Back in March 2014 I wrote about Lower Marsh and its demise as a once thriving market street. And then followed it up with a piece about the old costermongers' barrows along that street with their carved stamps.
I was back there recently and so I snapped a few pics for an update:
These lovely old barrows are now relics of a bygone time. Earlier this year The Gentle Author wrote a full and interesting piece about the last few days in the workshop of Hiller Brothers Barrow Makers, a company name that features on some of the ones in Lower Marsh. See also an earlier post written about the barrows of Spitalfields.
I am always saddened to see trades like these fade away in the face of progress. As an occasional market trader myself I have noticed that the style of market stalls on offer these days is ever-changing. For casual events it's rare to be allocated a s tandard metal frame with decent hanging space and cover - often it's either tables from a community centre or pop-up open-sided marquees. And Christmas markets are now more likely to be Bavarian-style wooden shacks. Surely if people want to visit a market of that type it would be better to go to mainland Europe to get the real deal? Can't we offer the tourists an English Victorian-style Christmas instead? I am sure they'd love that. Without the paupers and pickpockets of course.
Anyway, I digress, as usual.
I spotted some other changes in Lower Marsh, and two things in particular:
On the side of Sino Thai Restaurant, on the corner of Leake Street, there is a nice addition - an arrow of little nesting boxes created by http://wearewaterloo.co.uk/news/feathered-friends. How lovely.
But at the end of Vauxhall end of the street I see that a new building now obliterates the ghostsign that once read, "Dover Castle Proprietors / Pioneer Catering / Luncheons & Dinners / [...] Prices / [...] Stout". See the fourth pic, above right, for how it looks today.
The rebuilt New Dover Castle pub was actually on the opposite corner of the street at 172 Westminster Bridge Road and is now the Walrus Bar and Hostel.
