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business and word of mouth haven't yet been replaced by social media marketing here well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!