Clare Market is a historic area in centralLondon located within the parish ofSt Clement Danes to the west ofLincoln's Inn Fields, between theStrand andDrury Lane, with Vere Street adjoining its western side. It was named after the foodmarket which had been established in Clement's Inn Fields, byJohn Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare. Much of the area and its landmarks were immortalised byCharles Dickens inThe Old Curiosity Shop,The Pickwick Papers,Barnaby Rudge andSketches by Boz.[2]
The historic district includes large parts of theLondon School of Economics (LSE) and several academic buildings on the site bear the area's name. The name of the area is also commemorated in the name of the oldest student journal in the UK, theClare Market Review, which is published by the LSE. The former Director of the LSE,Ralf Dahrendorf, Lord Dahrendorf, chose the official title "Baron Dahrendorf, of Clare Market in the City of Westminster" when he was made alife peer in 1993.
Clare Market was originally centred on a small market building constructed by Lord Clare inc. 1657, but the retail area spread through a maze of narrow interconnecting streets lined by butchers' shops and greengrocers. Butchers would slaughter sheep and cattle for sale. An area was set aside forJews to slaughterkosher meat.
The area was not affected by theGreat Fire of London, and the decrepitElizabethan buildings survived until the area, by then aslum, was redeveloped by theLondon County Council in around 1905 to create theAldwych andKingsway. The market mostly soldmeat, although fish and vegetables were also sold. An early theatre was inGibbon's Tennis Court, in the Clare Market area. A club of artists, includingWilliam Hogarth, met at the Bull's Head Tavern in the market.
The market passageway still lives on as a short thoroughfare between LSE buildings.
Parts of theLondon School of Economics now occupy the site, and the name of the area is commemorated in an student-run journal published by the university, titledClare Market Review, which has evolved into an academic journal for the social sciences.[clarification needed]
One former Director of the LSE,Ralf Dahrendorf, chose the official title "Baron Dahrendorf of Clare Market" when he was made alife peer in 1993. This tradition of honouring Clare Market has stuck and become popular over time with LSE alumni. One of the main buildings at the centre of the LSE Campus was called the Clare Market Building, reflecting the school's links to the historic district. However the building was demolished in 2015, replaced by theCentre Building which opened in June 2019. TheRoyal Courts of Justice andKing's College London are also located near the LSE.
51°30′52″N0°07′02″W / 51.5144°N 0.1172°W /51.5144; -0.1172
