Founded in 1170, Kingston’s Ancient Market is indeed ancient. One of the oldest markets in London, it’s currently home to nearly 30 local traders including a fishmongers, bakery and various street food stands. Neighbouring it is the equally historic Kingston Market Square, which boasts not one but two Grade II-listed buildings: a monument and a house from 1840. It’s even got a gilded statue of Queen Anne.
Plans were submitted a few months ago to give the long-lived square a revamp. Now, the architects and events company hoping to transform Kingston’s Ancient Market into a bustling, ultra-modern community space have added new details to the designs. Here’s what they’re hoping to do.
The new plans, submitted last week, show that operators Between the Bridges – an events company that was handed a long-term lease to reorganise the market last year – and designers Zap Architecture hope to shift things around a bit.
One of the ideas is to turn the square into a revitalised ‘piazza’ that’s ‘vibrant’ and ‘sustainable’. Within it, they’d hope to build 45 modern, Borough Market-esque stalls with sustainable materials, solar panels on top, and storage tanks that turn rain into reusable drinking water. Designed to host pop-ups, farmers markets and weekend events, the piazza will also apparently be able to put on concerts.
If green-lit, the listed Market House would get a refurb too. The designers hope to flip the ground floor of the building into a restaurant and café, and turn the first floor into an events space. A swanky roof terrace overlooking the revamped square could also be added. To make more room for the ambitious modernisation, the architects plan to shift the ‘obstacle’ Queen Anne statue to the edge of the square (sorry, Anne).
Twenty-eight permanent stalls currently occupy the space, which is surrounded by Kingston’s rich cultural heritage, including yet another listed building, All Saints Church. The revamp is part of a wider initiative to revive the area, a push backed by Kingston Council, who initiated Between the Bridges’ takeover of the lease in April 2025.
One local community group, the Kingston Society, has voiced concerns about the updated plans. Writing on its website, the society said: ‘On that basis, while the revised scheme is plainly better than the earlier one, important matters remain unresolved or insufficiently secured, and we are concerned that a proposal for a site of this significance has reached full application stage with so many material questions still left imprecise.’
In the plans, designers called the square the ‘beating heart’ of Kingston’s community, and suggested they want to imbue its ‘historic character’ with ‘contextually-sensitive’ and ‘forward-looking’ architecture.
The hypothetical proposals are still pending a decision. Until they’re given the go ahead you can still visit the ‘ancient’ version of the market, which is open every day from 10am to 5pm. Give Queen Anne a wave when you see her.
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