Petticoat Lane Market

Petticoat Lane Market lies in Spitalfields, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It consists of two street markets side by side. Wentworth Street Market opens Monday to Friday, while Middlesex Street Market appears only on Sunday. A short walk north brings visitors to Old Spitalfields Market, and across Commercial Street is Brick Lane Market. Half a mile further east stands Columbia Road Flower Market in Bethnal Green. The market’s roots go back centuries, though it was not formally recognised until 1936. The market’s long history began in Tudor times as Hogs Lane, a quiet country path where pigs once grazed. By 1608 it had become a place for second-hand clothes and cheap goods, known as Peticote Lane. Huguenot weavers arrived in the late 17th century and turned the area into a centre for clothing manufacture. Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe later kept the market alive through the garment trade. The Blitz and later bombing in World War II scattered the community, but the market survived. In the 1970s new arrivals from India and east Asia brought fresh energy to the streets around Brick Lane. Today the market stretches across many surrounding streets on Sunday, with over a thousand stalls. Traders are known for lively patter and showmanship, once tossing stacks of crockery high into the air to prove their strength. The name Petticoat Lane comes from the sale of petticoats and an old tale that thieves would steal an item at one end and sell it back at the other. A young Alan Sugar began his business career as a stall holder here. The market remains busy and vibrant, reflecting its immigrant past and its continuing appeal to locals and visitors alike.