public realm/landscape
Berwick Street Market, W1F 0PH
Come and join us to explore this historic market and its evolution. View images of it's historic past and its part in bringing us such exotic items as tomatoes, olive oil and grapefruit. Take a photograph from the same spot to recreate Oasis's iconic What's the story? (Morning Glory) album cover. Information point and advice on exploring other Soho Open House locations and events.
Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road
Street trading in Berwick Street probably started in the late 1770s when shopkeepers displayed their wares on the pavements, but it was not officially recognised as a market until 1892.
French Huguenots, Greeks and Italians populated the Soho area, a cosmopolitan but modest district. By the 1890s many had opened eating-houses serving their native cuisines.
As the market traders attempted to supply the ingredients, Berwick Street Market earned a reputation for selling a bewildering variety of fruit and vegetables. In 1880 tomatoes first appeared in London at Berwick Street Market, grapefruit followed in 1890.
In the 1950s when the only place to buy olive oil in England was a chemist - not for eating but for softening ear wax - famous TV cooks such as Fanny Cradock and food writers such as Elizabeth David bought exotic ingredients from Berwick Street Market.
Berwick Street Market has recently become a foodie destination with concept traders.
