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 New Market Entrance at Lindsey Street | |
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| Location | Esplanade, Kolkata, India |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 22°33′37″N88°21′11″E / 22.5603°N 88.3531°E /22.5603; 88.3531 |
| Address | Lindsay Street |
| Opening date | 1 January 1874; 151 years ago (1 January 1874) |
| Developer | Mackintosh Burn & Co |
| Owner | Kolkata Municipal Corporation |
| Architect | Richard Roskell Bayne[1] |
| Stores and services | 2,000 |
| Floors | 1 |
New Market, formally known asSir Stuart Hogg Market,[2] is a market complex inKolkata situated onLindsay Street atDharmatala. Although primarily "New Market" referred to the original enclosed market, but in local parlance, the entire shopping area along with the market complex is known as "New Market".[3]
Some of the earliest English quarters of Calcutta were in an area known then asDalhousie Square. Terretti andLalbazar nearby were the customary shopping haunts of the British. Later settlements arose in Kashaitola,Dharmatala andChowringhee.By the 1850s, British colonists held sway in Calcutta and displayed increasing contempt for the "natives" and an aversion to brushing shoulders with them at the bazaars. In 1871, moved by a well orchestrated outcry from English residents, a committee of theCalcutta Corporation began to contemplate a market which would be the preserve of Calcutta's British residents. Spurred by the committee's deliberations, the Corporation purchased Lindsay Street, made plans to raze the old Fenwick's Bazar located there, and commissionedRichard Roskell Bayne, an architect of theEast Indian Railway Company, to design the Victorian Gothic market complex which would take its place. It began to take shape in 1873, and Bayne was honoured for his achievement with a Rs. 1,000 rupee award, a large sum in the 1870s.[4]Mackintosh Burn was the builder.[5]
The giant shopping arcade was thrown open to the English populace with some fanfare on 1 January 1874. News of Calcutta's first municipal market spread rapidly. Affluent colonials from all over India shopped at exclusive retailers like Ranken and Company (dressmakers), Cuthbertson and Harper (shoe-merchants) and R.W. Newman or Thacker Spink, the famous stationers and book-dealers.[4]
Sir Stuart Hogg, then the Chairman of Calcutta Corporation, had shown tenacious support for the plans to build the New Market. So, 28 years later, on 2 December 1903, the market was officially namedSir Stuart Hogg Market and later shortened to Hogg Market.[4] Bengali society, in the British era, called itHogg Shaheber Bajaar, a name that is still in use, just as a painting of Sir Stuart Hogg still hangs in Calcutta Corporation's portrait gallery. But the earliest provisional nickname, New Market, which remained in use throughout, proved to have the most sticking power.
New Market's growth kept pace with the city untilWorld War II. The northern portion of the market came up in 1909 at an expense of 6lakhrupees. Despite the gathering storm of World War II, an extension was engineered on the south flank, and the historic clock tower on the southern end of the market was shipped over fromHuddersfield and installed in the 1930s.[6] Florists were located near the front entrance, and stalls selling fresh and preserved foods were placed towards the rear of the market. Beyond the vegetable stalls, fishmongers and slaughterhouse butchers plied their trade, and, until the mid-1970s, at the very back of the market, exotic animals from all over the British Empire could be bought as pets.
Despite the appearance of new air-conditioned, American-style, shopping malls all over Kolkata, New Market, which has survived two devastating fires and regular flooding, remains at the core of the shopping experience in the city. Over 2000 stalls under its roof sell everything from clothing to wheeled luggage to electronics to a special cheese found nowhere else. Under its apparent chaos lie extraordinary finds as well as remarkable bargains. Newmarket is a place to shop for garments & accessories, flowers, different food items including raw meat, fish, vegetables and fruits and even spices. There are crockeries and utensil stores. It also has a florist section dealing with exotic flowers.It is situated on Lindsay Street, Kolkata (Calcutta), just offChowringhee Road, the market is open 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, until 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.
There are several renowned confectioners in New Market:Nahoum & Sons (estd. 1902)[7][8] is truly historic, with its original mahogany cabinetry and marble counters. For over a century, millions of customers have sworn by Nahoum's Rich Fruit Cake, its brownies, marzipan, macaroons and much more. Imperial Confectioners and D Gama compete for a close second and third place.
Kalimpong Cheese andBandel Cheese are local cheese available only in New Market. Kalimpong Cheese comes from the North Bengal tourist spot ofKalimpong, it can be crumbled into salad or eaten raw.[9] Bandel Cheese is an Asian cheese originated in an erstwhilePortuguese colony,Bandel located in easternIndia. It is an indigenous unripened, salted soft variety of cheese made in perforated pots. It is similar toSurti paneer but made from cow's milk.[10]Available in two varieties, plain (white) and smoked (brown).[11] Bandel cheese is well salted and can be stored.[9]
New market (New complex) houses a world reputed 97 years old store "PUMPOSH" ..Kashmir Shawl Emporium, selling art and craft from Kashmir.
New Market witnessed two major fires, one on 13 December 1985 and the other one on 20 July 2011.[5] There was also another massive fire on 18 May 2015.[12][13]
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| Shopping | |
| Parks, riverfront, zoos and stadiums | |
