Whitecross Street Market

Whitecross Street, just north of the Barbican Centre, was the home of the Fortune Theatre (1600-1660), which looked much like Shakespeare’s Globe south of the river. Then from 1817-1870 the street was famous for its debtor’s prison, built to relieve overcrowding at Newgate. More recently it has had a typical London street market which over the last 15 years has catered almost entirely to City workers on their lunch breaks.