Chart the decline of Spitalfields Market

Spitalfields Market may have lost a considerable amount of its market space in recent years, but a full Sunday market still operates in the Eastern end of the market complex, and there are still a range of interesting stalls on offer.


A public market was originally granted permission to operate on this site in 1682 by Charles II, and the buildings themselves were built in the late 19th century for the fruit and veg market which operated here.

In the 1990s the old market moved out to Leyton, and the market's future was uncertain. The City of London Corporation, who owned the site, put forward plans for office buildings, and Spitalfields residents objected but they were built anyway. Then every chain restaurant you can think of moved in, and the office building programme pushed into the far end of the market buildings.

Nevertheless, a smaller market operates most days and the larger Sunday market continues to operate with a range of stalls selling clothes, food, records and other things. For more information, click here

Click here to see the location on a map.

_{^Picture from Flickr courtesy of Mister-E^}