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Queen's Crescent Market is an outdoor
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), ' ...
held every Thursday and Saturday on Queen's Crescent in
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...
, Camden between the junction with Malden Road in the West and the junction with Grafton Road in the East. Licences to trade are issued by
Camden London Borough Council Camden London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Camden in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Camden is divided into 18 wards, each electing th ...
. The market sells food, discounted clothing and a wide variety of household products. In 2011, the Camden Council database reported 77 sites. Many traders run stalls that have been passed from generation to generation. This is in contrast to the much more recent and considerably more famous
Camden markets 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 stables, in Camden Town, London. It is situated north of the Hampstead ...
nearby, which primarily attract
tourists Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
and those from other parts of London). Aesthetically Queen's Crescent market is a mixture, with pretty plain white houses sitting side by side with large council estates, some of which sit in beautifully landscaped grounds.


History


Early history (1872–1927)

As with a number of other streets in the area, Queen's Crescent is named for
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
who liked to ride in her carriage to West End Lane, Hampstead.


Sainsbury's

In 1872 John Sainsbury and
Mary Ann Sainsbury Mary Ann Sainsbury (''née'' Staples; 30 June 1849 – 9 June 1927) was the wife of John James Sainsbury, the founder of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain. The supermarket chain named their official brand font 'Mary-Ann', used in-store, onl ...
opened their second shop at 159 Queen's Crescent. The following year the Sainsbury family moved to live above the shop. The shop did well and John James opened another branch in 1875 at 151 Queen's Crescent. This new shop specialised in bacon and ham. Trade continued to grow and in 1884, a third branch was added at number 98. Market traders moved from Malden Road to Queen's Crescent in 1876 when electrification works were undertaken on Malden Road to replace the horse-drawn trams. In 1893 there were 44 food stalls and 19 non-food stalls with thirteen of the stalls kept by shopkeepers and the rest belonging to independent traders. From 1867 until 1927, street trading was regulated by the police with no licensing or regulation other than the size and spacing of pitches. Queen's Crescent is the only one of Camden's existing street markets to have started during the era of police regulation.


Management by local councils (1927–present)


Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras (1927–1965)

The ''London County Council (General Powers) Act 1927'' replaced police regulation with a new
licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
regime administered by metropolitan borough councils. From 1927 to 1965 the market was managed by the
Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boa ...
. In 1936, whilst calling the market ''Queen Street'', Bendetta describes a weekday market selling hosiery, draper, clothing, and food.


= Patak's

= In 1956, Shanta Pathak and her husband Lakshmishankar Pathak moved to Queen's Crescent from Kenya. Whilst Lakshmishankar worked cleaning drains for
Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boa ...
Shanta started a business from her kitchen making and selling Indian sweets and snacks, this business would grow into Patak's. She soon had queues outside the door and was making deliveries across London. Following complaints from neighbours about the noise and the smell of the cooking, in 1962 the Council gave them three months to find alternative premises. They found a converted mill in
Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, bordering Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, from Oxford and from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the inters ...
, Northamptonshire, and left London.


London Borough of Camden (1965–2013)

In 1965 the Borough of St Pancras was abolished and its area became part of the
London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...
. By the early 1970s,
Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...
had closed and been replaced by Studio Prints a workshop run by artist and printer
Dorothea Wight Dorothea Wight (born in Devon England, 1944, died 2013, Muswell Hill, London) was a British printmaker and artist. Wight is best known for founding the Studio Prints on Queen's Crescent, where editions of artists’ prints were created, working ...
which was responsible for printing the etchings of many prominent British artists of the last 40 years, including
Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...
,
Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...
,
Ken Kiff __NOTOC__ Ken Kiff, (29 May 1935 – 15 February 2001) was an English figurative artist, was born in Dagenham and trained at Hornsey School of Art 1955-61. He came to prominence in the 1980s thanks to the championship of art critic Norbe ...
,
Julian Trevelyan Julian Otto Trevelyan (20 February 1910 – 12 July 1988) was an English artist and poet. Early life Trevelyan was the only child to survive to adulthood of Robert Calverley Trevelyan and his wife Elizabeth van der Hoeven. His grandfather wa ...
,
R. B. Kitaj Ronald Brooks Kitaj (; October 29, 1932 – October 21, 2007) was an American artist who spent much of his life in England. Life He was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, United States. His Hungarian father, Sigmund Benway, left his mother, Jeanne ...
,
Celia Paul Celia Paul (born 11 November 1959) is an Indian-born British painter. Paul's mainly known for her impressionistic work, which she developed during her education at the Slade School of Fine Art. Biography Celia Paul was born on 11 November 1959 i ...
, and
Stephen Conroy Stephen Michael Conroy (born 18 January 1963) is an Australian former politician who was an Australian Labor Party member of the Senate from 1996 to 2016, representing the state of Victoria. He served as a minister in the Rudd and Gillard gov ...
. In 1978 the goods for sale on Queen's Crescent are described as: In 1983 Forshaw reports 80 stalls on Thursdays and Saturdays selling food as well as clothes, leather goods, toys, cosmetics, and haberdashery from West to East as you move along the Market. In the same year, Perlmutter reports a slightly lower number of stalls at 60 to 70 and recommends the market for buying cheap plants. The market was successful enough for the council to invest in five garages for market barrows as part of a light industrial development at 47 Allcroft Road. In the early twentieth century the land was later sold for redevelopment and became private housing. In 2011 Studio Prints closed.


Queen's Crescent Community Association (2013–2015)

The market had been run by Camden Council until 2013, when it was transferred to Queen's Crescent Community Association (QCCA), a not-for-profit charity. In 2015 there were disagreements over the cost of rubbish removal, cleaning and repairs, leaving the QCCA with what it called impossible bills; after negotiations collapsed, the QCCA handed back the market's management to the council. the future of the market was in doubt, with comments that the council had "condemned Queen's Crescent Market to a lingering death". Traders, and customers, were abandoning the market.


London Borough of Camden (2015–present)

In May 2016 the market continued, but was much reduced, with traders reduced from 50 a few years earlier to 22. The decline has been blamed on higher charges by the council. The
Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...
has a Good Growth Fund which provides grants that have to be spent on infrastructure schemes by 2021. Camden Council were awarded £1.1 million in 2018 to reinvigorate Queen's Crescent, including the market, with high street improvement works. The award requires that local people must be involved in the regeneration plans. Members of Reclaim Queen's Crescent, a group campaigning to improve the market and other neighbourhood services said "there is some wariness about how much we will be listened to after our experience with the market".


In popular culture

The Market briefly features in the 1971 short-form documentary about
Dorothea Wight Dorothea Wight (born in Devon England, 1944, died 2013, Muswell Hill, London) was a British printmaker and artist. Wight is best known for founding the Studio Prints on Queen's Crescent, where editions of artists’ prints were created, working ...
and Studio Prints, ''At a Printmakers Workshop''. Queen's Crescent Market and the Sir Robert Peel pub were used as a filming location in the third episode of the first series of
Minder A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds". Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...
(1979).


Transport


Bus

Bus Routes 24, 46, and
393 __NOTOC__ Year 393 (Roman numerals, CCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Augustus (or, less frequ ...
serve Malden Road.


Railway and tube

The nearest stations are
Gospel Oak Gospel Oak is an inner urban area of north west London in the London Borough of Camden at the very south of Hampstead Heath. The neighbourhood is positioned between Hampstead to the north-west, Dartmouth Park to the north-east, Kentish Town to t ...
and Kentish Town West
London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...
stations.


References


External links


Camden Council's street markets page

Queen's Crescent Community Association 2011 Queen's Crescent Market page
with history and future plans, archived on 26 January 2014, no newer version found
Queen's Crescent Market—National Market Traders Federation
{{Markets in London Retail markets in London Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Camden Kentish Town 19th-century establishments in England