What happened to proper markets

[lindylou]

Years ago a market was exactly that. A place to buy fruit and veg, housewares and reasonably priced clothing. Nowadays the definition of a "market" is nothing but food stalls, overpriced junk selling as "antiques". The old East Street market was amazing in its day. As a child my parents would go there every Saturday with myself and brother in tow. Literally everything we needed was bought there. The shops lining East Street market were competitively priced because of the market prices. As a teenager I would go there the day after weekly pay day and buy the latest 45rmp single from the A1 store. Then off to the clothing stalls to buy my Saturday night outfit. That was a true market.

It's still there today but nothing like it was.

[jazzer]

Unfortunately their is a line that says, "everything must change, nothing stays the same". It's actually a reality of life as much as we'd like things to stay the same. Businesses come and go, few remain forever or rather a lifetime.

I think back to what Rye Lane was like in the 70's, so different and IMO much worse today then it was then.

[DulwichFox]

I remember East Street Market in the 50's

Especially the Junk Yard at the bottom of the Lane.

Selling Old electonics components and Valves. Nuts and bolts.. Locks.. and the like.

DulwichFox.

[lindylou]

DulwichFox Wrote:

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> I remember East Street Market in the 50's

>

> https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:AN

> d9GcTVk7Ib68z2sXlStbmwZO9DCNe12ItwUcWzSFeRLxRX75OM

> SEbNcU9EM9YaDIlpeJgW40I&usqp=CAU

>

> Especially the Junk Yard at the bottom of the

> Lane.

> Selling Old electonics components and Valves.

> Nuts and bolts.. Locks.. and the like.

>

> DulwichFox.

My dad was always rummaging through those stalls there. Love the pic of the Sarsaparilla stall.

[alice]

That was still there in the 80s

[tomskip]

The market in Lewisham is still like a proper market (last time I looked). I bought some towels in Leather Lane market years ago on my lunch break - still going strong!

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Leather Lane is 95% food and 5% fast fashion now.

[tomskip]

I meant the towels are still going strong! I know the market is nothing like it used to be :(

[Spartacus]

Had Petticoat Lane market and its reputation for cheap clothes survived the trendy changes and low cost primark type stores or has it bowed to foodies

[DuncanW]

Do you mean 'has Petticoat Lane Market survived'?

Yes, as far as I'm aware. I work round there and there is a food market in the week. They have food from around the world and it's pretty cheap - certainly cheaper than the food market in Spitalfields. I think the traditional Sunday market is still in full swing.

[apbremer]

East Street used to auction garden plants of indeterminate origins on Sunday mornings.Armfulls for a few pounds although you never really knew what you were getting until flowering. Great Fun!

[fishbiscuits]

I am not sure how old the OP is, but we have shopping delivery services now. Supermarkets of various sizes, open at convenient hours. We do also have local greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers if you want the superior/specialist selection they offer. But it's really hard to see where fruit and veg markets fit in, in the face of this competition.

Many families have two parents working full time... online shopping or supermarkets open at hours to suit their lifestyles are the norm.

If you do really want fruit and veg stalls then take a stroll down Rye Lane. There are several, and they are quite cheap, but everything seems to be almost at the end of its shelf life.

[alice]

That?s the only thing that could succeed in Melbourne as a Sunday fruit and veg. Rye lane ?1 a bowl style.

[malumbu]

As Jazzer says everything changes. My local market at work was Stutton Ground in Westminster. Now mainly food stalls, but even in recent times prices went up as it became trendier so it was worth the walk to Tatchbrook Street in Pimlico where prices were more sensible. Peckham and Lewisham buck the trend. Deptford can be OK but a lot of tat. You could also include car boot sales, such as the massive one at Hayes.

The town I grew up in had a great big covered market where we would buy Levi seconds and the like. Family in Cricklewood used to get the greenline bus to Watford which similarly had a large market.

Not sure whether Albert Square has moved with the times.

[MrsR]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I remember East Street Market in the 50's

>

> https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:AN

> d9GcTVk7Ib68z2sXlStbmwZO9DCNe12ItwUcWzSFeRLxRX75OM

> SEbNcU9EM9YaDIlpeJgW40I&usqp=CAU

>

> Especially the Junk Yard at the bottom of the

> Lane.

> Selling Old electonics components and Valves.

> Nuts and bolts.. Locks.. and the like.

>

> DulwichFox.

I also remember the stall which just sold peanuts in their shells (monkey nuts)

[DulwichFox]

I loved the Little bags of Roasted Chestnuts cooked on the roaring coal Brazier.

Never going to see that again.

Small bag... 6-8 Chestnuts 6d (Six old pence) 2.5 new pence

Foxy

[spider69]

I remember the sea food stalls that were all over East Street, Where do you find these stalls locally now?

Sopers have a selection, nothing like the lane was.

[Castleton]

Last place I saw a proper fish stall like that was Aldgate, or the coast

spider69 Wrote:

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> I remember the sea food stalls that were all over

> East Street, Where do you find these stalls

> locally now?

>

> Sopers have a selection, nothing like the lane

> was.