ABSTRACT
This chapter draws the attention away from the glamorous representation of the market to offer a 'behind the scenes'. It offers a description of the market at closing time, presenting some of the key features of the informality. The chapter provides an elaboration on the wider implications of the case study, and argues for the importance of acknowledging and recognizing the hidden informal market. It outlines the characteristics of hidden and official, or informal and formal markets. Borough Market is a renowned market situated in the heart of tourist London, near London Bridge. Borough Market is more than just a place where they do their grocery shopping; they feel they are part of a social environment, a neighbourhood constituted by their relationships with shopkeepers, traders, and other shoppers. The informal exchanges are illegitimate; a sub-socio-economic sphere construed by gift exchanges made on the sly. The tricks and diversions that survive in the interstices of the mainstream are important.
