Market Town: Liberty, Voice and the Epic Everyday

I grew up on Como Street, a stone’s throw from Romford Market. In the 1980s and 90s, the smell of hops from the brewery drifted across our streets, carried through sodium street lamps and elm-lined roads. Sundays were empty and endless; I cycled through town, drawn by the Rumford shopping mall, by pie and mash with my mum, by the gravitational pull of the market itself. The tarpaulins snapped in the wind that got lost in calls for attention from market traders. There was the scent of fruit, and roasting chestnuts, stacks of tea towels patterned in impossible colours. You could get lost there and feel entirely at home.

Romford is in my DNA. But my story is only one of tens of thousands shaped by this place. For more than 775 years, the market has gathered people here under a Royal Charter – a simple but powerful declaration that exchange is not just economic, but civic. When the bells of St Edward the Confessor Church toll across the town, we hear the same sound that called traders and residents centuries ago. In that repetition, something ordinary becomes epic.

We often talk about regeneration in terms of buildings and investment. But regeneration is not just about buildings; it is about belief. Markets are not relics of the past. They are living civic theatres. They hold stories of migration, enterprise and resilience. They are democratic spaces where independence is practised weekly, where disagreement and conviction sit side by side, where voice matters.

The idea of liberty is not abstract here. It has shaped our sense of independence and our willingness to speak plainly. Despite the complexities and politics of our borough, there is richness in that honesty. There is strength in a community that cares enough to argue, to defend, to celebrate.

This August Bank Holiday – Friday 28 and Saturday 29 August – we gather to honour that inheritance. Market Town unfolds over 24 hours, animating Romford Market and its surrounding streets. During the day, Suburban Legends will platform the characterful, imaginative stories of figures past and present who embody who we are. Through collective storytelling and participation, we celebrate the everyday people who make this place distinct.

As night falls, we reimagine a piece of our architectural memory. A temporary spectacle will rise in homage to the famous 1970s Romford fountain with Meet Me by the Fountain – a moment of light, projection and sound created in collaboration with writer Vickie Donoghue and composer James Bulley, and presented in partnership with Romford BID and Greenwich+Docklands International Festival. This new commission transforms the market into a shared civic stage, connecting our Essex heritage to a wider London story.

Market Town is an act of pride. It declares that our everyday spaces are extraordinary. That our long history is not something behind us but beneath us – a foundation for who we can be. This is who we are. This summer, we celebrate it together.

Market Town is part of Havering Unearthed, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England, Romford BID, Arts Council England and London Borough of Havering.

Lead Image. Photo: Brian Harris / Alamy Stock Photo