It’s sad news today for fans of the Mercato Metropolitano food markets and food halls in London. The group’s beloved Elephant and Castle location is set to be closed down and bulldozed to make room for a pair of new skyscrapers.
The closure and redevelopment are part of the Borough Triangle development, which was approved this week. Two new skyscrapers are set to be built on the land where The Institute of Optometry and the Mercato site are currently situated. The 44-storey and 38-storey skyscrapers will provide over 900 new homes as part of The Berkeley Homes scheme.
Permission for the new development was granted after the developers revised their plans to include a temporary trading space. This would permit 12 of the current traders to continue with their business. Plans for the new buildings also include a new food hall space. According to The Caterer, the developers will “give first right of application to Mercato Metropolitano’s current traders”. There is also a relocation fund and further support for the other businesses included in the plans.
Metropolitan market
As the OG Mercato site, the Elephant and Castle destination laid the groundwork for subsequent locations in Mayfair and Wood Wharf. The market opened in 2016 in an abandoned paper factory and was London’s First Sustainable Community Market. In the almost decade since it opened, the site has become a community space for people to come together and enjoy all sorts of food and cuisines, drink craft beer made on-site, and participate in community events and projects.
Image: @mercatometropolitano, via PG
The venue is home to “over 40 independent trading partners”, which range from delis to all manner of food and drink purveyors. But it’s been a rough time recently for Mercato Metropolitano Elephant and Castle. The Mercato group surrendered the lease of the site in December of 2024following an increase in losses for the company. Additionally, their Ilford site – which only opened in July of 2024 – has been temporarily closed down (and scrubbed from the Mercato website).
Construction on the new development is expected to start in 2026 and is slated to be completed for 2034.
