1851 closure of the Market

Mayhew describes a, short-lived, attempt by some of the shopkeepers to have the street traders removed that took place shortly before his survey:

“Leather-lane,” I was told, “looked like a desert compared to what it was. People that had lived there for years hardly knew their own street and those that had complained might twiddle their thumbs in their shops for want of something better to do.”

— Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor^{[3]: 59–60}

After a fortnight, other traders and the local residents succeeded in having the market traders reinstated.^{[3]: 99–100} The, brief, closure of Leather Lane inspired a contemporary ballad:

A rummy saintly lot is there,
  A domineering crew,
A Butcher, and a Baker,
  And an Undertaker too,
Besides a cove who deals in wood,
  And makes his bundles small,
And looks as black on Sunday
  As the Undertaker's pall.

You must not buy, you must not sell,
  Oh! is it not a shame?
It is shocking place to dwell,
  About sweet Leather Lane.

The Butcher does not like to hear
  His neighbours holloa, buy!
Although he on the Sunday
  Sells a little on the sly;
And Coffin Maker struts along
  Just like the great Lord Mayor,
To bury folks on Sundays,
  Instead of going to prayers.

You must not buy, you must not sell,
  Oh! is it not a shame?
It is shocking place to dwell,
  About sweet Leather Lane.

— Anonymous, Queer Doings in Leather-lane, London Labour and the London Poor^{[3]: 276–277}

Metropolitan Borough of Holborn (1927–1965)

The London County Council (General Powers) Act 1927 replaced police regulation with a new licensing regime administered by metropolitan borough councils.^[8] From 1927 to 1965 the market was managed by the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn.

In the mid-1930s Mary Benedetta found the market still a mix of fresh and ready-to-eat food, flowers and plants, and household goods.^{[9]: 9–18}

London Borough of Camden (1965–present)

In 1965 the Borough of Holborn was abolished and its area became part of the London Borough of Camden.

The Council placed limitations on the number of stalls selling similar products and strictly limited the number of stalls trading ready-to-eat food. By the late nineties the traditional shops had largely given way to casual dining. The licensing system led to issues with subletting of stalls where due to a sixteen-year waiting list for licences, people on the waiting list would rent their pitch to actual traders whilst remaining the technical licensee. For this reasons, the Council revoked 23 licences in the period 1990–93.^[10]

Following a period of decline for the market, in the 2000s, the Council relaxed its restrictions on ready to eat food and Leather Lane, again, became one of the largest street food markets in London. Middle Eastern food proliferated on the market in both shops and stalls leading to competitions to determine the best falafel available.^[11] The return to street food and the revived success of the market saw a return to the tensions that had beset the market in the mid-nineteenth century with some shopkeepers calling for the commodities of the traders to be restricted and the number of pitches reduced.^[12]