Two Tower Hamlets markets have scooped best large and small outdoor market at the Great British Market Awards.
Columbia Road Flower Market achieved the top place in the best small outdoor market category, while Whitechapel Market took home the prize for best large outdoor market.
The National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) presented the two markets with the national awards on the 30 January.
Columbia Road Flower Market can trace its routes back to 1869 and has morphed into a popular destination for tourists and residents alike.
The market runs every Sunday from 8am-3pm, selling a wide variation of cut flowers and houseplants and has changed its fare to maintain its status.
Phil Ching, 73, has been trading at Columbia Road for over 40 years and what keeps him coming back even though he is retired in the week is meeting new people and seeing the same old faces.
He said: “Now it’s all cut flowers, people don’t have gardens. People are younger.”
Tarn Osborn, 24, another market trader whose father, Lyndon, has been trading since the early 1990s said: “Nine to 11 it’s all for the people with gardens, 11 onwards it’s all for social media.”
The Osborns’ stall maintains a local aspect, sourcing seeds from the Olympic Park in Newham and growing them at Leahurst Nurseries in Barnet.
Both Ching and Osborn had not heard about the award but said they hoped it would help bring trading back to pre-covid levels.
Actors Misia Butler, 25, and Briony Scarlett, 30, said: “You see a brown paper bag bundle and you know they’ve just been to Columbia Road.”
The two punters were local to the area but social media reminded them of its existence.
Retail worker Elliana Martell said: “There are lots of different kinds of love. It has such a nice location.”
Whitechapel Market, which runs Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm, has been standing since 1904 but can trace its origins back to the late 1600s, and mainly sells jewellery, clothing and fresh food.
The market runs on Whitechapel Road where one in five people speak Bengali and over 90 different languages are spoken, and mostly serves the South Asian diaspora of East London.
Niaz Uddin, 42, has been working at the market for 21 years but said he had never heard of the award.
He said “It was the first time I heard something about Whitechapel like that.
“The award is for the people. Whitechapel is because of the people. We’re the only people still working in wind, drizzle, rain and snow.”
Tower Hamlets is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the United Kingdom, with only 22% of residents identifying as white British.
The two contrasting markets both symbolise different historical and modern aspects of the East End and represent communities living alongside one another.
Tower Hamlets Council cabinet member for environment and climate emergency Shafi Ahmed said: “Whitechapel Market is a hub of history, culture, and community, and it’s only getting better.”
Feature image credit: Free to use from Unsplash
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