In east London in my opinion there are four markets today I saw two of them. The one I didn't see was the Cuban flower market which usually closes about 12 hiding I did not manage to get to algate east till about two o'clock. The three markets I saw I start with the two in Old Truman Brewery which likes to call itself ‘the creative hub of the East End’. First I'm going to start with the bad points the website is totally wrong not only is it not new the place is 11 years old creative hub of London or that part of London (Hoxton is where it's really going on) but it's also not self-contained as I'm about to explain it is too small to have two markets it would be better if they would just one market. The two markets the upmarket and Backyard markets are wonderful they remind me of the market I went to five years ago when my grandmother was dying of cancer. As me and my mother looked after her I would sometimes spend a few hours in Spitalfields. In those days it hadn't yet been redeveloped it was a wonderful place to go. It was messy dirty and you could buy almost anything there from a new book to a dodgy pair of shoes. The upmarket in the backyard markets are full of weird and wonderful artistic gems. They're also full of entrepreneurs selling off new T-shirts and various other trinkets. You can buy earrings there records and if like a lot of people you like Chinese and Thai food then it's heaven. Myself have never been an adventurous when it comes to food I hate Eastern food I tend over the European Middle Eastern food. As I walked round both markets the first thing that struck me was their size. In Camden and the old Spitalfields is a vast markets with often hundreds maybe a thousand stalls. It was often hard to walk around here it was easy to walk around. It was only after two o'clock the market started to fill up. Both markets are great they're noisy they're full of variety and a great places to be. If I was on entrepreneur I'd go to either market and these days are not just open on a Sunday that also open on satday.

I then walked out of the markets and crossed a busy road. It'd be many years since I'd been to Spitalfields I walked into the brick facade and I managed to get a shock. I guess I feel like people did when the old Euston station was knocked down and the so-called modernistic masterpiece replaced it. All I can hope is that within 20 years unlike Euston station which took 40 years they will knock down the grey boxes. The first shock I got was that the atmosphere had completely changed to Spitalfields. It no longer felt like a market it felt clinical boring and soul less. It reminded me of some public school girl who I chatted up at university.She looked the part but the minute you went deeper beyond the facade you find that it's clean and not the sort of place you'd want to go today.

I talked to the stall owners they agreed most from the old Spitalfields have now left. Some have gone to the markets in the Truman Brewery others have retired others still have gone to markets outside the area. The redesign of Spitalfields has been a disaster everyone knows it's a disaster. As a trainee lawyer who was sweet irony to find out that half of Spitalfields had been knocked down for a building that would hold 3000 lawyers. If it was me I would have moved Spitalfields brick by brick to another part of London it would have been better sense. Instead they have ruined the building they ruin the whole idea of a market in London and all we have left is a shell a corpse a dead body another ghost of London's past and its lost forever...

The two markets upmarket and backyard market at the Truman Brewery are great they have energy however I don't see them lasting long unless something is done about Spitalfields. The two markets are simply too small to maintain their own existence with out a new market being founded nearby. I walked around and unlike the old Spitalfields site which would have taken maybe 20 minutes to get round or if you were looking at the products an hour the two markets in my opinion were less then 10 minutes to get through. For me it was a shock I love the part of London both Truman and Spitalfields are in I consider it my home borough and my home neighbourhood. However I've not being to go to algate in a very long time in my GDL and my friends and my job I've not been there in almost 5 years. Before that I was working as a temp and before that I was at university in Manchester I was lucky if I could ever see a member of my family who lives in the area let alone visit the markets. When I finally did get to east London I found a shell of a place I once loved. Soon crossrail will also be coming to the area in 2017 I hope that it does not ruin this village of London even more than the redevelopment of Spitalfields has.

And that really is my thought for the day...