On the face of it, the current London food news story appears to be an extraordinary example of someone biting the hand that feeds them. Over the last few days, there have been a slew of news stories about an influencer 'ban' on content creators filming at Borough Market.
It all stems from an incident way back in May, when the hugely popular content creators Bite Twice were removed from Borough Market while they were giving stallholder Humble Crumble a bit of a roasting. Apparently, they'd fallen foul of the market's rules on 'professional filming' despite being just two guys with phones filming themselves eating, rather than a full-blown TV crew.
Hot Dinners caught up with Bite Twice's Gerry del Guercio, who, fresh from a whirlwind day of interviews, told us; "It's all a little bit odd really, I think Borough had these rules in place for quite a while, but I guess someone must have seen the reel and thought it was a good story. It's been a bit of a weird 24 hours to be honest with you."
It may have been months since the original incident occurred, but clearly the current coverage has prompted Borough Market to respond, saying: "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."
While Borough Market has been a busy food market for a long time, you'd have to have been living under a rock the past few years to look at the current crowds and not know that there's a direct link between the huge queues snaking around particular stalls and social media coverage. Creators like Bite Twice and Eating with Tod have 100% contributed to places like Black Pig sarnies and Ginger Pig sausage rolls being on every foodie visitor to London's must-visit list.
Bite Twice are at pains to say that they know full well that they're not the ones who first put Borough Market on the map, but as Gerry explains, "The modern incarnation of Borough Market does rely on content creators to keep the buzz going. The success of Borough is not down to Tod or anyone else but...as it is now it relies heavily on social media."
It does seem as though the current coverage might end up promoting a change in the market's rules. "We’re in the process of reviewing our policy at the moment," a spokesperson said, "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."
As for our original question about whether influencers have really been banned from the market, well, Bite Twice have already been back filming their videos at Borough Market with no problem, following the guidelines about avoiding the busiest times of the day and week. So it's a bit of a storm in a cup of chocolate-covered strawberries.
More about Borough Market
Where is it? London SE1 9AL
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @boroughmarket
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