The history of Brighton's Open Market

The Open Market

Marshalls Row, Brighton

The battle of Oxford Street (off London Road) Brighton

Picture source: Shops Book Brighton 1900-1930 by the late Neil Griffiths. Click for QueenSpark Books site.

Now that the Post Office has moved to the London Road Coop, Oxford Street today looks more like a thoroughfare for buses than a trading street. My favourite remaining small business is The Yellow Shop where you can get new straps and batteries fitted to wristwatches at very fair prices and buy a number of small devices useful in the home.

Brighton's Open Market started in Oxford Street, but not as the organized market that we see today. Among the barrow boys competing for pitches were a large number of servicemen, who had fought in World War I but not returned to a hero's welcome. Unemployment was going to get even worse later on.

In the early 1920s, Brighton Council attempted to move the barrow boys and ex-servicemen from their market pitches in Oxford Street. The traders did not want to go, and this led to the battle of Oxford Street. This is where Harry Cowley, leader of the barrow-boys, really entered the fray. He mounted a rostrum, deliberately located in the middle of the tramlines in the London Road and addressed hundreds of supporters, who packed the road. Two tramloads of police officers tried to disperse the crowd with the help of their truncheons, but Harry Cowley remained on the rostrum for long enough to get his message across to the Council. Click HERE for a plan of the shops in London Road in 1920.