A unique piece of London, cradle of design talent, heartland of the capital's music scene, multicultural melting pot, Camden Lock is the world's most famous market. The Lock started life as a collection of craft units housed in Victorian horse stables in a run-down timber wharf on the banks of the Regent's Canal. Today an industrial dead zone has been transformed into London's second most popular free attraction after the British Museum. The story of Camden Lock is one of dereliction and rejuvenation. Careers have started - and ended - at the Lock. Fortunes have been made, and lost, overnight. Craftspeople have become internationally known artists. Struggling stallholders have built up fashion empires.

Caitlin Davies tells all these stories and more in an illustrated history full of personal memories and previously unpublished archive images.