The Open Market

Photo:London Road Open Market, 2001

London Road Open Market, 2001

Photo by Kathrin Hunger

A tourist's view, 2001
By Kathrin Hunger, German tourist

Three weeks ago I moved here and before I could indulge in sight seeing, I had to answer a more pressing question? Where to get good produce from?

Brighton and Hove's number one address when it comes to tasty fruit and fresh vegetables is the London Road Open Market. The friendly vendors on this small market offer extraordinarily cheap food.

On my weekly visit I never spend over ten pounds, but carry bags full of delicious apples, broccoli, grapes, tomatoes or mangoes back home. There is a good range of fish, meat or eggs on offer, but as a vegetarian, I am especially fond of the cheese stall inside the market building. Besides the English cheddar, there is French Brie, German cream cheese, Parmesan or blue cheese. All are sold incredibly cheap.

Last but not least, check out the stall with dried fruit! For me, there is no doubt: the raisins, dried apricots, dates or figs are the most delicious in Brighton and Hove. And the best - on the benches next to the stalls, I always sit and watch the people while I taste a bit of what I bought.

Submitted to the website January 2001
This page was added on 22/03/2006.

Comments:

As a child in the 1950s, my mother used the market as a short cut to London Road. I cannot remember her ever stopping to shop, but the smell of horses being shoed still remains with me.
By Graham French (01/08/2004)
I was beginning to think I'd made up the blacksmith's shop in the Open Market. I can remember going there with my mum and seeing horses. This didn't happen very often. I am 52 and I think that many of the horses had disappeared from towns by then. I used to do all my fruit and veg shopping in the market as an adult. I also remember taking my children to see Steve Ovett's olympic gold medal on his father's stall in the market. It was displayed there with all the eggs and bacon.
By Marilyn Coates (15/12/2005)
A 60s Saturday treat was a bag of broken biscuits from one of the stalls, then we were dragged round to a depatment store, I think called Bellmans. I still like London Road and the open market for a bit of banter. Sid the fish and Warren's Cafe are my favourites although the egg man's a card. I'ts a real time-warp almost down to the way people dress. We went in to the Co-op store on Saturday, wow it's huge. How long before it becomes yuppy lofts for the New England Area?
By SJS (17/01/2006)
Worked in the market part time before and after I left school in 1968. Worked on a fruit stall for Roy Yeates (I think that's how you spell his name).
By Russell Webb (25/02/2006)
I wonder whether there is anyone who knows anything regarding the Mitchell family who ran the fish stall in the Open Market? We are trying to trace my husband's family and would love information on them.
By Carol Homewood (08/07/2006)
I don't remember the blacksmith's but my Mum does. She used to go there to see the horses being shod when she was a child. On one occasion her grandmother, who had taken her, asked the blacksmith to mend her shoe which he did at no charge! My mother also remembers a lady who used to walk around draped in swathes of different fabric with prices dangling off.
By Sharon Fuller (24/07/2006)

Ahhh, the open market. I miss it sooooo much. The sights, the smells, being able to get just about everything I needed. I used to go there as a girl when my Dad shopped there. And then when I grew up I shopped there as a Mum of two boys as shopping at the market fitted into my budget and met all our nutrition needs. All the other shops were great too as far as getting a card or wrapping paper... and also a great place to get sweets for the kids... OK, for me as well! I would find it most pleasent to shop out in the open as well and meet so many different characters. I loved the fish and meat market area. The butcher would always cut and trim the lamb and pork for me. I think it is wonderful that the Open Market is still running. When I come back to visit, as I did last February, I will visit and shop from the Open Market again. When I went through the Open Market last year I had not been home to Brighton in years but I felt like I had never left, that is what is so wonderful about Brighton. Oh gosh, I think I am getting homesick again!

By Fiona Coleman (nee McKechnie) (26/03/2007)

I think every child in Brighton knew of the blacksmiths in the open market. If I meet anybody today, 60 years later, from Brighton they all remember the horse shoeing. I stood for hours with my granddad watching. Fond memories.

By Alan Fry (01/05/2007)