Gentrification is Good

There are places in London that I know I should visit regularly, but only do when I have visitors from the States. Borough Market is one of them, to which I took Michele who is here from LA.  It's a market at the south end of London Bridge which in one form or another has existed since before the arrival of the Romans in the first decades of the first century.  In the last ten years or so it has experienced a marvellous rebirth; not only the market, but the the entire surrounding area has been revitalised. What were once run-down warehouses near the River Thames, have become 'sheeshy' shops and restaurants; and old down-market pubs have been resurrected into trendy and viable meeting/drinking places.  It's become a bit of a Mecca for the middle classes. In short, my kind of place - beautiful shops, beautiful people and beautiful food. 

I know that a lot of people will tut at the this kind of gentrification, but why?  It is expendable cash that makes the revival of such an area possible, and so creating entrepreneurial opportunities for others.  A 'gentrified' Borough Market (and others like it throughout London) provide an outlet for a variety of foods and products which would have no market at all unless there were people willing and able to spend that 'little bit more'.  Organic goods or products made carefully and on a small scale plainly cost more, and we cannot expect that these kind of enterprises will be kept going by those who live on very limited incomes.  If they are to flourish it is up to those of us who who have that bit extra to patronise them. For doing this we shouldn't be made to feel guilty or that we are somehow selling out. Instead, we should enjoy it!  

For my part, I know that I will be going out to Borough Market more often, spending, delighting in the excitingly vibrant place it has become and sincerely hoping that other such places will emerge.