Street markets have a special place in Britain's social and economic landscape. Resisting the development of the dominant paradigm of retail ethos - where shopping is becoming ever more monochrome, atomized and impersonal - street markets remain a quintessentially social space. This report written in 2009, by Kjartan Páll Sveinsson, Franziska Meissner and Jessica Sims, takes a look at Surrey Street Market in Croydon, exploring the role of street markets in fostering community cohesion, and the central part Surrey Street plays in the development of a multi-ethnic Croydon.