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Kate Nash playing at the Boogaloo Bar to support the Stables campaign |
Chart star Nash joins the chorus fighting
to save market
NUMBER-ONE singer Kate Nash caused a storm when she threw her support behind the campaign to conserve Stables Market with a secret gig in Highgate.
Nash, who this week topped the album charts with Made of Bricks, told the crowd of stallholders, market supporters and industry reporters last week: “We’re doing something to save Stables Market. I don’t know where I’m going to shop if it goes. I feel like I should do something really important. You don’t want every street in London to be the same do you, because that would be really f****** boring.”
She warned: “Don’t let stuff happen under your noses. I didn’t know this was happening until really recently. We shouldn’t let people make decisions about where we live for money. We should stand up for it for good.”
To add to the pressure to halt the modernisation of the market, a massive demonstration is planned outside the Stables from 1pm on Saturday.
Protesters have begun an e-petition on the Number 10 Downing Street website and the Save Stables Market Campaign’s own online petition has accumulated more than 12,000 names.
As Nash prepared to take the stage at the Boogaloo Bar, a representative from the Save Stables Market campaign told the crowd: “A few weeks ago 60 market traders in and around the famous Stables Arches were given eviction notices. Once they’re out the arches will be boarded up in preparation for the regeneration work – a euphemism for destruction.
“The plans include escalators, and the original arches will be pulled down with faux arches rebuilt. The proposed plans display a glassed-in shopping mall with little resemblance to the existing structure.”
She was greeted with cheers as she added: “The developers concerned, Richard Caring and partners, have tried to convince the public they’re doing it for our good. But tourists, traders, Londoners, historians, none of us want it.
“This is a plea to Richard Caring and his cohorts. You have plenty of money already, please don’t touch the Stables simply to increase your bank balance. Leave it as a unique, wonderful part of London’s heritage for future generations to visit and enjoy.”
John Hargest, a neighbour of the market, attended the gig.
He said: “It’s great Kate did this. I’ve lived in Camden the lion’s share of my life and Stables Market is an integral part of Camden. It’ll be a shame for it to go the way of Spitalfields where big conglomerate restaurants have moved in. Kate just brought it to the public eye. Her performance was mindblowing, especially coming from someone of such a young age.”
Nash said: “Some people are saying there’s time for something to be done and some are saying it’s too late. I’d like to think we can save the Stables but if we can’t, people need to know that it’s happening.”
Camden Council approved plans to build the four-storey development last October and the bulldozers are due to begin work on September 1 – soon after the 55 businesses occupying the area move on.
Nash, a regular visitor to the market, said: “Camden is a place where people meet to grow up because it’s the first place you go to discover vintage clothes.
“I love it, I’m always hunting. It’s the first place I went when I started wearing vintage dresses.
“As a teenager I remember being able to go there with friends. The whole ethic of Camden is so uncorporate. It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone accepts everyone. These kind of places are so important.” |
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