I last paid a Sunday visit to Spitalfields Market a couple of years ago [report here] [map here]. The ageing eastern half of the market was thriving, packed with organic stallholders selling eclectic unorthodox wares. Meanwhile the western half of the site lay encased in plasterboard and scaffolding while major rebuilding took place behind. I went back again yesterday, and I'm sorry to report that the rebuilding is now virtually complete.
Where the listed 1928 half of the fruit and veg market once stood, now stands a shiny new office block(rear of photo). It's Foster-designed, so it looks pretty damned impressive, but somehow a ten storey HQ for lawyers doesn't quite feel the right thing to have built on this historic East End site. But the worst intrusion isn't this highrise, it's the new retail area added down below. Think of the most pointless useless shops imaginable (like luxury patisseries, designer boutiques and pampering massage centres), then string them all together along an artificial boulevard and wait for the yuppies to flood in. And don't forget to knock through the lower storey of the original heritage façades, because the original shop windows weren't big enough to show off all the gaudy handbags and chrome bathroom fittings on sale inside. And then relocate some of the displaced market stalls up a characterless modern passage where they don't feel anywhere near as vibrant or exciting as before. No wonder localsareupset.
Meanwhile the oldmarket in the original Spitalfields building (front of photo) muddles on. Trendy alternative types still throng the narrow aisles in search of hand-crafted clothing, noodly snacks and mystic tat, but even this area is under threat. A substantial proportion of the market hall is slowly being filled by new elevated metal walkways, allowing a greater number of high-rent commercial traders and caterers to be crammed inside, but leaving even less floorspace for the original stallholders who made the market so successful in the first place. Don't get me wrong, Spitalfields is still well worth a weekend browse. But it pains me to see this historic area turning into yet another "landmark office, retail and leisure scheme", because London has far too many of those already.
Where the listed 1928 half of the fruit and veg market once stood, now stands a shiny new office block (rear of photo). It's Foster-designed, so it looks pretty damned impressive, but somehow a ten storey HQ for lawyers doesn't quite feel the right thing to have built on this historic East End site. But the worst intrusion isn't this highrise, it's the new retail area added down below. Think of the most pointless useless shops imaginable (like luxury patisseries, designer boutiques and pampering massage centres), then string them all together along an artificial boulevard and wait for the yuppies to flood in. And don't forget to knock through the lower storey of the original heritage façades, because the original shop windows weren't big enough to show off all the gaudy handbags and chrome bathroom fittings on sale inside. And then relocate some of the displaced market stalls up a characterless modern passage where they don't feel anywhere near as vibrant or exciting as before. No wonder locals are upset.
Where the listed 1928 half of the fruit and veg market once stood, now stands a 