Struggling businesses at the capital’s top street markets today appealed for Londoners to fill the gap left by the reduced tourist trade.
Stall owners in Portobello Road, Columbia Road and Borough Market said they were facing the “toughest” trading conditions they had seen. Many rely on tourists for much of their sales, particularly during summer.
Agnes Nwabia, who sells clothes and jewellery in Portobello Road, said: “A lot of the stall owners aren’t coming during the week anymore because it’s so quiet. This is a tourists’ market. On Saturday there used to be hundreds of people but now it’s very quiet even at the weekend. We need more residents to come down and shop.”
Kensington & Chelsea council has given 96 grants to market traders so far totalling £240,000 as part of its Business Interruption Fund, installed free wifi to aid contactless sales and closed Portobello Road to traffic on market days.
But traders say they are still struggling. Onur Turgul, who sells framed collages and postcards made by his wife, said: “The council has helped with the relief fund but we need more people to come down.” Fraser Devlin’s family has been running a fruit and veg stall from Portobello Road for more than 100 years.
He said: “Because of what we sell business has been steady for us. But on Saturdays the market as a whole is much quieter. We don’t want to lose what makes it what it is.” The flower market in Columbia Road reopened on July 5, but new measures mean there are about 50 per cent fewer customers. Shane Harnett, whose family has run a stall for more than 100 years, said: “Columbia Road saw a lot of tourists and they haven’t come back.”
Nick Fitzgerald, who runs Mexican market stall and restaurant Tacos Padre in Borough Market, said: “There needs to be a coordinated campaign to drive people down to London’s markets.”
