My London History blog

Borough and its market

The area at the foot of London Bridge, known as ‘The Borough’, is as old as London itself and was the first borough, apart from the City of London, to send representatives to Parliament – the first in 1295. Even before the Romans built the first wooden bridge across to Londinium on the north bank of the river in the mid-990s, this area had been an all-important bridgehead.

The George Inn

As the centuries passed, Borough High Street became an increasingly busy thoroughfare to London Bridge - the only way to get across the Thames right up until 1750. The City of London, which owned the bridge, kept it closed at night, which meant that travellers arriving from the south needed somewhere to stay. Before long, the High Street was lined with inns, complete with long coaching yards at the back, of which only ‘The George’ survives.

Shops on Borough High St

In Victorian times retail outlets flourished all along the High Street, but behind them were some of the city’s worst slums. In a letter to

the Times in the 1860s, Borough is described as “pre-eminently abundant with garrotters and the lowest of the low class of beer-shops in London”. The area’s reputation was not enhanced by the presence of three prisons: the Clink, King’s Bench and Marshalsea, where Charles Dickens’ father was incarcerated for debt.

The Hop Exchange

Borough has also had a long association with the hop trade. Up until the 1930s, there were more than 30 hop merchants operating there, each with its own warehouse. Central to the industry was the Hop Exchange in Southwark Street, dating from 1867. Its stunning interior, with a vast open atrium and three tiers of balconies overlooking it - allowing traders and merchants on the floor to shout orders across to each other - is now Grade II listed.

Nestling these days among the railway viaducts south of Southwark Cathedral, and now one of London’s most popular shopping attractions, Borough Market - like the area in which it stands – also has a history dating back well over a thousand years. Records from 1014 list the market as selling fish, grain and cattle (as well as fruit and vegetables), attracting traders from all over Europe. Maps of 1542 show that the market was by then well-established and now under the jurisdiction of the City of London.

Market in the High St c.1729

Market with dome c.1860

Two centuries later, in 1754, the burgeoning market was forced to relinquish its original site in Borough High Street as it was becoming a nuisance to the carriages (and cattle!) passing along the route. The ‘new’ market was established in Rochester Yard (on land belonging to the Bishop of Rochester). Its real heyday came in the Victorian era and the main market buildings in use today, with their elaborate wrought ironwork, date from the 1850s and 1860s. The need to widen the railway line in 1897 brought much disruption, as well as the sad demise of the market’s magnificent but short-lived glass and iron domed roof, which had brought a touch of Crystal Palace glamour to Borough!

Now covering a total area of 4.5 acres, Borough Market is still flourishing today. It is one of only two surviving wholesale produce markets in central London (Smithfield is the other), still on its original site. From Thursday to Saturday, the fruit and veg traders are joined by specialist food retailers. The market still has its own police force (the ‘Beadles’) who, until the 1930s, had powers of arrest and could put offenders in the cells under the market (two were recently re-discovered). Sounds a great way to keep order!