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With its hedonistic mix of stores, bars and head shops, Camden is one of the busiest places in the capital, especially at the weekend, making businesses and developers keen to profit on the lucrative footfall. Developments such as the Ice Wharf (2002) and smart restaurant Gilgamesh (2006) have begun to spring up, as well as high-street giants like Virgin and Gap. But proposals to redevelop Stables Market as a four-storey shopping centre, granted planning permission by Camden council last year, have met with resistance from both visitors and residents concerned that it will drive up rents and squeeze out the weird, wacky and varied independent traders.

Chris Jakubiac, a member of the Save Stables campaign, fears it’s another step towards turning the area into a clone town. ‘Camden works because of the way it is. People go there and dress as they want, act like they want. It’s got that vibe because it’s not a big commercial centre. Visitors come to Stables Market because it’s a tourist attraction.’
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Work on Stables will begin this summer. According to the plans, the beautiful Victorian ‘coal’ arches are to be preserved and the developers have pledged to safeguard traders. Space for stallholders was opened up beneath the Gilgamesh building – the first stage of the Stables redevelopment – and new units will be sized to exclude chain stores, which require large floor space.

Alex Proud, owner of Proud Galleries and chair of business-led regeneration organisation Camden Town Unlimited (CTU), believes that rejuvenation is necessary, but that Camden mustn’t lose its special appeal. ‘We strongly believe that Camden Town is utterly reliant on a strong independent trading base. Without it, Camden would fall apart. It would become a horrifying, north-London version of Covent Garden which, to my mind, is one of London’s most depressing areas. In the past three years, Camden Town has seen a real resurgence. We’re throwing out the drug dealers and petty crime but hopefully keeping Camden’s edgy, youthful and independent reputation.’ Market forces are on the side of independent traders, he says, whether working in future developments or on the leather- and bong-dominated High Street. ‘If you’re a developer and you have 500,000 people coming through your land, you’re not going to destroy that. I know most of the developers in Camden Town and they love the markets. Don’t forget that the owners of Stables Market were among the first people to develop the independent traders in Camden.’

A more pressing and realistic concern is that the new buildings won’t fit with Camden Town’s architectural aesthetic – a unique mix of stuccoed terraces, Georgian townhouses and nineteenth- and twentieth-century housing estates. Michael Nicholas, owner of The Enterprise and a member of Camden Inner London Licensees’ Association (CILLA), is concerned. ‘I’m not against progress and change, but Camden Town is not about escalators and glass frontages. Gilgamesh restaurant might be a major feat of architecture but it doesn’t fit in with the rest of Camden.’