Phil Maxwell At Watney Market

The markets of the East End tend to divide between those for recreational shopping at weekends and those which are weekday and utilitarian, where people seek the essentials of life at the keenest prices. Both are interesting in different ways, yet the recreational markets tend to get photographed much more than the utilitarian ones, which makes Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell‘s pictures of Watney Market over the last thirty years especially fascinating.

Once one of the East End’s largest, Watney Market boasted an early branch of Sainsburys in 1881 – selling cheese and salt bacon to dockers – and by 1900 it was claimed there were a hundred stalls and a hundred shops. By 1928, the number of businesses had more than doubled, drawing protests from nearby churches for trading on Sundays. Yet by the sixties it was in decline and Tony Bock photographed the last days of the old market before it was redeveloped into its current form in the eighties.

Watney Market is a pedestrianised precinct now, creating an uninterrupted theatre of human life with a lively immersive atmosphere where locals feel free to linger, enjoying the socialising and banter for which East End markets are justly famous.

Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell

You may also like to take a look at

Phil Maxwell in Hanbury St

Phil Maxwell in Bethnal Green Rd

Phil Maxwell in Vallance Rd

Phil Maxwell in Sclater St

Phil Maxwell’s Brick Lane

Phil Maxwell’s Old Ladies

Phil Maxwell’s Kids On The Street

Phil Maxwell’s East End Cyclists