The Archbishop of Canterbury has praised the courage of those caught up in the harrowing London Bridge terrorist attack for “picking themselves up” and carrying on with their lives.
Justin Welby joined the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall for a visit to Borough Market to see how traders, restaurateurs and shoppers have recovered from the deadly attacks and were preparing for Christmas.
Knife-wielding attackers ran amok at the popular London food market, stabbing passers-by after mowing down pedestrians on nearby London Bridge. They were later shot dead by officers.
Eight people were killed and scores of others injured in the atrocity in June.
After touring the many stalls, chatting to shoppers, meeting traders and sampling their goods, from cheese to nuts, the trio spoke to a group of people who experienced the attack or whose staff helped clients to safety.
Among those they met were market security guard Ganga Garbuja, who helped barricade people in a pub, and Monika Linton, founder of tapas chain restaurant Brindisa, whose staff were left terrified after police shot the three attackers close to her eatery.
Asked about his thoughts on seeing the market up and running, the Archbishop said: “I think what makes it so good is that it looks as though nothing has happened, everyone is just getting on with life which is how you should deal with these sorts of circumstances.
Charles and Camilla meet stall-holders and members of the local community at Borough Market (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA)
“I think the courage of people – I was just talking to one of the security guards and someone at the pub – the courage of people of just picking themselves up, pressing on and keeping going just says so much about this country and this city.”
Ms Linton said the weekend trade of her restaurant had yet to fully recover to the levels experienced before the summer terrorist attack.
The restaurant owner, who was not in her Borough Market outlet when the incident happened, added: “We were very lucky, we had nobody injured, some of our customers had to run for their lives, some of our staff did, and we had a lockdown.
“The shootings happened straight outside so it was difficult to know, for our team, whether bullets were going to come through the window.
Camilla at Borough Market (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA)
“But it was horrifying to hear those shots later on a video recording, that was pretty spooky.
“It was terrifying for the staff, they didn’t know what was going on, if they were going to set bombs off, we didn’t know they were fake til afterwards.”
The royal party and the Archbishop spent around an hour meeting stallholders to hear their stories as heavy rain fell on London.
The visit concluded with the Archbishop and Charles and Camilla attending a service of light at nearby Southwark Cathedral.