Watney Street Market in East London was once one of London’s largest street markets. Trading since 1881, it was later redeveloped into a pedestrianised shopping precinct, and now very few market stalls remain there.
Eileen Armstrong, selling fruit and vegetables.
Joe The Grocer, in his shop.
Gladys McGee, a local poet and writer.
Redevelopment begins. Joe The Grocer’s shop is being demolished.
beetleypete 
Reblogged this on https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Tony really captures the everyday people. He knew those were the best pictures. It’s sad when these stores close, like a link to the community is suddenly gone.
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He understood the historical value of that moment in time. Now we have it preserved indefinitely.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Well said, Pete. Best to you.
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I loved these markets such a shame progress stepped in and paved them over that’s why I love the markets here they are everywhere and hopefully, they will stay that way at least in my lifetime …Thank you for the trip down memory lane, Pete, London had and still does have some great markets.xx
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There are still a few good markets in London, but most have lost their ‘soul’.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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Joe the Grocer’s shop is probably a Tesco Extra now or suchlike?
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I used to be around that market in the early 70s. I knew people who lived nearby. I haven’t been back since it was redeveloped though.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Good photos…..I wish we had better markets and good local butchers but those day are gone….chuq
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We have a small street market in the local town two days a week. It is very popular, but doesn’t really sell enough different produce to attract me.
Best wishes, Pete.
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In Summer we have a “Farmer’s Market” one day a week….but like you it does have a big selection so I do not go much. chuq
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I miss the idea of specialized sellers rather than the super markets.
Nice photos, Pete.
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Thanks, Don. We still have many specialist butchers in this area, but the prices of their meat can be very high. Too high for most shoppers.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I love these pics of ordinary people. just going about their daily lives
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They are great memories for me, Beth. I have been to that market many times in my twenties.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks for sharing. Warmest regards, Ed
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Glad you enjoyed them, Ed.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Boston had a wonderful market like that in the late 60’s when I was in college. I loved going there. After that it was demolished, replaced by brutalist style government buildings. Also a tourist spot called “Quincy Market” which is an assortment of tourist stuff and places to eat. Very sad to see people flocking there not knowing what they are missing.
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The younger generation shoppers have no idea about the vibrancy and value of real street markets. If we had time machines, we could open their eyes.
Best wishes, Pete.
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They sure have to live with fake everything from these “markets” to the proliferation of chain eateries.
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Love these looks back at a “simpler” time
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It was simpler, and mostly happier too, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I love the pictures you share.
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I am so pleased to hear that, Molly.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Hi Pete, very nice pictures. There are two featuring children and they are both wearing very interesting coats.
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I think those coats might have been second-hand, Robbie. Even in the 1970s they were old-fashioned.
Best wishes, Pete.
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That does make sense.
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That was to be my comment too.
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I remember similar redevelopment in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1980s.
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It was never ‘progress’, unfortunately.
Best wishes, Pete.
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In Norfolk, the urban renewal was progress, for the most part.
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I imagine there are very few “green grocers” left now? Sad. One’s food used to be fresh. It’s a different world which one would welcome if it was better, but is it?
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The demise of the high street shops and cheap markets is something of a tragedy, Carolyn. But in an almost cashless society, they would be struggling, I suspect.
Best wishes, Pete
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(1) In the absence of mistletoe, you could kiss beneath a hand of bananas.
(2) Where’s the self-checkout line?
(3) Shouldn’t A.A. Fisher sell seafood instead of country pork sausages?
(4) English King Edwards are a variety of potatoes. My eyes noticed that.
(5) I wonder what’s in the back of that station wagon with the tailgate down and the rear window up?
(6) Is the Watney Street Market still around? I need to buy some chutney.
(7) Gladys McGee wrote many lines of poetry. Some of those lines were borrowed from her face.
(8) “I can’t afford a pram, so I put my baby in this here box!”
(9) “First, mum asks me to clean up my room. And now she wants me to clean up the street? I don’t think so! I’m out of here!”
(10) If only the boy’s mother knew her son was looking at pictures of young girls in frilly lingerie.
(11) “Let me squeeze those again. I don’t know. They seem okay.”
(12) When Joe saw his shop being demolished, he was devastated, and his wife, who was used to the income, became a nervous wreck.
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Potatoes and eyes was very good, David! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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