Leader – Ridley Road Market is the soul of Hackney
Sue Baldwin at her egg stall, Ridley Road Market. Photograph: Hackney Citizen
Were Ridley Road Market’s vitality desirable purely because of the economic opportunities it offers for hundreds of lower income people, that alone would make it worth protecting.
But it is about more than that. This market is part of the essence of Hackney and the daily lives of generations of people who have lived and still live here.
One of the dwindling bastions of what can rightfully be called old Hackney, it’s an intrinsically messy place – precisely the kind of locale that well-meaning urban planners and politicians have historically misunderstood and desired to bring order and control to.
Of course, they would deny wanting to run the market down.
They say new fees they hope to charge costermongers and other traders to recoup some of the costs of cleaning up after them will not imperil livelihoods, and they no doubt believe this.
But the forces that regeneration can unleash might have precisely this effect, whether politicians intend it or not. A myriad of schemes now threaten the fabric of Dalston.
Councillors should be fighting to ensure they do not rip the soul out of the area. They could start by looking again at their fees plan.
Yes, cleaning up after traders costs money, but so does sweeping up fast food detritus or clearing chewing gum off pavements, and we don’t see any analysis of whether the big companies responsible should be charged extra.
The stallholders of Ridley Road operate the smallest of small businesses. They are precisely the kind of people a Labour council should be seeking to help.
The market has a rich history. Older Jews from Stamford Hill remember schlepping to Ridley Road to buy live chicken in the 1950s that they would carry clucking to the shochet (slaughterer). Now Africans shop for giant snails and “Nollywood” DVDs.
The market is an ethnic melting pot. It has seen its share of scandal too. It’s a chaotic, noisy, sometimes smelly place – but it would be a tragedy to see it die.
Where else could you buy 4 ripe avocados for £1.00..YES £1.00 …
I love Ridley Road market, my mum likes to come all the way from Canary Wharf to buy fruit and have a wee chat with the traders..
We must defend the heart of Hackney.
Juan Leal
Such a tragedy if Ridley road is taken over by the blanding out that is affecting so much of hackney these days
after twenty years of living in the borough I fear the area is becoming monopolised by consumer experiences for affluent white twenty- thirty somethings
there needs to be space for everyone
We cannot allow the historic Ridley Road Market to become the domain of the champagne socialists whose visit to a market involves paying £4 for a loaf of organic artisan bread and the like.
Ridley Road is a market where real people shop from real people.
The waste issue is something that with some goodwill from all sides concerned could be addressed. Most traders would only to pleased to put their waste in recycling or compost bins and do their bit in keeping the area around their stall clean and tidy.
The £500,000 cleaning up cost could be slashed and perhaps at the same time the stall fees could be reduced which would bring more traders and customers to come to the area. That is what is called regeneration
let me be clear
Everyone is a real person!!
I just dont want to see Ridley Road or Hackney or London dominated by just one type of person