What with the cost of living crisis, rocketing capital house prices and sharp increases in the price of basic essentials like beer, London is increasingly a very costly place to be. However, if you are one of the lucky ones who has a few bill in the bank, here’s a one-off chance to own a really special and unique bit of London.
Camden Market is up for sale. That’s right, the famous tourist-bait street fayre – the spiritual home of all things goth, spiked, tie-dyed or weed-leaf-emblazoned – is being sold to a lucky buyer. The price? It’s expected to attract offers around the £1.5 billion mark. For that, you get an estate comprising Camden Lock Market, Stables Market and Buck Street Market, plus residential developments, and leisure centre Babylon Park. In all, the purchaser would become the landlord of more than 1,000 market stalls, cafés, bars, pubs and other businesses.
The current owner, Israeli businessman Teddy Sagi, originally put the market up for sale in 2019, but the process was interrupted by the pandemic. So now you’ve got another chance to own this very singular corner of the city. The market turns 50 this year (though it feels like it’s been there for about 600,000 years). Back in 1972, it was created out of some disused industrial spaces and the stalls selling fried rice with diced carrot in it appeared within the week. The wardrobes of young Londoners would never be the same again. How many of us have Camden Market to thank for learning that being caught in possession of a bag of oregano isn’t a technically criminal offence?
So, a pretty sweet deal all round…
Okay, so you’re not actually going to buy Camden flipping Market, are you? No doubt some other offshore type will snaffle it and turn it into even more of a theme park than it already is, but even moaning, griping, skinflint Londoners are allowed to dream, right?
Check out our guide to the best things to do in Camden.
Also, what’s the dark secret of Oxford Street’s weird candy stores?
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