Soho market to launch with international book fair

Rupert Street used to hold regular fruit and veg markets in the early 1920s and food markets up until the end of the 1970s and also hosted a handful of food markets in 2010. Picture: Westminster City Archives

Sarah Shaffi Thursday, September 20, 2012
7:00 AM

London’s newest market will see an area of the West End go back to its literary roots.

Rupert Street in Soho will be a new market and event space, and will launch on September 29 with a literary book fair.

The international book fair will feature rare novels, children’s literature and foreign language books and will run alongside the Carnaby Book Exchange and the Soho Literary Festival, which features Melvyn Bragg and Ruth Rendall.

The market will offer discounts for students who want to take up trading, as well as offering hundreds of educational books, from medicine to law, to be bought, sold and swapped.

Cllr Daniel Astaire, Westminster City Council’s cabinet member for business, said: “This will be the fifth regular market to start trading in Westminster, and we hope it will build on the success of our Berwick Street market which has transformed the area over the last 12 months.

“Markets can rejuvenate places, making them exciting and vibrant for visitors and residents. Most of our markets offer a specialty, we hope that Rupert Street will be a home from home for booklovers, record collectors and art lovers – a real tribute to Soho’s heritage.”

Soho folklore says that from the 1930s to the early 1960s, the pubs of Soho were packed every night with writers, poets and artists, and it has also been the setting for many novels including the infamous residence of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The council will be putting forward further plans for record fairs, musical events and vintage fashion markets.

Cllr Astaire said: “The general appetite for London consumers at the moment is food markets and street food – we think that Rupert Street will add something new to the mix.”