Berwick Street Market: a history of Soho's street market

Berwick Street was built between 1687 and 1703, so the street itself is more than three hundred years old. The market is younger, and its birthday is argued over. That is rather Soho: everyone has a date, and nobody agrees.

How the market began

According to This is Soho, street trading is said to have started in the late 1770s, when shopkeepers began putting their wares out on the pavements. The Nudge also gives 1778. Wikipedia points elsewhere: the London County Council's Public Control Committee stated in 1893 that the market had existed since at least 1842, and the article on the street itself gives about 1843. Official recognition is dated to 1892 by This is Soho and Layers of London.

So: nearly 250 years if you believe the pavement story, about 180 if you prefer the paperwork.

A street of immigrants and first fruits

French Huguenots, Greeks and Italians settled in Soho, and by the 1890s many had opened eating-houses serving their home cooking. The market became known for a bewildering variety of fruit and vegetables. This is Soho claims tomatoes first appeared in London here in 1880 and grapefruit in 1890. Take those as the heritage site's claims, but they are good ones to repeat at the bar.

By 1893 the London County Council counted 32 traders on a Saturday and 20 on weekdays, with costermongers on the west side of the street. Many had moved from Seven Dials after Shaftesbury Avenue was cut through. Walker's Court, which continues Berwick Street south to Brewer Street, was part of the market then too.

Street trading rules changed over the years. Before 1867 it was regarded as a common-law right in London. From 1867 to 1927 the police regulated it, controlling only the size and spacing of pitches. The London County Council (General Powers) Act 1927 brought licensing by metropolitan borough councils.

Olive oil, socks and the Golden Mile

In the 1950s olive oil was sold in England mainly by chemists, for softening ear wax. This is Soho says TV cook Fanny Cradock and food writer Elizabeth David came to Berwick Street for exotic ingredients. Flashbak adds that Noël Coward and Gertrude Lawrence bought socks and stockings here early in their careers, and that in 1937 the Manchester Guardian grumbled that London's open-air markets, Berwick Street included, had lost character since electric lights replaced oil flares.

In the 1980s the street became a destination for vinyl collectors, the "Golden Mile of Vinyl". It still has central London's largest concentration of independent record shops, including Reckless Records and Sister Ray. It is also the street on the cover of Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

The fight of 2016

In March 2016 Westminster City Council, which owns and manages the market, gave notice on trade licences issued over the previous ten years, in favour of a private operator who would have set what was traded and the fees. Traders organised as the Berwick Street Traders' Society. A petition to keep the market independent drew more than 37,000 signatures, and the council halted the tendering process weeks before a new operator was due to take over, as the Camden New Journal reported. Property Week reports the traders were later granted permanent licences, though it says the future may still be uncertain.

The market today

It trades Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sunday. Hours are given differently by different sources, so go from around 8am until early evening, and expect individual stalls to vary. Saturday is the day the council's 2019 to 2022 markets strategy proposed to enhance, so it is the one to pick for a fuller market.

Time Out says a few traditional fruit and veg sellers remain, but most stalls now sell street food. It names Wow Shees's Egyptian pittas, Freebird Burritos and The Jerk Drum's Caribbean food. The Nudge describes a handful of fresh produce stalls and a roaring lunchtime trade in street food. Reviewers on Tripadvisor are split: some miss the old traders, others praise the cheap, varied food.

Wikipedia lists street food, fruit and veg, household goods and fashion among the goods, and the Berwick Street article adds fish, flowers, coffee and dairy. Stall counts differ by source, from about 20 to about 40, so treat any number as a rough guide.

When to go

• Lunchtime: the street food peak. Come hungry and early, because Time Out reported one popular stall selling out by 1pm.
• Saturday: the busier, enhanced market day.
• Monday: one of the few London markets Time Out lists as open on a Monday, so a good quiet visit.

Nearest stations are Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Tottenham Court Road. Walk the street from Broadwick Street towards Peter Street, take a pitta or a burrito to eat standing up, then finish with a flick through the racks at Reckless Records.

Read more at This is Soho, Wikipedia and the Camden New Journal.