Street markets have a special place in Britain’s social and economic landscape. Resisting the development of the dominant paradigm of retail ethos - where shopping is becoming ever more monochrome, atomised and impersonal - street markets remain an essentially social space.

Shopping for life’s essentials is becoming increasingly anti-social, a purely functional activity on which most people want to spend a minimal amount of time and effort. As a result, the moguls of quick and easy retail - large chain stores designed for the needs of busy individuals - are not only changing the face of the UK’s town centres, but also the meaning of social relations within them.

Markets are a site of social, as well as economic interaction, a place where people come to pass the time of day at the same time as shopping around for bargains. The combination of cheap prices, quality produce and a personal, enjoyable shopping experience attracts a diverse range of people from all walks of life. In spite of the immense social and cultural value of street markets, and their potentially beneficial effects on community cohesion, they are in decline throughout the UK. Croydon’s Surrey Street Market is no exception. The market holds more than 100 pitches, but today, there are only 30 stalls, and the current stallholders are concerned that as people retire, they will not be replaced by new traders.

Its demise would also have an adverse impact on the wider community. Surrey Street is an inclusive space that serves and welcomes a wide range of people. It may not be a visionary system of multicultural perfection, but it does constitute a place where different ethnic groups interweave with relatively little agitation. Surrey Street Market is touted as the oldest street market in London and despite changes throughout the past 700 years, Croydon has always had a market with a living history. Since the end of the 1960s, the area around Surrey Street has been chosen for a succession of regeneration projects to bolster the area as a town hub through additional retail outlets. The Whitgift Centre was completed in 1970, and was the largest covered shopping development until 2008. In 2004 Centrale Shopping Centre opened opposite to the Whitgift Centre - both are just a stone’s throw from Surrey Street Market.

The market is described by traders as the heart of the community, a social venue and meeting place where people of different ages, ethnicities and socio-economic status rubbed shoulders, seemingly disinterested in their dissimilarities. By investing in their street markets, local authorities would also be investing in good community relations.

Kjartan Sveinsson is a research and policy analyst for The Runnymede Trust and this is an extract from the trust’s study Surrey Street Market - The Heart of a Community