For someone at the centre of a media storm and a war of words between the wholesalers and management of Borough Market, Peter Wilkinson is remarkably sanguine and welcoming when I meet him at one of Borough’s myriad boutique coffee shops.

The market trust’s chairman has seen his name dragged through the mud on occasion in the last couple of months, with accusations from wholesalers that he failed to engage with them in a dispute over their future that is now heading to the courts. But Wilkinson has bitten his tongue and refused to take part in a public slanging match, insisting instead that he prefers to do business in private. “First and foremost it’s not a row,” he corrects when I raise the subject. “I’ve seen that written and it is wrong. This is a case that has been brought against the market by a very small group of traders. We have 120 traders on the market, the vast majority of whom we enjoy excellent relationships with. I’d still like to think we enjoy good relationships with those that have brought the case. I’m not going to discuss the merits or demerits in the media because that’s not the way I do business.”

Borough will defend the case “professionally and because we are committed to the long-term future of a viable wholesale market,” Wilkinson says. “They feel the standards we apply to all the traders in the market somehow don’t apply to them,” he claims. “We operate those standards so people who come to the market know that I stand behind the quality of those products. The only way we can protect the long-term security of the retail or the wholesale market is to adapt.”

It is a case which is threatening to overshadow plans to significantly evolve the market, and though Wilkinson is reluctant to talk about the stand-off, he still moves to refute the allegation that he failed to engage with wholesalers. “We have made several attempts to reach out to them and negotiate with them but I found that at the time we were trying to do that everything was printed on the front pages of the newspaper,” he points out.

The case is expected to be heard during the first three months of 2011, and Borough’s management is hoping it does not divert attention from its long-term plan of reinvigorating the market. Wilkinson is insistent that the management is fully behind the continuation of a wholesale offer and says that this will be grown rather than diminished in the coming months and years. “This [change] is about the overall balance, make up and composition of the market,” he explains.

The future wholesale offer will be a mixture of the traditional and those retailers already on the market who also want to do wholesale. “It’s going to be a slightly different proposition,” Wilkinson explains. “That is a function of the way the Market has changed. And we want to provide the environment in which that sort of opportunity can prosper.

“I want to hold on to the traditional, but I’m not prepared to be held over a barrel over it. It has got to adapt to be viable in the long term. What I don’t want to do is leave a problem for a future board to have to face because we didn’t have the courage to face the issues of adaptation, process and change now.”

His vision of the model wholesaler is someone “who knows how to operate in a number of different spheres, who can attract custom from a commercial base at the same time as deal with small individual buyers and market themselves into niche spaces.” The unique positioning of Borough as containing both retail and wholesale will remain fundamental to the market’s raison d’etre, he stresses. “What we have to do is to look across the entire offer in both those segments and ask ourselves: have we got the balance right? Have we got the price mix right? Is it a market that’s accessible to people on more meagre means? Is there diversity of our offer? And is what we offer truly what Borough Market stands for - values.”

Wilkinson, who prefers to talk about the market rather than himself, has been almost 18 months as chairman. He owns his own businesses in infrastructure and private equity, but freely admits he had little knowledge of the food industry before being approached for the Borough role. Instead, he says his strengths are in ensuring the market meets Southwark Council’s goals as a standalone and profitable business.

At almost the midway point in his tenure, Wilkinson sees his goal is ensuring Borough remains a viable fresh produce market that “pays homage to its historical roots as something that is important to the London food supply chain, and not some sort of outdoor hot food mall or fresh air supermarket”.

He speaks passionately about the need to have a “competitive mix” in the market, a diversity of traders and competition that will help keep prices down and make the market more accessible to the local community, though he stresses that management has no right to dictate prices. He also points out that some 16 new traders have been introduced on the market in the past year, with many more on a waiting list to take advantage of space once the railway construction that is eating up a third of the market’s space is completed.

The latest development is the launch of a farmers’ market, which is expected to open before Christmas, with a focus on farms operating within the M25. Over 20 farmers will bring their produce to market as part of the initiative.

Wilkinson firmly rejects any suggestion Borough could diversify beyond food, and even suggests that there is currently too much hot food being served up on the site.

And how will all of these planned changes be transmitted to the public? By empirical proof rather than spin, he insists. Indeed, Wilkinson makes little attempt to disguise his disdain for PR - or “gloss, show, talk, showboating and fancy words in the media” as he puts it - but prefers to talk about “evidence”, stressing that people will see by results that the market is becoming a place that is more accessible to them. The market is reaching out to communities and hosting events to show them the developments, he says. “Everyone should come to Borough Market, find something here for them and go away thinking wow, that was really special. It’s not just about the food and produce, but the sense of place.”

There is still some way to go to make Wilkinson’s vision a reality, and with the wholesale court case coming up it is likely to be a road fraught with obstacles. Does he have any regrets about taking on the job? “It’s a wonderful opportunity,” he insists, adding that he has a home on Borough High Street and has lived in the area for 15 years. “I took it on because London has been very good to me personally. It’s a voluntary, part-time role, but it’s an opportunity for me to put something back into this great metropolis.”