Famous for bargain electronics and street food, it is one of the largest outdoor markets in the UK. However, the North Weald market, which has operated every Saturday for 30 years on the site of a former RAF airfield in Essex, announced in October that it could lose 100 of its premises, replacing them with a car park.
Tech giant Google paid struggling Epping Council £88.2m for 52 acres of the 400-acre site in 2024, with plans in the works to build a data center and staff car park.
North Weald is one of a number of heritage markets in danger across the UK, as cash-strapped councils lack the funds and means to support local traders.
Also on the risk list is the Birmingham Bull Ring market, which has been operating for 900 years; and the meat market of Smithfield, which has also been punting legs of lamb in the heart of the City of London since 1327, but will close forever since last year the market was removed to a new site on the outskirts of the city. The site had also been earmarked as a new home for Spitalfields produce market and Billingsgate fish market.
With affordable goods and rich history, heritage markets are a major attraction for tourists. London-based video creative Anthony Leung, 46, says Billingsgate is on his “must-see” list whenever his parents visit from Toronto.
Anthony Leung and his father, Tony, at Billingsgate market in Polar, London
“It’s an experience that’s uniquely London, but shares a lot with the market culture you find all over the world,” he added. Leung is upset that the seafood vendors have been given notice of their current location in the poplar; this will be Billingsgate’s second move after being evicted from Lower Thames Street in 1982. “Whatever you do, you cannot replicate the soul of an old market in any new building,” he says.
The future of the British market
Retail expert Steve Millington says local governments are under “acute pressure” to balance their books, leading to the sale of market sites – often in prime downtown locations – to private developers.
“Many times [local authorities] argue that traders can be moved to indoor shopping centers, but this fails to understand the ingredients that give the markets their vitality, “he says. Millington adds that insufficient investment and lack of modernization of the market sites can mean lower numbers of passage and visitors, leaving the markets at risk of closure. But, he says, other models of markets can succeed.
Foreign tourist favourites, such as the Time Out market in Lisbon and the characteristic Turku market hall in Finland, have been brought into the 21st century with a focus on street food and entertainment. Closer to home in greater Manchester, Altrincham street market, founded in 1290, has been enhanced with a huge food hall and late night opening hours.
Joe Harrison of the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF), the trade association for market and street traders, says heritage markets need not remain stuffy ruins. With online searches for “local markets” up 3,000 percent in five years, Harrison believes there is a customer appetite to be tapped.
Some markets still carry connotations of Del Boy Trotter’s (David Jason) business in Ons Fools and Horses – BBC
“I admit, there is a reputation of independent traders of Peckham that the markets need to shake,” Harrison says about the fingerless gloves and the fallen-off-the-back-of-a-truck clichés that are associated with some markets. “But local markets are part of the fabric and social history of Britain – and we should fight for them.”
10 endangered heritage markets to visit (before they’re gone)
Billingsgate, Docklands
Billingsgate is London’s oldest fish market – Neil Hall/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
With the doors swinging open at 4am, you need to be early, but it’s worth it for a taste of old London (and an indelible smell of salty sea). Think of Billingsgate like a vast trading floor for all things edible and aquatic: carpets of crustaceans, baskets of bivalves and ranks of bright-eyed whole fish. Fortify yourself with a sausage roll from the on-site coffee shop and be ready to blow off steam.
How to do it: Anchored in the heart of Docklands, floating hotel and social enterprise the Good Hotel has a stylish double from £159, room only.
Bull Ring Indoor Market, Birmingham
A range of textile merchants have been part of the Bull Ring indoor market for generations – Paul Quayle/Alamy
Adjacent to the modern Bullring shopping centre, Bull Ring indoor market is part of Brum’s mercantile history, with traders who have been there for generations, including 200-year-old Pearce’s Shellfish, fourth-generation City Butchers and a range of textile merchants. Unfortunately, the market is being removed in 2027 to make way for flats and student accommodation, although the city council has promised a new market elsewhere.
How to do it: Located in the Jewelery Quarter 15 minutes’ walk from the Bullring, the BLOC hotel has spacious doubles with kitchenettes from £94 per night, plus continental breakfast.
Chapel Market, London
Traders fear Chapel market, in Islington, will become a ‘trendy yuppie street’ if locals don’t support it – Robert Evans/Alamy
With news that this much-loved street bazaar in Angel, Islington, is failing to attract new stallholders amid mismanagement by the local authority, traders have called on locals to support its vendors to avoid the fate of, as one trader puts it, becoming a “trendy yuppie street”. In truth, there are yuppie fine cheeses and takeaway paellas that go for a song in this backstreet market, along with cut-price cosmetics and handbags.
How to do it: This stylish Airbnb is a short walk along Islington Upper Street and features two double bedrooms and an outdoor patio with barbecue area. From £251 per night, four night minimum.
Coventry Market, Coventry
‘Post-war classic’: Coventry Market – Colin Underhill/Alamy
With clothing, hardware, key cutting services and small cafes arranged in concentric circles around a central block under a domed roof, Coventry market is a post-war classic and a slice of Warwickshire working class life that is threatened by nearby housing developments. A lively outdoor section, known as the market square, features cut-price clothes and bric-a-brac of household goods.
How to do it: Telegraph Hotel Coventry occupies the city’s heritage newspaper buildings and printing house, with doubles from £109, which include a food voucher to spend on breakfast or drinks.
Eastgate Market, Gloucester
As is the case with many cities, Gloucester’s Eastgate market is part of its social history – Mr Standfast/Alamy
With its traditional grocers and butchers, watchmakers and hacers, Eastgate indoor market is part of the social history of this Cotswolds gateway town. Its future, however, is in the balance as the renovation funds promised through the Government’s Leveling Up Fund have not yet materialized. Step through the ornate 19th-century portico entrance to luxury food items for a snip, such as olives and spices from the Kahlamata Olives.
How to do it: Townhouse hotel The Albert is a short walk from Eastgate market. Doubles from £145 per night, on a B&B basis.
Leicester Market
Leicester market trades every day of the week except Sundays – Martyn Williams/Alamy
With an indoor food hall and outdoor markets trading Monday to Saturday in the city centre, Leicester market is another battleground as the local authority announced a £7.5m revamp which will move the dry goods stalls outside and replace them with a smaller food area. Before the move, come for big slabs of red Leicester cheese, blue Stilton, Walker’s pork pies and locally raised meats from traders who have been in the market for generations. Try some local lingo: “chissit” is the way to ask about prices in the Leicester language.
How to do it: Novotel Leicester is in the newly regenerated Waterside area of the city, with doubles from £75 per night, room only.
Lewisham Market, London
Street stalls in characterful Lewisham market, South London – Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy
Lewisham market is a strange and very London hodgepodge of street stalls, indoor market space from the 1970s, and units from the 1950s, the latter of which features popular street food and pop up entertainment Model Market (which usually runs from April to September). Unfortunately, the entire lot is due to be torn down by 2026 for a new housing and leisure development. Come for a cornucopia of global products and a proper character in South London.
How to do it: A short trip on the DLR from Lewisham, ibis London Greenwich has doubles from £104 per night.
Llanelli Market, Wales
Llanelli market in Carmarthenshire has an eclectic mix of stalls – Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy
Friendly Llanelli market has been running for 150 years although its current site, under a 20th century multi-storey car park, is due for demolition, leaving its future in the balance. Come for bacon rolls, knitting patterns, jigsaws, greeting cards, big smiles and oodles of Carmarthenshire character.
How to do it: Diplomat Hotel and Spa, known for its restaurant serving hearty Welsh roasts, has doubles on offer, room only, from £148.
North Weald Market, Epping
The Saturday market in North Weald – Alamy
Trading since 1994 on Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday, the North Weald market is a long-time favourite, with a range of 300 stalls selling everything from towels to toasters. Favorites include the Trotters-esque Crazy Clearance, which hawks clothes, electronics, pet food and hair treatments, and Candy floss and slushies seller The Candy Man.
How to do it: Down Hall Estate and Spa has plush doubles from £211 a night, room only.
Smithfield Market, City of London
A butcher shop at London’s famous Smithfield meat market – Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty
Smithfield market was established in 1133 and survived the Great Fire of London. However, the City of London Corporation has announced that this piece of London history will close forever in 2028. Go and experience it while you can, and arrive at night. The fervent activities begin at 10pm when the trucks crowd the entrance, and from 2am the magnificent halls of the Victorian market are alive with the shouts of traders and the bright red halls of meat.
How to do it: A nod to the City’s other mercantile trade, Threadneedles is a former Victorian bank reborn as a boutique style hotel; doubles from £299, room only.
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