Stall Tales: London’s Street Markets Past, Present, Future

About the project

Stall Tales is a pilot project, and we aim to do two things:

• Gather your views about ‘activating’ the history and heritage of the markets to make it visible to everyone who shops at, works in or visits the markets.
• Test out some ways to do this – how can we best mobilise the history of the markets?

We want to hear from you! Stall Tales aims to generate ideas and assemble partners for a celebration of the history of London’s street markets in 2027. If you have market stories or photographs to share, if you work or run a business in one of London’s street markets, shop in or visit the markets, or have family links to their history, please let us know. 

To find out more, see the Get Involved page.

Why now?

2027 will mark one hundred years since London’s street markets — which at first were unofficial and unlicensed — were formally accepted and recognised by local authorities.

It will be 160 years since a proposed new law threatened to sweep the markets off the streets completely and was only prevented by campaigns and protests.

We think the history of the markets deserves to be better known and now is a good moment to make that happen.  

Our people

Dr Rachael Johnson

Dr Rachael Johnson is a historian who explores the origins of England’s very first seaside resorts. Inspired by a long-standing love of Jane Austen’s novels, Rachael’s research focuses on the leisure lives of the Georgian England’s upper and middle classes, with a particular emphasis on spas and seaside resorts as fashionable centres for leisure, pleasure and health. After working as a Senior Lecturer in History at Kingston University, in 2023 Rachael joined the Research and Innovation team at the University for the Creative Arts, where she works to support the research community.  

As part of the Stall Tales research team, Rachael brings a knowledge of the world of eighteenth-century fairs and markets, and an enthusiasm for understanding how people use similar spaces today as spaces for leisure and consumption. 

Professor Victoria Kelley  

Professor Victoria Kelley is a historian whose work is always about the everyday lives of (extra)ordinary people. She has written about laundry, cleaning and housework and how nineteenth-century mothers used cleanliness to show how they cared for their families. She has explored shops and shopping, from the co-op to the cash register. And, in 2019, she published Cheap Street, the first full-length history of the street markets of London. Victoria brings to the Stall Tales team her love of market histories, and of markets; in thirty years living in London she has shopped at dozens of markets, and been a regular customer in Berwick Street, Hildreth Street, East Street and Lewisham High Street. Victoria works at University for the Creative Arts.

Camille Serisier

Camille Serisier is an artist whose work explores the power of visual storytelling as a force for social change. Camille tells her own stories using drawing, performance and photography. She also works with community groups, researchers, art centres, educators, museums and theatrical performers to help other people share their stories and discuss existing narratives. Camille is currently a doctoral candidate at the University for the Creative Arts with the assistance of a Vice Chancellor PhD Studentship in Photography as part of Fast Forward: Women in Photography. 

As part of the Photo-histories of the Street Markets of London research team, Camille brings to bear her experience as a socially conscious photographer and participatory researcher. She is working with other members of the research team to co-design creative engagements for the various communities who are part of London Street Markets. As an immigrant, Camille is interested in London Street Markets as sites for cultural and social exchange.