The Hackney Half Marathon will move away from Broadway Market on Sunday May 17, sending more than 25,000 runners through Dalston, Homerton and London Fields instead of the busy stretch that had long been part of the race. The change ends the route that, until 2025, took runners over the Regent's Canal and up through Broadway Market.
For some traders on the Victorian street bazaar, that is a blow on one of the busiest days of the year. Hackney Council moved the route to make room for the regular Sunday market, but 23 Broadway Market businesses have now written to the local authority asking it to review how the event is managed in future and seriously consider bringing the half marathon back to its original route.
Alex Bloom, who runs Aya & Suki, said the race day once brought in about £3,000 for the business, compared with about £500 last year when the food market was running at the same time. “This is the one day we make money,” he said. Bloom added that with only one premises, hospitality businesses are always exposed when footfall changes. “It’s really hard as a hospitality business with only one premises. You’re constantly on the edge.”
The Hackney Half began in the borough in 2014 and has become one of the major fixtures on the local calendar. Broadway Market, lined with independent shops, cafes, restaurants and bars, has been one of the most visible parts of the course because the race used to clear the street for a single Sunday and draw a surge of supporters. That is now the point of friction: the council says the market needed space, while businesses say the race day was the one time the street was transformed into a bigger event than the market alone.
William Cheshire, who runs a bespoke jewellery business and on-site workshop on Broadway Market, said the race still matters to the area. “This is a real crunch point. The atmosphere is fantastic because you get supporters cheering and echoing around the buildings. It’s a big part of the community,” he said. Stephane Cusset, who has traded on Broadway Market for more than two decades and runs the delicatessen and cafe L’eau à La Bouche at the market’s mid-point, said the half marathon had once been one of the best trading days of the year. “We just made so much more on the Hackney Half when there was no Sunday market. It was a really good day for businesses because it was so busy on the street,” he said.
The route change leaves Hackney with a familiar choice between two uses of the same street: the market or the race. For now, the council has chosen the market, but the traders who depend on the runner-filled Sunday are pressing for a rethink before that balance becomes permanent. Related coverage: Hackney Half Marathon route change rattles Broadway Market traders and Hackney Half 2026 route change sparks backlash from Broadway Market traders.
