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Case study

Supporting London’s oldest food market through the pandemic

Organisation type

Charity/third sector

Sector

Food and nutrition

Transport, travel and tourism

Service

Content development

Crisis management

Media relations

Placemaking

Social media

Strategy

The brief

When lockdown hit, Borough Market — London’s oldest food market — saw footfall and trading conditions collapse overnight. The Market asked Barley to help it navigate the uncertainty and maintain vital income for traders while protecting its brand reputation.
Our objectives were to:

  • Encourage customers to visit Borough Market safely, in person and online
  • Build and strengthen Borough Market’s voice and community role
  • Champion food produced with social and environmental awareness
  • Promote the Market’s role as a charity and ethical landlord

Insights and approach

With fast-changing regulations and widespread public confusion, agility was essential. Barley provided strategic advice and day-to-day communications management to help Borough Market adapt at speed.

We pivoted the Market’s live events programme to digital formats, maintained audience engagement, and promoted the online shopping service to sustain traders’ businesses.
Our work also amplified Borough Market’s values through initiatives such as Feed the Frontline, highlighting its commitment to community and sustainability even in crisis.

Throughout, Barley’s integrated approach – combining media relations, digital content, and strategic counsel – ensured Borough Market stayed visible, trusted and relevant.

Results

Borough Market stayed open throughout the pandemic, and all its traders remained in business.
Online orders surged from 30 per week to 200 per day on average, while the Christmas hampers sold out two weeks early.

The Feed the Frontline campaign achieved exceptional reach — over 442 million through 58 coverage items, including major national outlets such as PA, The i Newspaper, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Grazia.
Despite intense competition for media attention, Barley helped the Market exceed quarterly coverage and reach targets across every quarter.

  • 200

    online food orders per day (up from 30 per week)

  • 549

    items of coverage over three quarters (more than double our target)

  • 1.2bn

    opportunities to see and hear

  • 275k

    average weekly reach on Instagram

  • 115k

    average weekly reach on Facebook

  • 29k

    average weekly reach on Twitter

“

The Barley team has provided invaluable support to Borough Market throughout the pandemic. They have been responsive and agile at every step – keeping our customers abreast of developments in safety measures at the Market and raising awareness of our support for local community and frontline workers. On top of that they’ve delivered unprecedented levels of coverage of our online events and shopping service, which has helped keep our traders afloat in these challenging times.

Kate Howell

Director of Communications and Engagement, Borough Market.

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