Leather Lane Market

Street market in Holborn, London, England

Leather Lane Market

Leather Lane Market towards Clerkenwell—2014

Location| Hatton Garden, Camden, Greater London
Coordinates| 51°31′16″N 0°06′36″W﻿ / ﻿51.521217°N 0.109919°W﻿ / 51.521217; -0.109919
Address| Leather Lane Market
Opening date| 1666 (359 years ago) (1666)
Management| Camden London Borough Council
Owner| Camden London Borough Council
Environment| Outdoor
Goods sold| Street food, fruit & veg, household goods, fashion
Days normally open| Monday to Friday
Number of tenants| 122
Website| camden.gov.uk/markets

Leather Lane Market

Location in London Borough of Camden

Leather Lane Market is an outdoor street market in the Holborn area of the London Borough of Camden. Taking place on Leather Lane, it is the oldest street market in Camden. Licences to trade are issued by Camden London Borough Council.

## History

[edit]

### Early history (1666–1867)

[edit]

Hatton Garden was being developed into a residential area just prior to the Great Fire of London. The undeveloped areas of Hatton Garden were used as a refuge for Londoners escaping destruction of much of the city.[1] It seems likely that street trading established itself on Leather Lane at this time to cater to the needs of those refugees and to provide employment for the traders who had lost their normal pitches.

Just to the west of Leather Lane, a private open-air butchers market, Brooke's Market was established in at least 1685.[2] In the late eighteenth century many of the lower floors of houses had been converted into shops taverns and coffee shops.

Henry Mayhew records there being 150 stalls in 1851.[3]: 11  Most working people were paid each week on Saturday and Saturday night/Sunday morning were the busiest trading time for markets. From his, the earliest examinations of street markets, food that could be consumed on the spot formed an important part of their offer with fried fish, pies, and (from the 1830s) baked potatoes feeding factory and office workers.

#### 1851 closure of the Market

[edit]

Mayhew describes a short-lived attempt by some of the shopkeepers to have the street traders removed that took place shortly before his survey:

> “Leather-lane,” I was told, “looked like a desert compared to what it was. People that had lived there for years hardly knew their own street and those that had complained might twiddle their thumbs in their shops for want of something better to do.”

— Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor[3]: 59–60

After a fortnight, other traders and the local residents succeeded in having the market traders reinstated.[3]: 99–100  The, brief, closure of Leather Lane inspired a contemporary ballad:

> A rummy saintly lot is there,
>    A domineering crew,
>  A Butcher, and a Baker,
>    And an Undertaker too,
>  Besides a cove who deals in wood,
>    And makes his bundles small,
>  And looks as black on Sunday
>    As the Undertaker's pall.

>  You must not buy, you must not sell,
>    Oh! is it not a shame?
>  It is shocking place to dwell,
>    About sweet Leather Lane.

>  The Butcher does not like to hear
>    His neighbours holloa, buy!
>  Although he on the Sunday
>    Sells a little on the sly;
>  And Coffin Maker struts along
>    Just like the great Lord Mayor,
>  To bury folks on Sundays,
>    Instead of going to prayers.

>  You must not buy, you must not sell,
>    Oh! is it not a shame?
>  It is shocking place to dwell,
>    About sweet Leather Lane.

— Anonymous, Queer Doings in Leather-lane, London Labour and the London Poor[3]: 276–277

### Management by the police (1867–1927)

[edit]

In 1867, section six of the Metropolitan Streets Act effectively prohibited street trading. Following public meetings and press criticism, the act was amended within weeks. Section one of the Metropolitan Streets Act Amendment Act 1867 exempted traders but they were now subject to regulation by the police.[4]

The late nineteenth century saw the closure of Brooke's Market following the 1869 establishment, by the City of London, of the new Smithfield butchers market.[5]

In 1893 the London County Council’s Public Control Committee states that the Market “has existed since time immemorial” and describes 148 stalls selling: fish and meat, flowers, fruit & veg, sweets, drapery, earthenware, old clothes, old books, ironware, and footwear.

Of 148 stalls 26 are recorded as being run by Leather Lane shopkeepers.[6] Already the market is described as primarily serving people working in the area.

> The market is a convenience to the general public, and also to the shopkeepers, the latter valuing it principally because of the trade it brings.

— London Markets, Special Report of the Public Control Committee[6]

By 1913 with the continuing commercialisation and industrialization of the Hatton Garden area the market had evolved into a lunch market catering to the needs of people working in local factories and offices.[7]: 214

### Management by local councils (1927–present)

[edit]

#### Metropolitan Borough of Holborn (1927–1965)

[edit]

The London County Council (General Powers) Act 1927 replaced police regulation with a new licensing regime administered by metropolitan borough councils.[8] From 1927 to 1965 the market was managed by the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn.

In the mid-1930s Mary Benedetta found the market still a mix of fresh and ready-to-eat food, flowers and plants, and household goods.[9]: 9–18

#### London Borough of Camden (1965–present)

[edit]

In 1965 the Borough of Holborn was abolished and its area became part of the London Borough of Camden.

The Council placed limitations on the number of stalls selling similar products and strictly limited the number of stalls trading ready-to-eat food. By the late nineties the traditional shops had largely given way to casual dining. The licensing system led to issues with subletting of stalls where due to a sixteen-year waiting list for licences, people on the waiting list would rent their pitch to actual traders whilst remaining the technical licensee. For this reasons, the Council revoked 23 licences in the period 1990–93.[10]

Following a period of decline for the market, in the 2000s, the Council relaxed its restrictions on ready to eat food and Leather Lane, again, became one of the largest street food markets in London. Middle Eastern food proliferated on the market in both shops and stalls leading to competitions to determine the best falafel available.[11] The return to street food and the revived success of the market saw a return to the tensions that had beset the market in the mid-nineteenth century with some shopkeepers calling for the commodities of the traders to be restricted and the number of pitches reduced.[12]

## Transport

[edit]

### Bus

[edit]

Bus Routes 17, 46, 55, 243, and 341.

### Railway and tube

[edit]

The nearest stations are Chancery Lane and Farringdon.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Broadbent, Una; Marryat, Howard (1930). The Romance of Hatton Garden. London: J. Cornish.
2. ^ "CLC/270/MS00459 Papers Relating to Brooke’s Market, Leather Lane, Holborn Comprising Mainly Accounts For Rents of Stalls, 1685–8 With Accompanying Letter, 1893." (1685) [Textual record]. Small Collections, ID: CLC/270/MS00459. London: London Metropolitan Archives.
3. ^ a b c d Mayhew, Henry (1851). London Labour and the London Poor; a cyclopædia of the condition and earnings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work. Vol. I. London: G. Woodfall and Son. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
4. ^ Metropolitan Streets Act Amendment Act 1867 (section one)]. London: HMSO. 1867.
5. ^ Bergström, Theo & Forshaw, Alec (1989). The Markets of London (Revised ed.). London: Penguin. p. 65.
6. ^ a b Public Control Committee (1893). "Appendix B". London Markets, Special Report of the Public Control Committee Relative to Existing Markets and Market Rights and as to the Expediency of Establishing New Markets in or Near the Administrative County of London (Report). London: London County Council. p. 41.
7. ^ Sullivan, J.W. (1913). Markets for the People: The Consumer's Part. London: Macmillan. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
8. ^ Kelley, Victoria (2019). Cheap Street: London's Street Markets and the Cultures of Informality, c. 1850–1939. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 39.
9. ^ Benedetta, Mary & Moholy-Nagy, László (1936). The Street Markets of London. London: London John Miles. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
10. ^ Camden Council. "Four more Leather Lane traders face loss of licences" (18 June 1993) [Textual record]. Leather Lane, ID: 45.05. London: Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre.
11. ^ "About Falafeloff". falafeloff. 30 March 2013. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
12. ^ Carrier, Dan (29 March 2019). "Shops v stalls: eating away trade". WestEndExtra. London. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2020.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leather Lane, London.

* camden.gov.uk/markets—Camden Council's markets webpages
* Leather Lane Market—National Market Traders Federation

* v
* t
* e

London Borough of Camden

Districts|

* Bloomsbury
* Camden Town
* Chalk Farm and Haverstock ward
* Fortune Green
* Gospel Oak
* Hampstead (inc. Belsize Park, Frognal, Finchley Road, South Hampstead and Swiss Cottage)
* Hatton Garden (inc. Saffron Hill)
* Kentish Town
* Primrose Hill
* Regent's Park Estate
* St Giles
* St Pancras
* Somers Town
* West Hampstead

| Partly in Camden|

* Brondesbury / Kilburn
* Covent Garden
* Cricklewood
* Dartmouth Park
* Fitzrovia
* Highgate
* Holborn
* Kings Cross
* Tufnell Park
* St John's Wood (less than 2% in Camden)

|

Attractions|

* Ben Uri Gallery & Museum
* Bloomsbury Theatre
* British Library
* British Museum
* Brunswick Centre
* BT Tower
* Camden Arts Centre
* Charles Dickens Museum
* Dominion Theatre
* Donmar Warehouse
* Fenton House
* Foundling Museum
* Freud Museum
* Highgate Cemetery
* Keats House
* Kenwood House
* The Jewish Museum
* O2 Forum Kentish Town
* Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
* Roundhouse
* Shaftesbury Theatre
* Sir John Soane's Museum
* Wellcome Collection
* West End theatre

Street markets|

* Camden Market
* Chalton Street Market
* Goodge Place Market
* Inverness Street Market
* Leather Lane Market
* Plender Street Market
* Queen's Crescent Market
* Swiss Cottage Market

Parks and
open spaces|

* Adelaide Nature Reserve
* Bloomsbury Square
* Camden Highline (proposed)
* Hampstead Heath
* Kilburn Grange Park
* Lincoln's Inn Fields
* Phoenix Garden
* Primrose Hill
* Regent's Park
* Russell Square
* Waterlow Park
* Westbere Copse

Constituencies|

* Hampstead and Highgate
* Holborn and St. Pancras

Tube and
rail stations|

*  Belsize Park
*  Camden Road
*  Camden Town
*  Chalk Farm
*  Chancery Lane
*  Euston
*  Euston tube
*  Euston Square
*  Finchley Road
*  Finchley Road & Frognal
*  Goodge Street
*  Gospel Oak
*  Hampstead
*  Hampstead Heath
*  Holborn
*  Kentish Town
*  Kentish Town West
*  Kilburn High Road
*  King's Cross
*  King's Cross St Pancras
*  Mornington Crescent
*  Russell Square
*  St Pancras
* South Hampstead
*  Swiss Cottage
*  Tottenham Court Road
*  Warren Street
*  West Hampstead
*  West Hampstead (Overground)
*  West Hampstead Thameslink

Public libraries|

* Swiss Cottage Library
* Holborn Library
* Pancras Square Library
* Camden Town Library
* Kilburn Library

Other topics|

* Blue plaques
* Coat of arms
* Council
* Listed buildings
* Grade I
* Grade II*
* People
* Public art
* Schools

* Category
* Commons

* v
* t
* e

Markets in London

Historic|

* Old Billingsgate
* Covent Garden
* Cumberland Market
* Farringdon
* Fleet
* Hungerford Market
* Leadenhall
* Metropolitan Cattle
* Smithfield
* Old Spitalfields
* Stratford

Noted|

* Bermondsey
* Borough
* Brick Lane
* Camden Lock
* Camden Passage
* Columbia Road
* Greenwich
* Petticoat Lane
* Portobello Road

Historic charter|

* Barking
* Barnet
* Croydon (Surrey Street)
* Romford
* Uxbridge

Local|

* Backyard
* Berwick Street
* The Blue
* Broadway
* Brixton
* Chalton Street
* Chapel
* Chrisp Street
* Deptford
* Earlham Street
* East Street
* Edmonton Green
* Exmouth
* Goodge Place
* Inverness Street
* Leather Lane
* Lower Marsh
* Merton Abbey Mills
* Plender Street
* Queen's
* Queen's Crescent
* Rathbone
* Ridley Road
* Shepherd's Bush
* Strutton Ground
* Sunday UpMarket
* Swiss Cottage
* Walthamstow

Modern wholesale|

* Billingsgate Fish
* New Covent Garden
* New Spitalfields
* Smithfield
* Western International

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template