A vibrant market once celebrated as the “jewel” of east London is losing its luster, with traders saying a lack of toilets, rising crime and inadequate signage are tarnishing the area and discouraging customers. Before moving to its current home, Queen’s Market in Newham began as a street market that stretched along Green Street.

Today the market exists next to Upton Park tube station and remains the busiest and most popular market in the district selling goods from around the world to which people from all over are willing to travel. It’s not just the exclusive range of African, Caribbean and South Asian products that have people patiently lining up at the market stalls, but also the fresh cuts of meat that sell out from 11am every day. .

Queen’s Market is not your ordinary London market, nor does it cater to one type of customer. East End locals and fashion students alike take over the market’s vibrant sea of ​​fabrics and glittering jewels. The market is a melting pot celebrating the best of London’s diverse communities and cultures, with one local telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was used as an authentic backdrop for the recently released Netflix film, Luther.

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Despite this, traders in the market have claimed that business could be better if the council improved its day-to-day operations. Javed Iqbal, who has worked in the market for 25 years selling handbags, said the LDRS business has changed dramatically for him in recent years and he says Covid hit him particularly hard.

He said: “This is a community, we are a community here. People used to come on buses, South Asians, different people, they came from as far away as Leicester. We were very busy at the time, but we don’t have toilets, no toilets, nothing. We need toilets, we need proper publicity, we need it to be nice like Covent Garden.

“A lot of customers tell me ‘our kids don’t want to go into the market because it’s so dirty and smelly’, but I say ‘no, we do our best, we try to keep it neat and nice and clean.’ Hopefully they help us out because that It is our future. The clients are the same, but if the rent (increases) it means that the market must be improved.”

Newham Council said it hasn’t raised rent in five years, and a council spokesman told LDRS, saying it is reviewing the rising costs of running the markets, which could have an impact on traders like Iqbal. Meanwhile, just around the corner is where Altaf Patni has been selling cloth for the last 25 years.

Rising inflation means Patni has been forced to stop buying certain types of fabrics because suppliers have raised prices and he simply cannot afford to take risks. He said: “We discontinue certain products because we can’t afford to keep them and it’s not worth it in a space like this if people don’t want to buy it anymore.

“So what can we do? We try to get it (from) somewhere else. We don’t have footprints like we used to, it’s not just me (saying that), talk to anyone (here) and they’ll say the same thing.” Patni says that another problem with the market is that the directions and signs are not obvious, and says that he has seen customers “wandering” in the parking lot above while trying to find a way in.

“Go up to the parking lot and you will see that there are no signs for entry and exit,” explained Mr. Patni. You see people wandering, people driving looking for the exit, there are people walking thinking, ‘how can I get to the entrance?’ That’s poor and I’ve brought it up (with the council) a couple of times.”

Mr Patni added: “Parking is the biggest problem. One thing (council) can do is put a coin meter there, that will help a lot. Most people come here and I think you need a GCSE to sort it out. above”. , you have to sign up and all that kind of stuff.”

Patni finished by saying, “(The market) is good, but much more can be done and even the simplest things can be done, like parking signs. If nothing can be done to have 30 minutes to an hour of free parking , so fair enough, just put a coin meter in there. It’s the simplest and doesn’t take a lot of time.”

Responding to Mr Patni’s comments about the car park, a Newham City Council spokesman said it had to remove the cash-operated parking machines because they “cost too much to maintain and are easy to vandalize and steal”.

They added: “This is a county-wide issue, but at Queen’s Market visitors can pay for a ticket with cash at market kiosks. We expect to install new car parking signage by July, which will include instructions on where to pay cash inside the market.”

Meanwhile, Ash Kaul, who works at his mother’s haberdashery stall, says crime is on the rise and customers feel unsafe. He said: “We used to have a local (police) officer, but we don’t have one anymore, who do we talk to?

“We only have those communal ones, but it’s things like that, that would put people off in general because once your bag is stolen or taken away, you don’t want to go back. I wish (police and security) were much more vigilant.” Kaul added: “I don’t want to say this place is dangerous, but because there’s a roof over it at night, people come in and congregate and the police just look the other way.”

“Seems like they’re letting things get so bad and pickpockets are really bad, but where are the patrols?”

A Newham City Council spokesperson told LDRS that it is looking to introduce nightly security patrols and hopes it will make a difference for customers and merchants.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of the concern in the area and will always do our best to act when incidents are reported to us by residents.

“Our neighborhood police teams actively patrol those areas and engage with the community to deter anti-social behaviour. They welcome input from the local population and will act on the intelligence provided to take preemptive action to address crime when there are opportunities to do so.

“We are committed to working with the local population to ensure that they can feel safe in their community.”

Saif Osmani, who helped establish the Friends of Queen’s Market community group 20 years ago, fears that the traders are being forgotten in the wake of the redevelopment. In 2009, the group helped stop a major council planning development that would have seen the market replaced “with luxury flats and an ASDA” after then-London Mayor Boris Johnson rejected the plans.

However, Mr. Osmani fears that the market is still at risk of being affected by future developments. He said: “Newham is the most diverse place in the country, you need places for people to come together to share their cultures and experiences and also to get to know each other, break down those barriers.

“We are aware of the market pressures from the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Mayor’s office, who want to block luxury flats near the station, but we say it actually feeds thousands and thousands of families. , so it will actually really affect them negatively.

“There may be other ways to look at how that impacts or benefits people.”

In response to concerns raised in this article, Darren Mackin, Director of Community Wealth Creation at Newham Council, said the market is “here to stay” and the council is committed to protecting the market from future redevelopment. Mackin said: “Queen’s Market has been the historic backbone of the community for decades and is the ‘crown jewel’ of the local area.

“It is here to stay and we are absolutely committed to making it the best it can be. Queen’s Market has evolved over many generations and today we are as committed as ever to restoring it. Protecting this invaluable community asset, which so many of our residents depend on and love, but also want to see improvements, it’s critical to our commitment to Green Street and a revitalized public square for all to enjoy.”

In 2020 the council received £2m in ‘Funding for Good Growth’ from the government which will go towards new lighting, market floors, toilets, signage, electric bollards and new canopies at the market front as well as to the renovation and improvement of the public space in Queen’s Square.

Mr Mackin added: “This significant financial investment will spark local community priorities and aspirations that have been co-designed with them, and kick off long-needed investment in and around Queen’s Market to support merchants, small businesses and the community at large, and ensure the long-term future of the market as part of a fairer Newham.

“In addition, we have commissioned an independent review of our existing market policies to ensure they are relevant and appropriate to support the management and operation of Newham markets.”

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