Broadway Market

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

F Cooke's pie and mash shop stands at the southern entrance to Broadway Market. (January 2006)

Broadway Market is a street running from London Fields to the Regent's Canal in Haggerston in the London Borough of Hackney, East London.

Before the late 20th century it was the site of a busy fruit and vegetable market, but this slowly dwindled over time. On 8th of May 2004 a 'Farmers' Market' was launched on Saturdays which has since become firmly established. Broadway Market is closed to traffic when the market is being held (9am - 5pm). Thanks largely to the market a number of new restaurants and boutiques have opened in the area.

The ongoing development of Broadway Market has sparked a local debate about the perceived gentrification of Hackney and the way Hackney council disposed of some of their commercial property portfolio. In late 2005 a group of local protestors occupied 34 Broadway Market (Francesca's café) to bring attention to the issue. Despite being evicted on the 21st December 2005 the building was successfully reoccupied on 27th December (replacing the demolished roof in the process) before the protestors were again evicted on 23rd February 2006. It remains to be seen how this issue will be resolved. Allied to this, a campaign has gained momentum to fight the eviction of popular local shopkeeper Spirit, whose shop was sold to an overseas developer by Hackney Council.

It is rumoured that the old Broadway Market partly inspired the BBC soap opera EastEnders.