Qualla: Borough Market

Borough Market: Introduction

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CGP Grey, CC BY 2.0. Parliament abolished Borough Market in 1754 because it had become such a traffic problem. The market adjoined the end of London Bridge, and the congestion it created was deemed intolerable. A second Act of Parliament that same year established a replacement market nearby, on a 4.5-acre site in Rochester Yard, and in 1756 trading resumed. That resilience — shut down by one Act of Parliament, reborn by another within months — speaks to how essential this market was, and still is, to London's southbank.

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Image: CGP Grey | CC BY 2.0

Borough Market: A Market Since the Eleventh Century

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Reading Tom from Reading, UK, CC BY 2.0. The market's own claim is that it has existed since 1014 — citing the Norse historian Snorri Sturluson, who described Southwark as a 'great market town' in reference to events of that year. The first documentary mention of a market at this location dates to 1276. It was originall...

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Image: Reading Tom from Reading, UK | CC BY 2.0

Borough Market: Under the Railway Arches

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CGP Grey, CC BY 2.0. The market's relationship with the railways above it is one of the stranger pieces of London urban history. From 1860, railway companies needed to extend lines from London Bridge station to new stations at Cannon Street and Blackfriars, and then on to Charing Cross. This required...

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Image: CGP Grey | CC BY 2.0

Borough Market: From Wholesale to Destination

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fernando Polvorosa, CC BY 3.0. For most of the twentieth century Borough Market was a working wholesale market, supplying greengrocers across London with fruits and vegetables. It was the main supplier, along with Covent Garden, of produce to the retail trade. The transformation to a specialty food destination...

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Image: Fernando Polvorosa | CC BY 3.0

Borough Market: Attack and Resilience

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Loco Steve from Bromley , UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the night of 3 June 2017, three attackers drove a vehicle over London Bridge and then moved into the Borough Market area, where they killed seven people before being shot dead by armed police. The attack was devastating for the community of traders and visitors who had made th...

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Image: Loco Steve from Bromley , UK | CC BY-SA 2.0