Church Street Market

Church Street Market
Church Street Market in 2016
LocationChurch Street, Marleybone, London
Coordinates51°31′24″N 0°10′13″W / 51.523416°N 0.170355°W / 51.523416; -0.170355
AddressChurch Street, Marleybone, London
Opening date1830 (194 years ago) (1830)
ManagementCity of Westminster
OwnerCity of Westminster
EnvironmentOutdoor
Goods soldStreet food, household goods, fashion
Days normally openMonday to Saturday
Websitewestminster.gov.uk/licensing/markets-and-street-trading
Church Street Market is located in City of Westminster
Church Street Market
Church Street Market
Location in City of Westminster

Church Street Market is a large outdoor street market on Church Street in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. It takes place on Strutton Ground. Licences to trade are issued by Westminster City Council.

The market is open Monday to Saturday from 08:00 to 18:00 and sells:

  • fresh food, flowers and plants,
  • household goods,
  • bags,
  • clothing,
  • shoes,
  • delicatessen, and
  • international street food.[1]

History

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Originally privately owned and known as Portman Market it was established in 1830 by the Act for establishing a Market in the Parish of Saint Mary-lebone, in the County of Middlesex which moved the hay and straw market from Picadilly to the part of Church Street between Carlisle and Salisbury Streets. [2] The market mainly sold hay and straw, butter, poultry, butchers' meat, and other provisions. In the late nineteenth century it was owned by William Portman, a member of the House of Lords, and operated by solicitors Allen and Edwards on behalf of the estate of the late Thomas Bolton.

The market had been in decline since the 1880s.[3] With most of the Portman Estate liable in inheritance tax, the market buildings were sold in 1906 and the market closed in 1907 and many traders took their barrows onto the street creating Church Street Market.[4]

Nearly a century later, in the early nineteen eighties, the market had was servicing the Kensal Green, Kilburn, Maida Vale, and Paddington areas with mostly fruit and veg from on the Eastern end of the market (from the junction with Edgware Road to the junction with Salisbury Street) and antiques and vintage wares predominating on the western end of the market (from Salisbury Street to Kensal Green) the site of the Alfies Antique Market since 1976.[5][6]

In the mid-nineties there were about 200 stalls on the market on Fridays and Saturdays with the same split between produce and antiques as a decade before as well as unlicensed traders selling counterfeit designer clothing on the junction with Salisbury Street.[7]

Transport

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Bus

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6, 13, 16, 82, 98, 139, 189, 274, 332, and 414.

Railway and tube

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Baker Street, Edgware Road (Bakerloo line), Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines, and Marylebone.

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References

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  1. ^ "Markets in Westminster—Church Street NW8". Westminster City Council. 11 January 2023. Archived from the original on 1 March 2024. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  2. ^ Walford, Edward; Thornbury, Walter (1878). "North Marylebone: History". Old and New London. Vol. V. London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin. pp. 254–262. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  3. ^ 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. 20.
  4. ^ Kyriacou, Sav (1 August 2012). "Stall Stories". History Workshop. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  5. ^ Bergström, Theo & Forshaw, Alec (1989). The Markets of London (Revised ed.). London: Penguin. pp. 54–56.
  6. ^ Perlmutter, Kevin (1983). London Street Markets (1st ed.). Worcester: Billing & Sons. pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-7045-0462-6.
  7. ^ Harriss, Phil (1996). London Markets (1st ed.). London: Cadogan Books. pp. 94–98. ISBN 1-86011-040-1.