Upper Gardner Street Market

Harry Cowley (without his bowler hat!)

Its origins are shrouded in mystery

By Geoffrey Mead

Upper Gardner Street Market is a North Laine institution but its origins are curiously shrouded in mystery. Although noted in various publications, albeit briefly, there seems to be no definitive history of it. Long out of print, Neil Griffith's Shops Book-Brighton 1900-1930 notes that at the end of the 19th century the street traders were causing problems to static shops and - possibly prompted by major traders - the police and town authorities confined their activities to a fixed location in Oxford Street, later moved to The Level and by the early years of the 20th century also in Upper Gardner Street.

The barrow boys

There were mixed opinions about the activities of the barrow boys. Small traders saw them as competition in what was a difficult time for small underfunded retailers and there was considerable friction in the poorer parts of the town. Itinerant traders were less of a problem to the bigger high street traders but were moved on by police patrols as being a 'nuisance'.

Harry Cowley

Another school of thought was that a collection of street traders actually drew in customers to an area where all traders could benefit. The establishment of the Saturday market in Upper Gardner Street gave some stability to the street traders and more so after the intervention of Harry Cowley, 'The King of the Barrow Boys'. Harry was well known in Brighton - and further afield - as a champion of the underdog and had been a stalwart and controversial figure, organising anti-fascist demonstrations in the 1930s and founding a vigilante squatters group in the 1940s to occupy under-used housing, that brought him to the attention of the national daily press.

Harry was keen to give the market some stronger form of respectability and thought it would not occur until the barrow traders in the street cleaned up their act. He advocated the control of strong language on the street, the clearing away of rubbish at the end of trading and more honest dealing. He organised fixed pitches for the barrows where formerly there had been a free-for-all for pitches (although Mr McGee informs me that "lame people had a head start"!).

Shops in Upper Gardner Street

Like many North Laine streets in the early part of the 20th century there was a varied mix of shops and services amongst the housing. Pikes Directory of 1925 shows a furniture dealer, second hand furniture shop, bootmaker, china riveter, second hand book dealer, dry fish shop, hairdresser and general shop. By 1937 these had been joined by a cabinet maker and wardrobe dealer (second hand clothes shop). Directories of the 1970s show a different picture, with antique dealers and the wardrobe dealers as the only listed traders.

A bustling affair

The market itself was a bustling affair, where fruit and veg were displayed alongside antiques and cheap clothing. Indeed Mr McGee, a current [2006] and long standing stall holder, recalls that second hand clothes were a good commodity in the 1940s. With the building of Crawley New Town from 1946 onwards there was a big market for cheap jackets and trousers for the construction workers.

The establishment of the University of Sussex in the 1960s saw a changed situation, where students' demand for 'retro' clothing joined an upsurge in interest in the Market, and in those happy pre-car boot sale days there was a waiting list for pitches.

The market in 2006

The current situation [2006] is less than perfect and even on a dry and sunny Saturday morning there are large areas of empty pitches. This seems curious in an area such as North Laine where it would seem an ideal location for new small businesses to test the market. The addition of the Barcombe organic vegetable man would seem to presage a good direction where other ethical traders could utilise the site. Why not a farmers market? It would seem more logical than one location I saw where bemused traders were trading in a howling Channel gale at Brighton marina!

The Upper Gardner Street Market has a real North Laine air about it - not smart, slightly quirky, real Brighton, and it deserves some form of recognition as part of the complex web of the city's retail sector.

[Previously published in the 'North Laine Runner', no.183, Nov/Dec 2006]