The plans for a new Ferris wheel near Camden Lock

CAN Camden Town take any more visitors – and will people living nearby ever return to the stalls and shops?

These are the big questions hanging over the world-famous markets – and the debate over their future has come sharply into focus as planners mull over the final plans for a new Ferris wheel in the heart of Camden Lock.

With the container complex revamp of Buck Street and the completion of a four-storey market space in Hawley Wharf, Camden Market owners LabTech now have 50 per cent more space available for traders.

In June, there were rumours that buyers were being actively sought for a 20-acre estate – valued at £1.5billion – and new attractions such as the wheel and an exhibition and event space are part of plans to bring in extra custom.

But while the owners say they are working on increasing visitor numbers, residents’ groups say this is unsustainable and unwanted. LabTech’s research has revealed footfall in Camden Town is up by 7 per cent from levels in 2019, and the markets now have more than 650 independent traders.

Commercial director Maggie Milosavljevic said: “Camden Market has a huge community of independent traders and one of the ways we look to support them is by working to bring them the volume of customers they need to thrive”.

She added: “Camden Market will always attract domestic and international tourists, but our vision for the destination involves making it a place local people visit frequently and for longer.

“Introducing the two new markets – Buck Street and Hawley Wharf – brings something different, attracting new audiences and not diluting the appeal of the world-famous Camden Market.

Camden is an ecosystem of its markets and the high street, and the focus of our investment is to drive footfall and spend for the businesses here.” The company believes the addition of new experiences – a live theatre based on BBC drama Peaky Blinders, a Tomb Raider attraction and an indoor theme park called Babylon Park – has led to a rise in numbers.

“The immersive experiences we have introduced to North Yard have led to a 17 per cent increase in takings,” she said.

“Hawley Wharf has a Curzon cinema, Camden Boxing Club, and Babylon Park, which is already bringing more local people to the area, particularly families.

“Increasing numbers are looking for experiences as part of their visit. The Observation Wheel and Cultural Plan, if approved, will be an extension of this, as we plan to curate high-quality exhibitions and experiences that support our communities and reflect the diversity throughout Camden.”

Despite Brexit and Covid hitting business, the Hawley Wharf development – running alongside the canal from the High Street to Kentish Town Road on the site of the 2007 Camden fire – now has 80 per cent of its units up and running.

Ms Milosavljevic said: “Proposals for the wheel have been many years in the making. We have done our due diligence and spoken extensively with experts in heritage. Over 18 months has been spent examining what it would bring to Camden Market, with particular regard for the conservation area and protecting the buildings in and around the area.”

She added: “We would be opening parts of the historic market that have been closed off for 70 years, making Dead Dogs Basin accessible. This is just one way we are looking to future-proof Camden Market while maintaining its heritage.

‘If you look at the work done in North Yard, with £3million invested into preserving and providing new purpose for the Horse Hospital, you can see that we understand the value of heritage. Keeping it and creating a space for visitors to enjoy it is at the heart of what we do.”

Sports Direct and the Tomb Raider Live experience in the Stables Market

The Ferris wheel plans, however, have been slammed by conservation groups, who fear it will damage a listed setting, and residents’ groups, who say the area is already busy enough and claim LabTech has not provided much for those in the neighbourhood in its overhaul of the sites.

Historic England, the body responsible for monitoring heritage, welcomes the renovation of Dead Dogs Basin – but could not support the plans for the wheel.

Claire Brady, its inspector of historic buildings and areas, said: “We consider the proposed wheel to have a harmful impact on the significance and setting of numerous heritage assets, particularly the Grade II Interchange Warehouse and the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area.”

Calling the West Yard “particularly characterful”, she added that the Interchange warehouse is “one of the most complete examples of Victorian railway buildings in the country… The warehouse is a dominant and iconic feature, easily recognisable due to its red brick finish, profile and water tower. The temporary 40-metre-high observation wheel would affect the significance and setting of many heritage assets. The most harmful impacts of would be on the Interchange.”

Plans to alter West Yard and neighbouring market buildings were first floated a decade ago – and in 2015, permission was granted to revamp Dead Dogs Basin. The Basin plans have drawn wider support than plans for the wheel itself, with residents’ groups objecting to this aspect and adding they feared other, less intrusive plans would be scrapped if the wheel did not go ahead.

Patricia Thomas

Patricia Thomas, from the Harmood, Clarence, Hartland Residents Association, wrote: “It [the wheel] would have a strongly negative effect. It would be seriously intrusive without adding anything of cultural relevance.”

Ms Thomas praised LabTech for the care they had shown towards historic features, but she added: “A fairground attraction of this kind proposed does not relate to anything which currently exists. It is, apparently, purely and simply a money-spinner. “If built, the wheel would no doubt attract more visitors. Already at the weekend the number of visitors is huge and it is often difficult to use the pavements safely.”

She added: “It is most unlikely the wheel would be of any interest to residents.”

The Primrose Hill Conservation Area Advisory Committee are among a number of bodies who have registered an objection, while the Tenants and Residents Association’s Camden Town chair Kate Gemmell was clear in the issues they feel the markets face.

She said: “The market has developed over the past few years into a place best avoided by residents and a generator of noise, rubbish and anti-social behaviour. We were promised Hawley Wharf would provide retail to attract residents and Londoners, that it would be high-end food and goods.

“The offer is no different to that of Camden market opposite. Clearly the economy has had an impact but the types of retail put forward at the Community Lisason Group are not what has appeared.

“The proposed wheel is a nonsense. It is suggested it will attract residents. There is no persuasive argument for this.”