Welocme to Borough Market, London's premier foodie haunt. Located at the southern end of London Bridge, is the capital’s oldest market, - and probably the loudest from the hundreds of trains rumbling daily overhead into London Bridge station. Shoppers come from all over London and beyond to stroll round the market and buy organic meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables and patisserie from enthusiastic and knowledgeable stallholders.And here lies the problem. Although it is in itself quite charming, don't get me wrong, I try to be as organic as possible (which basically – as a human being - I am anyway…) and I love quality food, houmous and (yes, here you get it…) good fresh bread as much as any decent human being - despite, poor old Jamie Oliver who has lost the battle against fast food as children preferred the spaghetti bolognese in cans more than his own h
and made ones…) but misusing the word "organic" in front of each of these items leading to an inflationary effect on prices… well, ASDA here I come.And second, as it is promoted primarily as a tourist destination (at least on Saturdays you hear every language except English) and therefore even boosts a German Wursttheke, it has exactly that: a lot of tourists. Switzerland has Morgarten and St. Jakob as battlefields. London has Oxford Circus on a Saturday afternoon and Borough Market. The place is quite terrifying; if you ever want to prepare for a ski season in Switzerland, here’s your training camp. Weapons of choice (and literally weapons of tourist mass destruction include backpacks the size you use for a Mount Everest expedition, umbrellas (the super size family version) and bodybuilder elbows. I went once. And to be honest – yep
p – I will go again. It’s, despite the above horror stories, quite a nice place - and close to where I live. But there are plenty of other markets in this city…
But Borough Market is under threat. Government finally gave the go-ahead to Network Rail to widen the railway viaducts into London Bridge to ease bottlenecks on commuter services after a 10 year planning battle. Modern times, here we come...
Local residents and businesses fear that the proposed works will destroy buildings in the Georgian and Victorian streets round the market and threaten the market itself. And if it goes ahead, this area of labyrinth style streets, small shops, bars and restaurants will, at best, be a building site for years.
But you get quite good spiced hot cider…
For today's lyrics - another battle (and in honor of a reunited band, that just recently gave their comeback at the Millenium Dome):
I hear the horses' thunder
Down in the valley blow,
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon,
Waiting for the eastern glow.
The Battle of Evermore - Led Zeppelin
