Exmouth Market

Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell

We are proud to be associated with Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell which contains an eclectic mix of restaurants, cafes, bars, independent shops and market stalls.  Most of the food outlets have outside seating which promotes a fashionable pavement café atmosphere and no doubt contributed towards the Academy of Urbanism’s decision to award this “vibrant and well-managed” street the Great Street Award in 2011.

Taking its name from the Exmouth Arms pub, the area has been a market place since the 1890s.  The street comprises around 50 brick and pastel colour rendered terraced buildings of varying designs, typically dating from the 19th century, and consisting of ground floor retail/restaurant uses with residential accommodation on the upper floors. 

A large proportion of the buildings in the street are owned by Debenham Property Trust and we are privileged to have been acting as their managing agents since 2011.  Alongside the traditional property management role, we also perform a strategic asset management and client representative function. 

The street generally has seen a transformation since the mid-1990s following public realm investment by Islington Council and we have been instrumental in maintaining and improving the unique tenant mix which now defines Exmouth Market.  Independent traders are key to preserving the street’s character and appeal and it is essential that new tenants complement the existing businesses.  Whilst it is perceived as a food destination, we have sought to create a balanced offer of both restaurant and retail uses in order to encourage visitors to the street and to ensure the stability of our client’s investment. 

As well as dealing with planned and reactive maintenance, we have identified opportunities to improve existing buildings (working closely with our client’s building surveyors) resulting in a number of successful projects to substantially refurbish and/or extend both commercial and residential accommodation and hence improve rental income and capital values.

Our willingness to tailor our service to our client’s needs has even led us to engage with social media providers in order to raise footfall in the street.  In recognition of the influence of social media on the young Exmouth Market demographic, we actively sought and instructed social media providers to raise the profile of the street via Twitter and Instagram to create an online community.