Covent Garden and its market is possibly about as English as it gets to foreigners like me.
However, two weeks before the Royal Wedding - that's 29 April just in case you've been hibernating - a number of traders in the Apple Market area of Covent Garden have been sent a letter ordering them to stop selling merchandise displaying the Union Jack immediately.
The order came after a market official took objection to a handbag which included a flag design.
The letter, from Covent Garden bosses Capco, reads: "Clarification has been received from Covent Garden Area Trust regarding the selling of tourist related items.
"They have informed me that the selling of any items displaying the Union Jack is not permitted from the barrows. Please remove said items immediately."
A spokesperson for Covent Garden London said: "Union Jack products have not been banned from Covent Garden. The East Colonnade market traders have a clear directive that products sold on their stalls need to be of a high standard, but despite this, low quality products displaying Union Jacks have recently been on sale and it is these items that the traders have been asked to remove.
"We remain happy to support the sale of high quality patriot products in the heart of Covent Garden."
Now I'm rather puzzled here. Isn't a market somewhere you can buy items of varying qualities? That's the point of a market for me. Tourists don't seem to mind a bit of tat: the Royal Mile in Edinburgh is proof of that. The Scots tolerate it with clenched teeth but it seems it's not good enough for England.
Ah well, that's a few less handbags to be waved at the folks who will appear on Buckingham Palace's balcony once the
Note: The photograph shows quality egg cosies.
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