The Roots of Tooting

Tooting Market began its gentrification jounrey 5 years ago. Its rooted started all the way in the 1930s and ever since present day it hasnt been the same since. Large buisness are being brought in stripping away its authentitcity and culture, replacing the original stalls with high street restaurants whose names arent hard to recognise (e.g, Franco Manca...Growing up and being raised around Tooting Broadway Market, has had the best impact on myslef and evryone else in the area. There’s only 1 stall that withstood the gentrification. I had the honour of interviweing the owner The market was once known for its rich multicularilism, todays experinces show otherwise. Tooting and the market was best known for its bright flavourful food stalls and fabric shops. The high road is now littered with the same Trans National Corporations (TNC’s). Starting up the road near the Tube Station is sainburys. A 2 minute walk down the road is Aldi and opposite that is Lidl. They have eliminated all culture from the streets let alone the market. This is what GENTRIFICATION has done to the once ‘rich’ streets of Tooting Broadway. I photographed my journey around the market with my film camera and captured all the verity the market had left. One thing i noticed is that the elemnt of community has stayed strong and wil never be broken no matter how many stalls are removed, the communit will always remain

What are your views on Gentrification?

“The way that i understand gentrification is when they move out essesntial busniness that bring life to the area, then the big boys come in and remove all experince and reality.” What i understood from this is that Ernest belives the market is not the same in terms of how it was in the beggining, gentri -

Has Gentrification affected your business in any way?

“My buisness is more on the niche side of things, but there are other issues that arent gentrification related that do have an affect on my business in a way.”

Who suffers the most when talking about Gentrification?

“I think mostly seems to be working class individuals. so thats the way it seems to be affecting.”

How long have you been in Tooting Market for?

“I’ve been in this market for over 10 years now, theres been a great increase of food stalls from where it began. Theres nothing like my shop anywhere in Tooting!

Photography: Hannah Laila Kourdache

Model: Shiva Farhangian

Styling: Hannah Laila Kourdache