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I've been a regular shopper at Islington farmer's market for some years now. About a year ago this market moved to Chapel Market, a famous traditional east end market site. This seemed to me a good idea as I felt it could regenerate this raggedy old street and perhaps help to integrate some of the different groups of people in this part of town. There were some initial reservations from some of the suppliers and some of the local traders but the farmer's market now seems to be thriving again, with local appreciation, and I hope that remains the case. As for Borough, it still has fantastic produce and if you time it right you can miss the hoards, but it does need go keep a check on rents and thereby final retail prices.

I live in London and love the Borough Market, although it's not the cheapest place to buy food and its a bit of a trek from where I live. Our local market in Balham has pretty much died a death. I wish there was a quality market closer to me so I wouldn't have to use the supermarkets so much.

In our village we have a true farmers' market - great produce from local producers and farms. Not the inevitable jars of chutney, but meat from the community farm, local organic veg and our very own cheesemakers. We even have a goat farm selling meat to order. But it's not just that, it has a sense of community, where most villagers pop along because they know they will bump into someone they know. It's cheery and fun, and people want to support local producers. And that's where Borough Market has begun to fall down - it doesn't feel like a market serving the community anymore, it's just somewhere to admire the food and stand in awe outside Neal's Yard Dairy. Not quite Disney, but not far off.

The death of a market (in terms of viable outlets for small producers) is when it turns into a street-food location. Which isn't to say that these places shouldn't exist, but they should cease to be called a market.
People are keen for wonderful ingredients, it's just going to take time for people to reconnect to food that isn't served in plastic trays or that might be more expensive than they are used to. But I think there are a lot of people who are already keen to shop at 'proper' markets, and the most successful ones will be those that attract a variety small producers, not just those that produce bespoke items. We need a replacement for supermarkets, ie, somewhere you can buy a full range of everyday products, not just markets that sell bespoke items only.

I manage Hexham Farmers' Market in Northumberland on behalf of a not-for-profit limited company. Our town centre managers love having our twice monthly farmers' market in the centre of town as it brings the place alive, but there is no getting away from the fact that visitors alone can't sustain a market. We try very hard to maintain a broad range of products and producers and maintain standards, quality and local-ness (we are FARMA registered). However, the trading environment over the past couple of year has been really tough and although there are clearly some people who prefer the local and social market (and they are very much valued), it does sometimes feel that people say one thing, and then do something very different. We have virtually no street food and just one producer doing ready-made sauces and I do sometimes think that more ready-made foods might attract a new clientele.

Peter Wilkinson said it himself, he is a businessman and coming at it from a totally different angle and not the place that the market's natural, historical and spiritual heart is. Those who relaunched and put Borough on the gastronomic map were advocates and promoters of good artisan food; provenance was the message. The presence of real farmers coming from all corners of the UK with their produce and stories was what the discerning shopper flocked there for. This spirit is now no longer at the heart of the market. It's get rich quick with too many hot food traders, the serious shoppers either long gone or frustrated. The departure of certain traders and leading lights has left a gaping hole in the cast of market characters. Other luminaries appear less and less. Stories of unreasonably high rents and heavy handed management abound. Am glad Shiela Dillon has raised this important subject. I hope the debate will question whether those in charge are going to continue the gastronomic renaissance, serve the community and whether they are the most trustworthy custodians of London's oldest market.

The last time I went to Borough Market it looked like a ghost town - and the few traders there were complaining about rising costs and how they was driving away the people who should be there. I'm on their side (I'm a passionate supporter of independent producers and shops) but I was hoping for a fun day out, not a barrage of moans. The time before that, I felt it had lost its way and had priced itself out of my wallet. Perhaps it's because I'm spoilt for choice in Chiswick anyway but it's always nice to be exposed to different producers and new products and I'm a keen-to-buy buyer. I wonder if the landlord has become too greedy (as we see on our high streets, with the creep of the chains raising rents all round and so driving out the smaller independents) and forgotten that the main point is to appeal to customers who will come back again and again, not the temporary tourist trade?

Borough Market stirring it up on my Twitter feed (@SheilaDillon): @katbrown82 says, My boyfriend call B M 'that middle-class theme park'. But @love_cakes takes a different view: ' it's still a great market, selling great produce from wonderful independent producers. I just wish it was closer to Derby'. @WBDinteriors says he'd always thought it would be 'difficult to shop at BM--so many film crews.' @the_a_stevenson tells me to get out a bit more and talk to the Gotts [that's Cumbrian pig farmer Peter and his son Martin the cheesemaker] and go to Cartmel market to get a proper perspective. @darraghooi is another who now finds it too difficult to shop at BM: 'more of a chore than a pastime. You can hardly move there.'
So, what's the answer? Does Borough matter any more? Functions best as a tourist attraction? And if it's yes to tourism, what does that mean to the farmers for whom Borough has been a lifesaver?

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A little late to the party but...We run farmers' markets in London, including Islington as mentioned by Matthew Driver above. We've always been firm believers in markets for local people, and although we do have a % of hot food, it's primary products and farmers who are our mainstay, and that's how we want to keep it. Tourists don't buy a kilo of potatoes, or a shoulder of mutton. We don't have the glamorous surroundings of Borough - we work from car parks, school playgrounds and the occasional street market if local authorities are kind enough to let us. Our markets do attract tourists and film crews, but not so many that they detract from the many regular & passionate local shoppers. Over the years we have received plenty of positive comments from surrounding shops who see their takings rise whilst the market is running, and obviously, a scattering of negative comments from shops who think that we take away trade. We're positive about the effect that markets have on the local economy. We need more markets in this country, for everyone, not just the middle classes. And, we accept healthy start vouchers at all our markets.
As Jane Grigson said, 'we have more than enough masterpieces, what we need is a better standard of ordinariness'

I would just like to clarify that out of the eight traders who have been evicted recently, very few were offering hot food at all. In fact it seems the main bulk were cheese stalls, selling the exact same produce at Borough as at their existing warehouses at Maltby St.