Borough Market has chosen not to renew Maria’s Market Cafe lease, meaning it will have to close soon
“We are the nucleus and a jewel of the market,” says the owner of Maria’s Market Cafe, one of Borough Market’s oldest institutions, which is now under threat of closing for good.
Maria’s opened at the market in 1961 and has been part of the ‘social fabric’ ever since, says owner Mark Aldridge, who bought the business from Mariarenza Moruzzi, whose family opened the cafe all those years ago. But now Borough Market has refused to renew the cafe’s lease, meaning it will most likely have to close soon.
“I’ve owned the cafe for five years after taking it over from Maria (Ms Moruzzi),” Mark told MyLondon, “I’ve known Maria many, many years. Maria’s has become a historical landmark. We were incredibly surprised when we heard about this significant change.
“We found about four months ago, after we started a standard lease renewal process, and then followed quite a stringent food compliance process, which we followed strictly. We were told quite abruptly that the market would not be renewing the lease, even though we were under the impression it was a foregone conclusion and a basic formality.
“We sat in a meeting, and we were told that the market would not be renewing our lease. I can’t say too much, but we are in dispute, and we are not going down without a fight.
“We were incredibly shocked; many of our staff have been working there for more than 15 years. The historic value is second to none; it’s a bit of a challenge to come back to the market to ask that they reconsider for the cultural value and historical importance.
A number of borough market traders do enjoy protected leases, meaning they have secure places. MyLondon understands no new protected leases have been issued for at least a decade.
Mark added: “We are just trying to protect and preserve the market’s historical value for local people. We are one of three original market traders here. We need significant support to protect us from this.”
Mark says the situation has left them in limbo, with no real answers on whether the 65-year-old market cafe will be able to continue.
MyLondon reached out to Borough Market for a response to the situation. A spokesperson for the market said: “As a responsible landlord, we follow all legal requirements when dealing with our tenants on issues relating to their occupation at the Market.
“As you’d expect, we treat the details of anything business-related with any of our traders as confidential and do not feel it is appropriate to comment further at this stage while discussions are still ongoing.”
