Comments on: George Gladwell’s Columbia Rd Market

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 15:20:29 +0000

You must be psychic. Later this morning I am heading off to the garden center to finally
buy plants for my outdoor containers. No, the greenhouse will not have the teeming fascination or vibrant characters of the Market here — and certainly no one will be making grand theatrical
gestures while holding plants — but the colors of the flowers and the promise of summer will
prevail.

Onward and upward. I am thinking how much my MOTHER would have enjoyed the market you’ve shown us. She could find a small tendril at the side of the road, and nurture it to a flourishing shrub. She loved “acquiring” plants — much more fun for her than just “buying” — and she was such a gifted gardener. Her favorite flower: The Peace Rose. When I buy my plants today, I will have her favorite colors in mind.

By: cR

cR — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 14:34:27 +0000

Not that I knew it back then but comparing these photos to the current day the variety and type of plants appear to have changed as much as the visitors: not a moustache, turn up, beanie hat, workshop jacket, round rimmed spectacle or tattoo in sight.

By: Di Corry

Di Corry — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 07:32:03 +0000

Those were the days ….when Columbia Road Market was a real East End market full of real characters , plantsmen/women and cheap flowers and plants.
Pleasant as it is, it has now been reinvented and ‘gentrified’ like much of the area …..and those photographs are just echoes of a past East End that is no more.
Sad for those of us who grew up there and knew Columbia Road as it was then.