Comments on: At Spitalfields Fruit & Veg Market

By: Gilda Haber, PhD

Gilda Haber, PhD — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 20:28:05 +0000

I went to Spitalfield High School (I believe since torn down?) near Spitalfield Market and loved visiting the Market. None of your photos show the men walking gracefully with round baskets of fruit or vegetables balanced on their heads, no hands. When my father grew older, he would go there after they closed, and pick up abandoned fruit or vegetables. When war broke out, Spitalfield High School was evacuated (some girls stayed in London throughout the war not me) to Ely, a Cathedral town that I hated. I longed for the cheery East London where my father and mother ran Alf’s Hairdressers on Vallance Road, later on Columbia Road-where the Sunday flower market was held. I came back to Spitalfields High School after the war, but soon finished Higher School Certificate and won a scholarship to London School of Economics. I now live in the U.S. but miss the old London that I believe radically changed. Google Gilda Haber, maiden name was Moss, short for Moscovitch.

By: Nicola Albon

Nicola Albon — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 14:14:08 +0000

It’s so wonderful to see these photographs. They show how much the area has changed and it’s lovely to see how it was as a working fruit and veg market.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 07:34:02 +0000

I am trying to find long distance family Isaac Fruiterers who were cousins to Tubby Isaac my Great Grandmother Martha Anna Isaac was the daughter of Isaac Fruiterers London Bishops Gate Norton Forgate London because she married a non Jewish man she was disowned by her parents who were Fruit importers would like to talk to families please call Susan Vousden 01255 813511 OR EMAIL ME WE HAVE GOT A FAMILY TREE

By: Philip Marriage

Philip Marriage — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:47:56 +0000

These are really special . . . well done!

By: Sherry Bryan

Sherry Bryan — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 10:18:11 +0000

Can vividly remember scurrying through rotting fruit and veg, in my bottle green beret on my way to school in Spital Square. Great photos, can smell that special odour, and hear the evocative sounds of the market as if it was yesterday!

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 22:13:39 +0000

Wonderful photographs that capture the atmosphere of the old market so beautifully. These are immensely important documents as well as works of art. I find it difficult to reconcile the Spitalfields that once existed – and now only exists in photographs – with the weird tourist attraction that has developed in its place. I often walk around the streets that I once photographed as they were, in a state of dereliction and decay, and I feel as if I am on a film set or a kind of Disney park. Strange days.

By: pauline taylor

pauline taylor — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:53:53 +0000

There is a wonderful atmosphere in these photographs which reminds me of how it felt to be in a train station in the early hours of the morning, almost like another world with a strange sense of unreality that I had totally forgotten until I saw these.

We had a costermonger’s barrow at my home which had belonged to my grandfather who grew up in the East End, I remember it well and still have photos of me and my friend playing beside it in the garden. In retrospect I think I learnt a lot about the East End from this grandfather, he always called me mate and taught me a lot of cockney rhyming slang which I still use to this day. He was a lovely man and so much here reminds me of him, so thank you yet again GA.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:05:51 +0000

I always feel that I am wealthier in mind and spirit after I have visited this wonderful daily blog.
This series of photographs has taken me to an unknown place and time — and now I feel that I have a strong sense of the place itself and the community/purpose of the people. The final shot with flecks of snow — somehow it captured the whole concept of people laboring while the rest of us sleep, still snug in our beds. So grateful for these photos, and the feeling they provide.
Many thanks.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 07:58:32 +0000

Great photos of an era gone by. Where are the photographers now? Did they continue to build on their body of work recording life in London and finally manage to give up their “day jobs”.

By: John Barrett

John Barrett — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 07:11:39 +0000

Up early in the morning that’s what market people do they work so hard, to get their produce ready for dispatch before dawn. The buyers arrive and buy for the shops, this is a fast moving scene for perishables, freshness for veg is key here, we demand this; don’t we. Good quality pics by M & H and a good GA write up , notice most scenes were photographed before the dawn is up at Spitalfields Market. The handcarts shown are real gems I wonder if they are still used, if not one should be in a London Museum. A good link here is Blackie the ‘Last Spitalfields Market Cat’ by GA also see a response by ‘angelladee’ quite descriptive about working farm cats. John B