‘Not my cup of tea’: Coronation events garner mixed reaction at Hoxton Street Market

Hoxton Street Market. Photograph: Andrew Fawthrop

Traders at Hoxton Street Market have complained that coronation day events, combined with the rain, disrupted trade.

Diane Moore, who lives locally, said last Saturday: “The guy who owns the bedding stall can’t sell anything because there’s a band playing right in front of it.”

Moore added: “I think it’s wrong, they should have put the band elsewhere.”

The stall owner declined to comment, but asked people listening to the band if they could move away so customers could access his stall.

Coronation events at Hoxton Street Market included a brass band performance by the Grand Union Orchestra, zine and crown-making workshops, a bouncy castle and roaming circus performers.

A group of Pearlies, London’s “other royals”, attended the street celebrations, along with Mayor of Hackney Phillip Glanville and Hoxton East & Shoreditch councillor Kam Adams.

Claude Deppa, a jazz trumpeter in the Grand Union Orchestra, said: “We created a street party in the market today, which I think people enjoyed. It’s good to see people come past and stop what they’re doing to listen.”

The orchestra has performed at Hoxton Street Market a few times in the past two years.

Another member, Rudy Curtis, said: “We like playing here. From Ridley Road to Hoxton Street Market, there’s a strong community.”

Tony Haynes, co-founder of orchestra, said he has also been commissioned by the London Borough of Hackney Art Fund to set up the Shoreditch and Hoxton Community Orchestra, which is free for people who live, work or study in the area.

Haynes said: “We’ve played at this local coronation celebration. We’ll also be doing six gigs in June to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush ship.”

Grand Union Orchestra’s Windrush 75 gigs take place from 17-25 June in locations across Hackney.

On the subject of the coronation celebrations, Zac Lever, who owns JSSR Optics, said: “It’s not my cup of tea but it’s important for a lot of people.”

Lever stated: “There are nurses who have no money to eat – we should spend the money on that.”

His son Rocco said the coronation brought the market to life, and welcomed the council using such occasions to draw more people to the area.

However, Lever added: “The people who are here today, we won’t see them again for a year. There are more people than usual, but they’re not here for us.”

Johnny Caetano, who runs Crazy Kidz Clothing, said that the bedding stallholder may have been affected by the band but the weather had also been an issue.

Caetano said: “The band was nice to have, but the weather has been diabolical. It would have been packed on a nice day. Market trade is all about whether it rains.”

A spokesperson for Hackney Council’s market service said: “Due to the rain, the band performed under an empty market canopy. We’re taking all the comments from market traders into consideration for next time. We will try to do events at either end of Hoxton Street in future.”