A bus stop on Walworth road serves the market, with buses arriving from Elephant and Castle or Camberwell Green.

[1] In the 17th century, the area through which East Street now runs was rural fields and ‘common’ land where people could graze their animals.

To the south was Walworth Common; a popular point for the farmers of Kent and Surrey to stop overnight before making their journey into the city.

Unlike the regulated market which serves the shoppers on East Street today, the original traders did not have allocated plots for their stalls.

The market sells inexpensive new and second-hand clothing, jewellery, cosmetics, household products, confectionery, fruit and vegetables, CDs and DVDs, shoes, bags and hats, books, cards, meat and fish.

The eclectic mix of fresh food ranges from cassava to courgettes, durian fruit to eel, sheep heads to cow hooves.

A small flea market operates on Sundays near Nursery Row Park towards the Old Kent Road side of East Street.

East street forms the boundary between two parliamentary constituencies and is therefore in the unusual position of being represented by two members of parliament.

The south side of East Street is represented by Harriet Harman, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Camberwell and Peckham.

Southwark has the highest proportion of residents in the UK who were born in Africa (13%), as well as a significant population from Latin America, with 75% of reception-age (4–5 years old) children from black and minority ethnic groups.