Welcome to London today we visit one of the more ancient and historical parts of London
once a gateway to the very heart of the city that the Roman's settled in the first
century we are on the edge of the enclave that is the city of London today an area I've
been doing business all my working life every different corner turned every street alley
and court has a story to tell so I'am going to focus on and share with you one street London's
Leather Lane home to one of London's oldest street markets we are well off the tourist
trail here it is an area very popular at lunch time with Londoners and the many commuters
and visitors here on business I'am at the market for some of London's best coffee and
a traditional British lunch market forces are real here market stalls need to deliver
what the public want or they don't last long and the best have long lines with few new
victims fresh off the plane in the form of tourists in this part of town the market relies
on locals from the surrounding residences and many businesses its old school repeat
business and word of mouth haven't yet been replaced by social media marketing here well
the local council haven't done much if any marketing for this historic market so it really
is one of London's hidden gems
LOCATION: STAPLE INN, HIGH HOLBORN The last surviving Inn of Chancery
Ladies and gentleman boys and girls welcome to London today I'am starting at Chancery
Lane tube is just there I'am actually at the junction of High Holborn and Greys Inn road
you can see just here behind me I'am actually right on the edge of the City of London dragon
boundary markers there there is one just on the other side of the road there I've been
taking care of some business today in London's Hatton Garden which is just down here and
its lunch time so I'am going to get some lunch at one of London's famous street markets actually
it is probably one of London's hidden gems as far as markets go it is Leather Lane Leather
Lane market which runs parallel with Hatton Garden it is just down here and today it has
really become renowned for street food but I'am going to go to one of the the old school
shops that has been there for quite a while but yeah I'll cut through this amazing old
building here and we will get some lunch actually first of all I'll get some coffee I'll show
you the market and then we will get some lunch and then head to the end I'll show you the
old Italian quarter and yeah that end of the street but this is such an ancient part of
the city everywhere is filled with stories welcome to Holbon bars originally built as
the head quarters for the Prudential assurance company it was built here on the former sight
of Furniival's Inn which was an inn of Chancery which were originally something along the
lines of a mix of legal educational institute professional association and members club
with accommodation for solicitors in the same way the inns of court were and are today for
barristers and judges and originally law would have been taught here in the city by the clergy
but to cut a long and muddled story short in the thirteenth century King Henry the third
outlawed legal education in the city and the pope banned the clergy from teaching law the
inns of court later got their liberty and continued to function to this day the inns
of chancery didn't but a few hundred years later the inns of chancery were still here
doing well nothing so they were finished sold and eventually demolished making way for this
to be built this Victorian Gothic revival building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse
most well know for designing the Natural History Museum and Manchester town hall construction
of this building was in phases between 1885 and 1901 originally fully equipped with facilities
that included a chapel restaurant and hall for Prudential company plays also designed
into the original building were separate entrances for woman to preserve their modesty plus the
ladies had their own exclusive facilities such as a library and roof promenade and both
sexes could enjoy the latest Victorian technology electric lighting and centrally plumbed hot
water cutting edge innovation at the time Prudential left in 1999 however they retain
ownership and lease most of it out OK just here is Leather Lane itself which runs parallel
with Hatton Garden London's home of London's jewellery trade and yeah the market starts
just here first up coffee then some lunch we'll take a look at the market stalls yeah
Leather Lane Market there's been a street market here for hundreds of years some say
since the sixteenth century the market opens currently from Monday to Friday from around
ten am to two pm and is busiest at lunch times although most of the stores and coffee shops
that line the street and obviously the pubs are open all day some even at weekends but
the whole area for a long time has been a relative ghost town at weekends pretty popular
coffee shop there Department of Coffee and Social Affairs I'll head to another one equally
as good just down here at this end of Leather Lane market you have stalls selling general
goods flowers and clothing then the market transitions ever increasingly into food and
drink there is some amazing street food here there are local residence in the area but
a huge influx of people stream into this area every day from the suburbs to work in the
local offices mostly Monday to Friday and as you saw from the size of the Prudential
building they have been doing that for well over a century hence this markets popularity
as a spot to get lunch you can tell what is good at this market because of the queues
the lines I'am going to head to Prufrock coffee here and get a coffee first of all OK welcome
to Prufrock coffee arguably one of the best coffee shops in London founded by a former
barista champion and a barista championship head judge not only do serve phenomenal coffee
great food and coffee beans all the kit to brew coffee at home they also run coffee training
classes everything from beginners basic coffee classes through to professional barista training
you can see some of the many awards they have earned behind the bar today I was hoping for
a filter coffee a pour over but I was told they are only serving espresso based drinks
so I asked for an Americano and was told I was having a long black so not exactly award
winning form today but I've been here many times during the many years I've worked in
the area and the coffee has always been great the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs
across the road is also usually pretty good as is Workshop up on Clerkenwell road by St
Johns gate but yeah Prufrock is definitely one of the best independent coffee shops in
London and their training programme has and will continue to crate more great coffee shops
OK long black from Prufrock coffee lets give this a go that is good right lets get some
lunch there is some amazing looking street food on these stalls here unless one of them
jumps out at me I'am going to head to one of the old school shops for something a little
bit more traditional
(background noise + music)
OK just here on the on the corner of St Cross Street and Leather
Lane two real favourites here of the market Boom burger there for burgers and Daddy Donkey
here for burritos Daddy Donkey started off as a stall a truck like Boom burger it proved
so popular they've now got a store on the corner but yeah it is the most popular thing
down this market food there is far more stalls actually at this end of the market
there is mention of Hatton Garden being home to the wealthy in the seventeen hundreds but in later
years the whole area is mainly regarded as a dilapidated slum which meant it was a cheap
place to live and that meant it was home to first wave immigrants there were highly skilled
Italians here in London making instruments by the early eighteen hundreds and in later
years many unskilled Italians came here through necessity fleeing Italy's turmoil post Napoleon
and a large Italian community formed here the area became known as little Italy that
all ended in June 1940 when Mussolini joined Ze Germans and declared war on Britain so
most Italian born men aged sixteen to sixty were interned as enemy aliens and many that
weren't anglicised their names a lot of Italian families left the area for a number of reasons
or inter married there is however a part of little Italy left at the end of this street
and we can go and take a look at that in a moment
OK here on the corner of Hatton Wall
and Leather Lane another few popular spots that pub craft beer pub not today
burgers there Greggs the bakers famous for their sausage rolls yeah enough about Greggs I'am going
to go to the Traditional plaice the fish and chip shop next door its been there for years
pretty good value for money but yeah the street stalls the street food stalls really pick
up here runs right from here straight to the end where as that end of the market there
is a bit more general retail going on from here on out its primarily food
(bacground noise + music)
OK fish and chips from the traditional plaice Leather Lane
the smell of all this street food cooking
is phenomenal I'am going to pop around the corner one to eat my fish and chips but also
I'll share with you the remains of one of London's old Italian quarters
so as the name would suggest the Traditional plaice here on Leather Lane is a traditional looking British
take away chippie upstairs and they also have seating downstairs if you want somewhere inside
to enjoy your fish and chips as I was saying earlier this area was home to a very large
Italian community for decades until world war two it didn't disappear over night but
it did fall into very sharp decline from the outbreak of war until early 1940 the British
government and the people had been fairly optimistic about the outcome and in turn fairly
relaxed to so called enemy aliens AKA immigrants but as France fell sentiment and attitudes
changed it was felt France had been undermined from within and that was part of the reason
why it fell so quickly so when Italy declared war on Britain in reference to Italians living
in Britain Churchill is said to have ordered police to collar the lot Italians were interned
to be shipped to Canada and the public were attempting to smash up the rest but there
is a little bit left probably saved because this little bit was requisitioned by the Irish
at the time it is an amazing looking church flanked by delis right here
OK this is the street here that runs parallel with Leather Lane Hatton Garden blue plaque here check
this out then I'll show you the Italian the Italian church and deli OK here in the UK
there is a blue plaque scheme and it is used to commemorate the link between people and
buildings and there are many here in London this one is for Sir Hiram Maxim who had a
workshop here he is most renowned for inventing the machine gun the Maxim gun here in his
workshops at the end of Hatton Garden he did invent many other things he ended up in quite
a lengthy legal battle I think with Thomas Edison because he installed the first electric
lights in a building in New York which Thomas Edison later went on to claim he'd invented
the light bulb but anyway that is a different story this here at the end of Hatton Garden
on Clerkenwell Road is arguably the most renowned remains of what was once little Italy here
in London OK the amazing looking church there at the end of Hatton Garden is the St Peters
Italian church which was consecrated on the 16th April 1863 it is actually much bigger
than it looks it runs along behind the buildings in front of it to the side are the Italian
delis one of them is shut right now the other one is back in business the other one was
shut for quite a while as well OK I'am going to head back down Hatton Garden back up to
the market and find somewhere to perch and eat my try my fish and chips
in the entrance way to the church is a monument to the SS Arandora Star which was the ship
for Italian internees the SS Arandora Star sailed from Liverpool bound for Canada with
734 Italian internees 479 German internees 86 prisoners of war and almost 400 crew British
military guards and merchant sailors on the 2nd July 1940 it un-escorted with no red cross
insignia and was sunk by a German U boat controversial for a number of reasons most of which because
over 800 souls were lost St Peters Italian church at the end of Hatton Garden remains
a focal point for London's little Italy and many of London's Italian community and it
hosts a very popular historic annual procession each year so after world war two the area
was in a terrible state it had sustained considerable damage and a large number of the local population
had left which meant once again it was cheap once again open to first wave immigrants and
the Italians were replaced by a large Jewish community displaced by war which were largely
responsible for the gem and jewellery industry that developed here and the Hatton Garden
we know today OK I've found the perfect ledge the window sill of the craft beer pub here
on Leather Lane on the corner of Hatton Wall and Leather Lane so lets try these fish and
chips the chip shop is just there we have just gone around in a big circle
lets try the chip
that is good lets try the fish
quite a lot of batter there
that's really good
the fish is amazing I prefer the batter a little bit crispier but its still good check out
this street art Donald Trump
OK I'am going to enjoy my fish and chips and fish chips
and a pickle gherkin I hope you enjoyed this quick trip quick look at Leather Lane market
coffee at Prufrock fish and chips traditional fish and chips from the the traditional plaice
definitely recommend both so until next time Toodles! So if your in London during the week
Leather Lane market is definitely a great market to come and enjoy lunch from either
one of the many market stalls or cafes and restaurants that line the street behind while
you take a look at some of the other goods for sale on the other market stalls and you'll
find some of the best coffee in town here its got fantastic transport links which is
why so many businesses and offices are here and we are a relatively short walk from some
of London's greatest historical sights and landmarks just across Holborn viaduct is St
Paul's cathedral the Bank of England the monument to the great fire of London Leadenhall market
and of coarse the Tower of London and Tower Bridge so if your heading in the direction
of any of those starting here at Chancery Lane and Leather Lane market will give you
a glimpse of a London that relatively few tourists see and today its a nice part of
town we are surrounded by investment banks media companies and of coarse jewellers Hatton
Garden that runs parallel with Leather Lane is renowned as London's jewellery workshop
so high quality craftsmanship regulated by the British Assay offices which represent
the oldest form of consumer protection in the world you'll find bespoke quality that
competes with off the peg prices every weekend the streets lined with couples shopping for
engagement rings wedding bands and gifts so that;s definitely worth checking out if your
in this part of town a notable mention for the Argyle formerly the King of Diamonds the
pub at the end of Leather Lane its great in the summer you can sit out on this terrace
balcony up here
or you could go tho the gym after work there is one next to the pub Toodles!