplin, although no birth certificate exists. It could therefore also have been the inspiration for his similarly named 1917 seminal short film
Easy Street, a suggestion made as early as 1928 in the film 'The Life Story of Charlie Chaplin' by Harry B. Parkinson and reasserted in David Robinson's introduction to the most recent edition of
My Autobiography, while the famous trousers and boots of Chaplin's trademark tramp costume may have been inspired by the every-day clothes Chaplin saw worn in what he called East Lane market.
It also features in the title sequence to the television programme ''
Only Fools and Horses
''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas ...
''.
Produce
The market sells inexpensive new and second-hand
clothing
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
,
jewellery
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...
,
cosmetics
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
, household products,
confectionery,
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
and
vegetable
Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...
s,
CDs and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
s, shoes, bags and hats, books, cards, meat and fish. The eclectic mix of fresh food ranges from cassava to courgettes, durian fruit to eel, sheep heads to cow hooves.
Opening times
The market is open every day except Monday: Tuesday to Friday 8am–5pm, Saturday 8am–6:30pm, Sunday 8am–2pm (though often is open until late afternoon). Saturday is the busiest day as the market consists of over 250 stalls including the weekly plant market. A small flea market operates on Sundays near
Nursery Row Park towards the Old Kent Road side of East Street.
Politics
East street forms the boundary between two parliamentary constituencies and is therefore in the unusual position of being represented by two members of parliament. The north side of the street is in the
Bermondsey and Old Southwark (before 2010 called
North Southwark and Bermondsey) constituency which was represented for 32 years by
Simon Hughes
Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...
of the
Liberal Democrats and since 2015 by
Neil Coyle
Neil Alan John Coyle (born 30 December 1978) is a British Independent politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bermondsey and Old Southwark since 2015. He was elected MP as a member of the Labour Party, but was suspended ...
of the
Labour Party. The south side of East Street is represented by
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman (born 30 July 1950) is a British politician and solicitor who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham, formerly Peckham, since 1982. A member of the Labour Party, she has served in various Cabi ...
, the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Camberwell and Peckham
Camberwell and Peckham is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since its 1997 creation ...
.
Similarly, East Street forms the boundary line between the wards of East Walworth on the north side and Faraday on the south side, both in the
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...
. East Street is therefore represented in Southwark Council by six councillors, all Labour. The East Walworth councillors are Helen Morrissey, Martin Seaton and Darren Merrill. Faraday ward is represented by Dan Garfield, Lorraine Lauder and Abdul Mohammed.
East Street is under the jurisdiction of Walworth Community Council.
East Street market today
![East Street Market 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/East_Street_Market_2016.jpg)
Southwark has an ethnically diverse and youthful population – and the East Street market venders and shoppers reflect this diversity. Southwark has the highest proportion of residents in the UK who were born in Africa (13%), as well as a significant population from Latin America, with 75% of reception-age (4–5 years old) children from black and minority ethnic groups. Over 120 languages are spoken in Southwark, with 11% of households having no member of the household who has English as a first language.
Some vendors have expressed concern about the implications of the redevelopment of the surrounding area for the market. In 2015, it was the subject of several immigration raids.
Gallery
File:Veg - East Street Market.jpg,
File:Fruit - East Street Market.jpg,
File:Butcher - East Street Market.jpg,
File:Fish - East Street Market.jpg,
File:East Street Supermarket.jpg,
File:Chifles - East Street Market.jpg,
File:Clothing - East Street Market.jpg,
File:Entrance - East Street Market.jpg,
File:Produce - East Street Market.jpg,
References
{{Markets in London
Retail markets in London
Streets in the London Borough of Southwark
Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Southwark