WE LOVE OUR BOROUGH

One of the things that emerged from our Away Day this week is how much we all love where we work.

Simple, but true. And partly because we work next to Borough Market.

We have been in Borough for nearly 11 years. When we first came here we didn't go dahn the moahket because all there was there was lorries and pallettes of cabbages.

Now it is a tourist attraction and a film set most weekends, but it has kept its original character (and some of its original characters).

And of course now it is totally stylish and trendy. Just like us.

We thought we would feature a series of Quite Interesting Things you maybe didn't know about Borough Market.

That way, you'll maybe be tempted to come and see us on a Thursday or Friday, at least, when the market's in full swing.

Quite Interesting Thing no. 1:

Borough Market is London's oldest food market, has been on its current site for 250 years and in this area for 20 centuries! (Source, Borough Market's own website.)

And we thought that WE had been going a long time ...

Comments

[YooHoo]

Where was it before that? Somewhere else in Borough?

[Kevin]

Good question, YooHoo. It is all a little fascinating. We THINK the original Borough market was very near present site, near south end of London Bridge. But it also probably moved around a bit, as this area was associated with a lot of 'trouble'.

History of B Mkt and L Bridge involves many interesting characters, including Trevor Beattie's favourite medieval monarch, King Cnut ...

"The market moved from its nearby original location (on a long-since vanished bridge built by King Canute) to the current site in 1756"
http://www.urban75.org/london/borough-market.html

"Romans built the original ‘London bridge’ (which) was excavated not long ago and found to be not far from the modern day London Bridge. On the north side of the bridge the Romans formed a settlement called Londinium. A consequence of building low bridges across rivers is that boats can no longer pass freely. This turned Londinium into an important trading location. Boats were forced to unload and sell their wares"
http://www.definitivelondon.com/?cat=2

See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundenwic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge