London welcomes traders back to the reopened Seven Sisters Market

Places for London welcomes traders back to the reopened Seven Sisters Market. Forty new units have been fitted out to traders’ specifications with an outdoor seating area so visitors can enjoy all the refreshed market has to offer. After the indoor market closed in 2020 due to critical safety issues, Places for London has worked to bring a new home for the traders, with the Mayor and TfL making £2million available to protect tradersTemporary market now open to customers seven days a week, selling products and food from all over the world, but particularly South and Latin America. The market also provides services like beauty, hairdressing, legal advice, money transfer. Places for London, Transport for London’s wholly owned property company, has welcomed traders back to the reopened Seven Sisters Market, following critical safety works in recent years. The reopened market, which has temporary indoor and outdoor stalls reopened on 1 September helping traders to get back to proudly serving their community. 

On Saturday 4 October, Graeme Craig, Director and Chief Executive of Places for London, welcomed Tottenham MP, the Right Honourable David Lammy and Joanne McCartney, Deputy Mayor for Children and Families and London Assembly Member for Enfield and Haringey, as they joined the traders and representatives from the London Borough of Haringey and community groups to celebrate the opening of the market.

Seven Sisters Market first opened around 50 years ago, however, following its closure in 2020 due to health and safety concerns, surveys found the building to be in a dangerous condition preventing it from reopening. Since then, Places for London has worked with the traders and London Borough of Haringey to bring the much-loved market back to life ensuring that the community affected by the closure were part of the works throughout. The Mayor and TfL also made £2million available to ensure that the traders at Seven Sisters Market were protected and the site moved forward positively for the benefit of local community.

Graeme Craig, Director and Chief Executive of Places for London, said: “Seven Sisters Market is a truly special location in this unique and important part of London. We are delighted to have now reopened the market, allowing the former traders to get back to serving the community they love. We have worked hard to retain the Latin American culture and vitality of the original market, while allowing it to operate safely again in new units. 

 Vicky Alvarez, trader at Seven Sisters Market, said: “The opening of the Seven Sisters Market marks a new chapter of growth and opportunity for the Latin American community. It is a testament to our resilience. We have worked very hard to continue, and we couldn’t be prouder to share these fantastic news that will empower and uplift our communities in Tottenham.”

Elena Escalante at the Wards Corner Community Benefit Society, said: “We are so thrilled to be back in the historical Wards Corner site, home to one of the most remarkable community movements of this century. We are proud to have been critically supporting our traders as they return, and to now be running the community space within the newly restored Market, offering an ambitious programme covering social services, cultural exchange activities and intergenerational events rooted in the Market's culture. This is Step 1 of our Community Plan.”

Nick Rhodes, Chief Executive of Market Place, said: “Market Place is delighted to have been chosen to partner Places For London, Haringey Council and the Seven Sisters Market traders in delivering a fabulous and long awaited community market at Seven Sisters.  The market is a truly unique, offering an abundance of culture, vibrancy and colour. I am sure the market will be a tremendous attraction for people of the community and afar.

“The market opening is a culmination of some tremendous hard work by all parties and the market will soon become a key and popular retail destination.”

 Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “I am delighted to see the Seven Sisters market reopen, enabling traders to showcase their entrepreneurial spirit and bring a boost to the local economy. “I am proud to have worked with TfL to have made £2million of funding available to traders to ensure that they were protected, and that the market’s truly unique atmosphere remains.

The Rt. Hon. David Lammy MP said: “It’s wonderful to see Seven Sisters Market reopened and being enjoyed by people from across the area and further afield. Thanks to Places for London’s consistent work and eagerness to listen to the traders and community over the years. I’m delighted to see this great market back open, providing so much to all who come to visit.

 Councillor Peray Ahmet, Leader of Haringey Council, said:  “The re-opening of the market is another huge moment for the Latin American community in our borough. “It is a remarkable achievement and testament most of all to the resilience and tireless campaigning of the market traders.