Romford Market

Having referred to David Eldridge's play Market Boy in my previous post, I really couldn't continue without mentioning the market itself.

There has been a market in Romford for over 750 years, having been established on the orders of King Henry III in 1247.

The Market Place developed along both sides of the main road to London, and was only closed to through traffic in 1969 with the construction of St. Edward's Way.

Over the centuries Romford grew into 'a great market town for corn and cattle', as well as selling pigs, sheep, farm tools, clothing, fruit and vegetables. The cattle trade declined after the Second World War, and the cattle market was closed in in 1958.

There is now a market every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, selling mainly food, clothing and household goods, as well as a farmers' market, held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month.

I visit the farmers' market when I can, but must admit to using the main market only occasionally. Nonetheless, I am very glad that it exists, not simply as the continuation of a centuries old tradition, but because it provides an atmosphere and experience that is completely different from the usual high street and shopping centre.

Perhaps more than anything else, Romford's market made the town what it is; and in many ways, it continues to do so today.

Market Boy by David Eldridge

Further to yesterday’s posting, there is no need to look back to the 17th century to find a writer associated with the town.

The contemporary playwright David Eldridge was born in Romford, and in his teens worked on a shoe stall in the market – an experience he would draw upon when writing his play Market Boy.

Set in Romford Market in the 1980s, the play was staged at the National’s Olivier Theatre in the summer of 2006 as part of the prestigious Travelex season.

I saw the production the night that England played Sweden in the World Cup (very poor scheduling on my part!), and recorded my reaction as follows:

"Rude, crude, full of life, and great fun. I loved it! From the moment they began setting up a market stall at the very start of the play I felt, 'this is the market, this is Romford'. It's not got much in the way of a story, as such, but it captures the vitality of the market during the 'boom' of the mid 80s to the gloom of the 'bust' in the early 90s."

The play was also generally well-received by the critics, with Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph calling it “an ensemble production of dazzling flair and comic vitality” and Sam Marlowe in the Times remarking “it’s the most fun I’ve had at the theatre in ages”.

Francis Quarles, poet

Romford is not generally known for its contribution to the cultural life of the country (and not without reason, it must be said). But, in fact, a number of writers, musicians, actors and other artists have come from the town.

One of the earliest was the poet Francis Quarles (1592-1644), who was born and raised at the manor of Stewards (a site now occupied by The Liberty shopping centre). His best known and most popular work, Emblems, was published in 1635, from which the following epigram is taken:

My soul, sit thou a patient looker-on;
Judge not the play before the play is done:
Her plot hath many changes; every day
Speaks a new scene; the last act crowns the play.
Today, some might know of Havering College’s Quarles campus (previously a school) in Harold Hill, but few will have heard of the 17th century poet after whom it was named.

Champagne

Over the Christmas period Romford's residents bought more bottles of the best champagnes - Bollinger, Taittinger and Krug - than anywhere else in the country, according to a survey by Tesco.

"Nationally people always seem to describe Romford as an unglamorous and stereotypically Essex town, and that's completely the wrong image," said the town's MP Andrew Rosindell. "Hopefully these results will add a touch of class to Romford."

Certainly it seems that Romfordians know how to celebrate in style!

Information from an article in this week's Romford Recorder.
Photo by Mike Gifford - some rights reserved

Public transport

I commute from Romford each weekday to work in the City, and will complain like everybody else when the trains are cancelled, or delayed or overcrowded. But the truth is that Romford is actually very well served by public transport.

We have the main line in to London Liverpool Street and out to East Anglia; we have the “push-pull” to Upminster, with connections onto the c2c line between London Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness and the District line into London; and we have numerous bus routes in and around the town, including connections to stations on the Central and District lines.

Yesterday high winds led to severe disruption of services, both on my usual route home out of Liverpool Street, and on my alternative route from Fenchurch Street via Upminster. I feared that the tube lines would be even more overcrowded than usual, and possibly suffering disruption of their own. And so I decided to return home by bus, catching the number 25 from the City to Ilford, and then the 128 from there to Romford. It may have taken a couple of hours, but at least I made it home at a reasonable time – unlike some of my colleagues (and, doubtless, thousands of others) who have to make do with a much more limited public transport service.

So, yes, it’s easy to complain about public transport, and to want it to be better, and to take what we have for granted; but actually, the wealth of services that we have in Romford is something to be grateful for.

Magazine advertisment

This advert for the for Romford website appears in the first edition of Community Times Romford magazine. This is delivered free to thousands of homes in the town, and is also available in the library and town centre shops, as well as online.