London’s Borough Market has denied reports that it has introduced a ban on food influencers.
It comes after The Times reported over the weekend that a food content creator, who runs the Bite Twice social media account, was asked by security at Borough Market to stop filming and leave the premises after posting a negative review of one of its traders.
The incident occurred earlier this year, which led to the content creator posting an Instagram reel on 23 May titled: “We get kicked out of Borough Market whilst reviewing the ridiculously overhyped £9 viral ‘Humble Crumble’.”
The Caterer understands Borough Market has had a long-standing policy of asking commercial filming crew to notify the market in advance so as to avoid overcrowding during busy periods, especially on weekends.
Borough Market is believed to be in the process of reviewing its filming policy in order to relax it and more accurately reflect the kind of filming that takes place today by content creators, who do not always require lots of kit or crew.
The current filming and photography enquiry form available on the Borough Market website asks people to share their name, company, email address, date and time of filming, crew and cast size and purpose of filming.
The form prohibits filming between the hours of 11am to 2.30pm Monday to Friday or at any time during the weekend.
The Caterer understands Borough Market has no interest in controlling the reviews people post about its traders and that it had always planned to re-evaluate its filming policy.
A spokesperson for Borough Market told The Caterer: “We welcome all food lovers to Borough Market – from Londoners looking for dinner inspiration to tourists from the UK and beyond who want to experience our unique atmosphere and pick up something delicious from our expert traders.
“We have a long history of working closely with the wider food community including chefs, established food writers and food influencers, and often feature their content on our website and digital channels.
“We value the role that food reviewers play in showcasing Borough Market and its traders. Our filming policy is designed to ensure that activity doesn’t cause disruption to stallholders or visitors and our security team is trained to ask for the relevant permission from anyone filming in the market.
“Our number one priority is to ensure that visitors are comfortable and at times we do need to alleviate the congestion which can happen around particularly popular sites within our market.
“This occasionally means we ask food reviewers to stop filming if they are causing congestion or haven’t got the relevant permission. We’re in the process of reviewing our policy at the moment and our intention is always to keep Borough Market open and welcoming to everyone who wants to celebrate its food and support the 100+ small businesses who trade on our historic site.”
