Most visitors to London spend at least some of their time shopping. For those who want to combine browsing with a taste of “real” London, the street markets are a great place to head for. Visiting a London Market is a little like lifting the petticoat to see what’s really beneath!
First of all, market stallholders will appear to be speaking a language all their own. Not only do many of them have a broad East End accent, they also use Cockney rhyming slang as an elaborate code.
London has over 90 street markets, so you are bound to stumble across one or two in your travels. Most date back to the Middle Ages and while some still survive as wholesale markets, others have diversified to cater to 21st century needs.
Smithfield Market is still the largest meat market in London but it began as a live cattle market.
Billingsgate Market is a historic fish market and Covent Garden is a massive wholesale flower and vegetable market, although it now operates in Nine Elms.
Bermondsey Market has a very interesting past, as it started in 1855 as a place to trade with impunity. This actually meant that under the royal license if stolen goods were purchased here in good faith they did not have to be returned to the owner! Legislation later amended this to only applying to goods bought before sunrise, so the market’s busiest hours were around 4am. It still opens well before sunrise and attracts many dealers and serious collectors. Canvas stalls line the old square, once the site of Bermondsey Abbey. It is a good place to find antique silver, estate jewelry, old postcards and antique silver-topped canes, but early customers need to bring their own flashlight!
Leadenhall Market, just off Gracechurch Street, definitely wins the prize for the most beautiful market location. It is housed in a splendid Victorian arcade with a glass roof which keeps the rain off the quaint cobbled streets lined with small independent shops. This well-preserved Victorian food market is popular with city businessmen for weekday lunches in the excellent pubs and eateries.
The oldest London Market is Borough Market, located just south of London Bridge. Records show it goes back to the year 1014, and has seen almost 1000 years of trading. During the week it is a wholesale food market but on Friday afternoons and Saturdays it becomes a sought-after Farmers’ Market, commonly known as “London’s Larder”. Borough Market is neatly described as:
“squeezed between Tate Modern and City Hall, this ancient part of London continues an age old trend - selling foods from across the continent to Londoners from across the globe.”
The word “market” tends to conjure up ideas of bargain prices – not so here – but what visitors do get is superb gourmet food in an authentic atmosphere. The Victorian architecture and somewhat seedy location beneath the railway makes this a great way to see life as a Londoner rather than a tourist, in perfect safety. Sample the cider, patisseries and regional cheeses (Cheshire cheese from Cheshire, Cheddar from Cheddar Gorge etc.) and make it a trip to remember.
The Dickensian wrought-iron structure of Borough Market seems to have come straight from the pages of Oliver Twist, and the market is frequently used as a film location. You may recognize it from movies such as Bridget Jones’s Diary, Richard III and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
One of the largest London markets is Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill. It stretches for over a mile with antique stalls at one end, international food stalls in the middle and clothing and other goods here and there. Whether you want a crown-shaped teapot or a piece of stained glass, Portobello traders will be pleased to help, but don’t forget to haggle over the price.
One final not-to-be-missed market is the original Covent Garden Market. Although the fruit and flower wholesale market moved out in 1973, the lovely Inigo Jones designed building houses around 40 stalls of high-end crafts and antiques. The surrounding cobbled square is where buskers and street performers entertain with miming, conjuring and juggling acts in front of the lovely Royal Opera House, once the wholesale flower market.
On a final seasonal note, Christmas markets are a European tradition where stalls are set up around the cathedral and sell home-baked cookies, hand-crafted toys, freshly cut mistletoe (for stealing kisses beneath!) and delicious home-made foods. If you happen to be in London before Christmas, visit the temporary Christmas Market in Hyde Park – the perfect antidote to the rush of the city.
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