Officially called New Caledonian Market, Bermondsey Market is an antiques market located at Bermondsey Square on Tower Bridge Road in Bermondsey, part of the London Borough of Southwark, in South London, England. The location was formerly the site of Bermondsey Abbey.
The site underwent redevelopment in 2006 and the Market remained open during this period.
The Caledonian Market moved to its current location in 1950 after the old Caledonian Market site in Islington was designated for redevelopment in the late 1940s.
The opening hours of the Bermondsey Market from 6am until noon (some sources say 4am until 2pm) reflect the ancient law of market ouvert, which was abolished in 1995. Under this law, in number of designated markets, including Bermondsey Market, if an item was sold between sunrise and sunset then its provenance could not be questioned, so stolen goods could be traded and good title would pass to the purchaser. To quote Minister for the Arts Estelle Morris in July 2003 during the Second Reading of the Dealing In Cultural Objects (Offences) Bill:
Coordinates: 51°29′55″N 0°04′33″W / 51.4986°N 0.0757°W / 51.4986; -0.0757
Bermondsey ( /ˈbɜrməndziː/) is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth and Peckham.
Bermondsey may be understood to mean 'Beornmund's island'; but, while "Beornmund" represents an Old English personal name, identifying an individual once associated with the place, the element "-ey" represents Old English "eg", for "island", "piece of firm land in a fen", or simply a "place by a stream or river". Thus Bermondsey need not have been an island as such in the Anglo-Saxon period, and is as likely to have been a higher, drier spot in an otherwise marshy area. Though Bermondsey's earliest written appearance is in the Domesday Book of 1086, it also appears in a source which, though surviving only in a copy written at Peterborough Abbey in the 12th century, reliably describes earlier events. This is a letter of Pope Constantine (708-715), in which he grants privileges to a monastery at Vermundesei, then in the hands of the abbot of Medeshamstede, as Peterborough was known at the time.
Sid James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona. Bruce Forsyth described him as "a natural at being natural."
James was born Solomon Joel Cohen on 8 May 1913 to Jewish parents in South Africa, later changing his name to Sidney Joel Cohen, and then Sidney James. His family lived on Hancock Street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Upon moving to England later in life, he claimed various previous occupations, including diamond cutter, dance tutor and boxer. In reality, he had trained and worked as a hairdresser.
It was at a hairdressing salon in Kroonstad, Orange Free State that he met his first wife. He married Berthe Sadie Delmont, known as Toots, on 12 August 1936, and her father Joseph Delmont, a wealthy Johannesburg businessman, bought a salon for James. Within a year James announced that he wanted to become an actor and joined Johannesburg Repertory Players. Through this he got work with the South African Broadcasting Corporation.