Today I finally made a visit to the reviving Chatsworth Market where I found out what halloumi is, bought a lovely bit of fruitcake and scoffed a tasty portion of sate wrapped in roti from Chock's Wok. I also met Diane Cunningham of the traders and residents association who expressed confidence about the market's future. The number of stallholders has risen to thirty from a pre-Christmas sixteen. Almost all of them are local people, trying their hand at market trading for the first time.
The market's Facebook page tells us that it is scheduled to continue running fortnightly through June and July and that the long-term goal is to go weekly. With the Sunday Morning Market at Rushmore school and Hackney Homemade behind the Book Box also doing business just a spit away, there seems every chance that Chatsworth Road could develop into a thriving Sunday market centre.
The market is part of a larger plan to improve the neighbourhood it serves, one that appreciates both the potential and the dangers of urban regeneration. The government's localism agenda seems set to intensify the possibilities and perils alike, as this excellent video about the plan presented by urban designer Euan Mills explains.
I wonder if the Chatsworth group has considered trying to form a community council? These are the urban equivalents of parish councils and, under powers created by the previous government, give neighbourhoods more say in planning decisions taken by their local authorities. A group in London Fields is campaigning to set one up. Across town in Westminster, a similar campaign has already reached the stage of the necessary petition being presented to the borough. If they succeed, theirs will be the first community council in London.
With the first Clapton Festival taking place in a fortnight and people mobilising to support popular neighbourhood shops like Palm 2 there seems to be an upsurge of community activism around the place. With the right objectives and organisation, this could be a powerful force in ensuring that the big changes already underway in Clapton and its surrounding area make life better for people living here.
Good post.
Although I'm well-served by Broadway Market (I live in Haggerston) it's good to find out about Hackney Homemade and about community councils both of which I hadn't heard of.
Just one thing though - you'd never tried halloumi? (Tsk!! Ain'tcha never been to a Turkish restaurant?!)
It's delicious sliced and grilled (or griddled)...
Posted by: Dermot, E2 | August 16, 2011 at 06:44 PM
Try not to alienate the "real" community of Hackney, Chatsworth Road when considering the expansion of the market! I remember the market back in theday as a youngster and it was not priced above the average wage of the area.
Posted by: Dee | August 26, 2011 at 12:15 PM