Columbia market 1872 Size:large The section covers the area

The section covers the area between Cloudesley Street in the North West

Hydraulic crane working on barrels and steel drums

George Street in the North East

The work was back-breakingly hard

A waiter carries a tankard and bowl towards the gentlemen diners at their table

Columbia market 1872 Size:large The section covers the areaAn illustration of Columbia market from 'London: a Pilgrimage' by Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Dor, 1872. Columbia Market in Bethnal Green was built by the philanthropist, Angela Burdett Coutts. Jerrold writes that it was intended to 'bring cheap and good food within the reach of those who could least afford to be cheated of a farthing's worth. And so in 1868, under liberal regulations unknown in the old markets, the spacious avenues of a fine