Cyndi Himmelstiere’s annual-ish assessment of the Brick Lane Sunday market, what has changed, what has not, and whether the bagels remain worth the queue
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Brick Lane Sunday Market: Seven Years On, the Bagels Are Still Worth It
The Brick Lane Sunday market operates from approximately nine in the morning until the afternoon along the street and in the surrounding yards and arches, selling vintage clothing, street food, household items, art, plants, spices, and the specific category of objects that you did not know you needed until you saw them and that you will have feelings about in six months when you are looking for somewhere to put them. I go most Sundays because it is near where I live and because the rhythm of going to the market on Sunday is one of the rhythms of Shoreditch that I have built my weekend around without quite deciding to.
The seven-year assessment: the market has changed in composition. The vintage clothing section has grown and professionalised — there are vendors who run what are effectively small businesses, with carefully curated stock, pricing that reflects the current vintage market rather than the charity shop pricing that the early years contained, and an understanding of their customer that is commercially sophisticated. The street food section has similarly professionalised — the food is better than it was, more varied, more consistently high quality, and more expensive than it was. The category of vendor who sold things of unclear provenance at uncertain prices has shrunk. The overall quality is higher. The character is slightly more managed.
The Bagels
The Beigel Bake on Brick Lane, which is not part of the Sunday market but which is the destination that anchors the Brick Lane visit for many people including me, has maintained the standard that its reputation requires. The salt beef bagel is what it has always been. The queue on Sunday mornings is what it has always been. The price has risen modestly and remains reasonable relative to the product. I go every Sunday. I queue. I eat the bagel on the street. This is the correct way to do it. The walking tour covers Brick Lane; managing a neighbourhood’s commercial character through the market’s evolution is what seven years of Sundays have looked like from the street. The bagels are still worth it.
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