Gabriel’s Wharf

Posted August 2026

London changes and evolves. It is constantly renewed. We don’t have too many buildings from prior to the Great Fire because they were swept away. The Victorians weren’t sentimental about historical buildings, instead focussing on increasing commerce rather than posterity. And then there was the Blitz. Even some post-Second World War structures are now being torn down and replaced. Saving our historical and architectural past is a rather new concept that crept in during the latter decades of the 20^th century. (Hat-tip to people like John Betjeman). Unlike many, I rather like new buildings, even brutalist ones. (Well, maybe not the bland concrete car parks).

We often hear of campaigns to save this or that. In our society it is natural that developers attempt to maximise shareholder profits. (That’s what ultimately pays taxes or increases our pension funds, if the developer isn’t some distant offshore company). But at the same time, we often resist the change they seek. But what to sweep away and what to save for future generations? Is preservation simply sentimentality rather than practicality?

Markets seem to be particularly vulnerable at the moment. Traders at Ridley Road Market at Dalston were told to vacate in early 2026. There are plans afoot for developments at Camden Market and mumblings of changes at Brixton Market. Borough Market, thank goodness, seems to be in safe hands.

But the latest shopping area to come under threat is Gabriel’s Wharf on the South Bank. For those who don’t know, it is an oasis of calm on the busy South Bank. It lies between the National Theatre and the Oxo Tower. About 20 small shops and restaurants surround an open space, with two of the restaurants fronting onto the South Bank riverside promenade.

Between the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries Gabriel’s Wharf was a timber yard, handed down through the Gabriel family. Throughout the 19^th century it was a rather successful business and one owner, Sir Thomas Gabriel, was Lord Mayor of London in 1866-7. His great-great-great nephew is a favourite musician of mine, Peter Gabriel. The timber yard closed in 1919, and the site went through various commercial uses thereafter.

Gabriel’s Wharf before the opening of the market.

By the late 1970s the whole area was bleak and unloved, and Gabriel’s Wharf a cash and carry warehouse and parking space. There was a plan to redevelop the locality for office and retail space. Residents came together to fight the plans and Coin Street Community Builders was formed, a not-for-profit social enterprise to manage the area. Thirteen acres of land was purchased and over the decades they have transformed it for mixed use, for the benefit of local residents and visitors. Those were the days of Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council, so community schemes had more chance of getting off the ground than would probably be the case today.

The site in the early days of the market.

Overall, around 2,000 people live and work within the Coin Street site. One notable landmark that many will know is the Oxo Tower, formerly owned by the beef-cube manufacturers, which Coin Street acquired and transformed into shops, restaurants and social housing.

In 1988 Coin Street opened Gabriel’s Wharf, primarily as a space for independent retailers and workshops for artisans, which seems quite in keeping with their mission. It was set up in conjunction with Eric Reynolds, who at that time was running Camden Market. (Eric now runs Container City, a base for artists, artisans, and historic boats at Trinity Buoy Wharf on the Thames, on the opposite bank to the O2 Centre).

Ultimately, at some point in the future Coin Street plans to redevelop the Gabriel’s Wharf market site, together with the adjacent former TV studios. It now transpires they have more immediate plans. I met with several members of the Gabriel’s Wharf Tenants Association who have been trading there for many years and are hugely disappointed. While they have always understood that the market will not last forever, they believed that their future was safe for some years to come. But last April they were told that Coin Street have different ideas. It seems the space will be leased to a yet-to-be-made-public big-name entertainment company on a short-term “meanwhile-use” basis while larger plans are put in place. A one-year extension was given to vacate, and it now seems likely that the Gabriel’s Wharf market will close at end of September 2026. There are many, and not just the traders, who will be sad about that.