The ghost of Wapping markets future

In anticipation of the opening of the new weekend market at Shadwell Basin by Toby and the team at Brockley market, I decided to have a pootle down to see what's on offer at Brockley to see what sort of experience we might be able to expect in Wapping.

There's a good range of stalls serving both hot and cold food to eat there and then, as well as various stalls selling fresh produce: a fishmonger, meat stands ranging from a general butcher to more specialised vendors of poultry, smoked fish and salamis and a handful of greengrocers. The surprise highlight for me was the sauerkraut/kimchi/pickle stall (though I resisted, as there's still a faint whiff of fermented cabbage on me since Oktoberfest).

The emphasis is very much on quality rather than price (but I would definitely not say it was over priced) and that appeared to be reflected in the demographic of the customers. We bought some monkfish goujons (about £10 a kilo less than the fillet price in Waitrose), two ice creams for a fiver (very tasty) and a Christmas sherry and fig salami £3.50 (will report back later).

All in all, I am very much looking forward to the new market. I think the best aspect will be drawing more people into the area which may lead to people visiting the pubs and restaurants during the week once they've discovered the area, but I don't see the market serving the same function as say Watney market, or my own childhood experiences in the north of England.

If you want a trip down yourself, take the Overground to New Cross/New Cross Gate or Brockley and have a 10-15 minute walk. Alternatively, if you go to New Cross, there's a train every 10 minutes to St John's Station which is about 100m from the market. More details on the Brockley Market website.