Petticoat Lane, East End

Petticoat Lane market in the East End today consists of two adjacent street markets which include Wentworth street open 6 days a week & Middlesex street open on Sunday only.

This site has been selling various sorts for centuries this area was once fairly rural.

Its first reference as Petticoat Lane came in the early 1600s, when it was called Peticote Lane. Even at this early stage, traders would sell clothes and other items here, usually cheap and second-hand.
However the actual market does not sit on Petticoat Lane itself, as it no longer exists as in the 1800s it was changed to Middlesex street as the name Petticoat often offended the Victorians as the word referred to underwear.

Previous to this the market was originally known as Hogs Lane during the Tudor period. This name is said to have come from the pigs that the bakers kept in the street another alternative reason could be reference to an old droving road that was used to bring livestock into the city many centuries earlier.

Petticoat Lane market was not formally recognised and given legal trading rights until 1936 by an act of parliament. However it’s long history of an informal market makes it one of the oldest surviving in Britain.