Broadway Market
Aug 30, 2010 15:48:57 GMT
Post by patricklondon on Aug 30, 2010 15:48:57 GMT
On Saturday, I went for a gentle cycle ride up the Regent's Canal from Limehouse to Broadway Market, in Hackney. This is a short street between the canal and London Fields, barely a hundred yards long, nowadays the heartland of the knit-your-own-vegan-bicycle classes.
Above the street, there is a fine display of flags of all nations, suggesting a high proportion of transient flatsharers from other parts of the world (suggesting they've picked up the habit of visiting Antipodeans of flying their flag), alongside the established immigrant communities (in this part of London, noticeably Turkish and Vietnamese).
Further gentrification is clearly on the way in the surrounding neighbourhood, to judge by the estate agents' windows, but for now, there's a mix of old and new, with art bookshops and upmarket florists cheek-by-jowl with secondhand furniture, the Turkish barber, and a traditional tiled-interior pie and mash shop:
This isn't really a general, buy anything you need, sort of market. True, there are ordinary shops along the street, but I only saw one greengrocer's stall. This market is more about entertainment and casual, fancy-that, shopping - for those who know their London markets, a very small version of Spitalfields or the alternative indoor market on Brick Lane. Beside the street musician, there were crocheted blankets, knitted teacosies and winter coats for your hairy-handbag dog, handmade guitars, secondhand bikes, homemade birthday cards and ladies' scanties:
Mostly, what's on sale is food - and more food. On top of the cafés and restaurants spilling out on to the street, you can browse the stalls, and let yourself be tempted by Portuguese hog-roast, German bratwurst, Polish pastries, Italian varietal olive oils, fish, fudge - and (the latest craze) cupcakes:
Above the street, there is a fine display of flags of all nations, suggesting a high proportion of transient flatsharers from other parts of the world (suggesting they've picked up the habit of visiting Antipodeans of flying their flag), alongside the established immigrant communities (in this part of London, noticeably Turkish and Vietnamese).
Further gentrification is clearly on the way in the surrounding neighbourhood, to judge by the estate agents' windows, but for now, there's a mix of old and new, with art bookshops and upmarket florists cheek-by-jowl with secondhand furniture, the Turkish barber, and a traditional tiled-interior pie and mash shop:
This isn't really a general, buy anything you need, sort of market. True, there are ordinary shops along the street, but I only saw one greengrocer's stall. This market is more about entertainment and casual, fancy-that, shopping - for those who know their London markets, a very small version of Spitalfields or the alternative indoor market on Brick Lane. Beside the street musician, there were crocheted blankets, knitted teacosies and winter coats for your hairy-handbag dog, handmade guitars, secondhand bikes, homemade birthday cards and ladies' scanties:
Mostly, what's on sale is food - and more food. On top of the cafés and restaurants spilling out on to the street, you can browse the stalls, and let yourself be tempted by Portuguese hog-roast, German bratwurst, Polish pastries, Italian varietal olive oils, fish, fudge - and (the latest craze) cupcakes: