Ethos

Old Spitalfields Market

Attraction · Spitalfields, England

Old Spitalfields Market trades under a hall built between 1885 and 1893, at 16 Horner Square. Entry is free and it opens Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am to 8pm, Thursday 8am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm, with individual traders keeping their own hours. The hall is Grade II, NHLE 1065750, listed on 23 July 1986 as 'Spitalfields Market', and stands in the Brick Lane and Fournier Street conservation area, with the Elder Street and Artillery Passage conservation areas adjoining.

History

Charles I granted a licence in 1638 for flesh, fowl and roots to be sold on Spittle Fields, then open country east of the City. The surviving hall was built for Robert Horner, the market's last private owner, to designs by George Campbell Sherrin. The City of London Corporation bought the market in 1920 and extended it west to Steward Street in 1926. The wholesale fruit and vegetable trade moved out to New Spitalfields Market at Leyton in 1991, leaving the original hall to retail traders, and a 2005 regeneration created Bishops Square and Crispin Place alongside it. The operator publishes different hours for Thursday, 8am to 6pm, against 10am to 8pm on the other weekdays.

Visit

16 Horner Square, London E1 6EW

Featured in these guides

More in Spitalfields