Jen also grew blasé about Borough market as she spent a year filming there week in and week out and in the process became close friends with the local tramps who haunt it.
However, over the Easter bank holiday we swung by as we wanted to get a big cut of meat from the Ginger Pig and it reminded us what a wonderful place it was. Part of the joy of Borough is that it is alive and remains a dynamic and evolving place. People aren't visiting some staid tourist experience (like the Tower of London) but are coming to eat and buy and mingle. Strangely this has only been helped by the whole Thameslink process which has meant that it is vividly different year in year out. As bridges are built, viaducts are modified and listed buildings are ripped down it keeps the the feeling of change in the air.
The other great impact on Borough market has been its popularity. I can just about remember when there used to be a few fruit and veg men and Brindisa was the only gentrified shop. Now the place is overrun with well meaning organic produce sellers and it has grown along and under the bridges it nestles under.
Still for all of Borough's faults there is only place to go in London when you want to spend £50 on an ultra free range chicken that has been raised on a blind virgin nun's tears and bonsai grown rice. And in recent years the Rake has been gifted to the market and is one of London's smallest but greatest pubs to drink away all day in.
PS if you enjoy this you might enjoy the other posts in the London Notes series here
Posts
Ｉlove this market and I enjoy walking and looking around. But not shopping there tho. It's too expensive.
ReplyDeleteMy love for Borough Market never dies. It's always my no. 1 must see tip for overseas vistors. Only downside: My boyfriend gets to eat lunch there every day - my work has a Benugos.
ReplyDeleteNice post Tom - do I detect a wistful note? You have certainly lived in some great locations - Borough, Barbican. Great places to observe this city - 21st century coffee/food focused Samuel Pepys perhaps??
ReplyDeleteBorough was fantastic when i first visited it about 8 years ago and is just as fantastic, if a little busier, now. My only sadness is that when the Market Porter reburbished itself a while ago, it lost a lot of its soul.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you re going there early in the morning, it really is magical browsing the stalls that are open at 9am with room to move.
Highlights over the years have been the Ginger Pig, Neals Yard, Farmer Sharps, the Comte stall and the fishmongers. All those crawfish wiggling their eyestalks and the monkfish head gurning away at passers-by.
I am far too lazy to get there before the crowds and I cannot bare being anywhere that is over crowded. I think that I may need to set an alarm and go early one day so I enjoy it again. thanks for the prompt.
ReplyDeleteKoukla - I do shop there occasionally when you need that herb or cut of meat you can't get elsewhere
ReplyDeleteGreedy Diva - it really is a magnificent market and place to shop. I think if I worked right by there I would start just eating chunks of cheese from Neal's yard and eating too much jamon :)
Rob - leaving London is a completely wistful thing for me. I adore it and have never been somewhere which comes close to it (well Tokyo is pretty spot on... but still...). However, leaving focuses the mind and makes you enjoy what you have!
Grubworm - my biggest disappointment has/ probably still is Roast. What a room! I have only been twice but what a waste of a space
Helen - I also think in evenings it is really beautiful just to walk through it. Whilst there is no food there you can always pop to Brindisa for supper : )_
I've always heard such mixed things about Roast. I had a good, but not great, meal there so didn't really see what all the fuss was about. And next to all that exciting food in the raw below... It could be so much more.
ReplyDeleteSeriously love Borough - I do shop there every week, think it's not expensive if you know your way round, and I eat magnificently all the time!
ReplyDeleteBron - I think some things are actually cheaper there. I love the wild mushrooms you can get from (what I think is) Paul Crane (the one past the chorizo sandwich stall?)
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for posting this
ReplyDelete