Friends of Queen Market

Queen's Market is a thriving, ethnically diverse market which serves the community in East London. This project took place in order to help the Friends of Queens Market (FoQM) group express their concerns and aspirations surrounding a proposed development on the site of the market.

Queen’s Market is a 100 year-old covered street market in East London. Situated next to Upton Park railway station, it consists of 150 stalls and 70 small shops. Around 2003, business and trade in the market had been declining and the existing buildings were failing to meet access requirements and were in need of repair. In 2003 thr council decided to lease the market to a private developer and a report announced a proposed redevelopment of the site.

Friends of Queens Market (FoQM) set up in 2003 to campaign to ensure the market survived and continued to provide a quality and affordable service to the local community during the redevelopment. FoQM had huge concerns that the redevelopment would mean increased trader charges and bigger companies becoming involved which would lead to increased costs being transferred to customers and local traders being forced out.

FoQM wanted to be able to fully understand their options whilst campaigning against the redevelopment proposals but felt they did not have the expertise to do so. The Glass-House therefore enlisted the help of anindependent enabler who attended a number of meetings with the group to go through the redevelopment proposals and provide an impartial professional opinion. This programme of support aimed to give FoQM the skills, understanding and confidence to build up an informed understanding about the planning process and where they stood in relation to redevelopment proceedings.

Friends of Queens Market have regularly held a stall in the market to put forward their position on development and they have an active website. See right panel.

Visits from London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2009 and Queen’s Market being nominated in the BBC Food & Farming Awards (2009) has enabled FoQM to show why this market is so important to the local community. Since the Glass-House report, professional architects and designers have started looking at the plans. They are in the process of compiling information towards an open consultation, and the possibility of doing workshops which start to compile a more site specific response to Queen’s Market with local needs and a local vision.

The Glass-House was very helpful in viewing the whole situation but also strengthened own reasons as to why fighting for the market would be in the best interest of both the local people and the group. We would have hoped for more direction in starting workshops to engage with the local people and visualise ideas for the market.

Neighbourhoods

Conservation of market

Advice from an independent Enabler

Visits from London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2009
BBC Food & Farming Awards nomination (2009)
Professional architects and designers started looking at the plans.
In the process of compiling information towards an open consultation.

Ian Philips - Landscape architect and town planner