How Crossrail 2 Could Destroy One of London’s Oldest Indoor Markets

At the busy high street entrance of Tooting Market in South London, local residents inspect bowls laden with cucumbers, mangoes, and bananas, while the fruit and veg stallholder rushes to replenish his stock. Down the aisles of the indoor market, traders offer samples from simmering pots of Chinese broth, butchers haul meat onto blocks, and flaky patties are displayed proudly next to flashy handbags.

Tooting Market in South London. All photos by Liz Seabrook.

Among the the market's long-standing food traders are newer business: a bakery selling brownies and gluten-free cakes, a small-batch gin shop, a wine bar. Despite this variety, no one looks out of place at Tooting Market. Stallholders visit each other's pitches to say hello and catch up on the morning's news. An outpost of the trendy pizza chain Franco Manca is the only slightly incongruous sight among the rows of small, independent businesses.

"I've been working here six and a half years, in markets in general, about 17 years," says market manager Roi Mengelgrein, who is showing me around the market today. "I think change is good. As a business person, you have to be on top of it otherwise you can lose your whole business, but obviously don't forget your roots and don't forget what made this place. So we protect the butcher, we protect the fruit man, the Caribbean shop. We try to blend the old and the new."

Read more on MUNCHIES.