| Great Trails: London Tour 2 |
| Roll up! Roll up! Bargain days out |
There are many colourful markets in London, some of which should be visited as much for their atmosphere as for their wares. At any
of them you can also enjoy delicious snacks on the move, or sit down for a bite. South of the river, Borough Market caters for foodies while
further afield Greenwich Market offers curios, clothes, crafts and French foods. To the west lies Portobello, best known for its antique stalls. Up north, Columbia Road offers flowers and plants, while Camden Market sells ethnic crafts, vintage items, and new and second-hand fashions. At Brick Lane, in the East End, you can buy almost anything from vegetables to
collectables. Nearby Spitalfields sells organic food and crafts. Here is our guide to London's finest markets.
1 BOROUGH MARKET
This market has been around since the 13th century, when it sold fruit and veg. Nowadays, it is a Mecca for London foodies shopping for organic meats, fish, bread, cheese and deli produce. Most of the traders are small producers who travel up the same morning, from as far away as London and the Lake District, to sell their wares. Turnips is one of our favourites – its large area at the back of the market displays most varieties of fruit and veg, including baskets of wild mushrooms and boxes of whole tamarind. If you don't want to lug your dinner ingredients around with you, come just to enjoy the spectacle and
sample some lovely food.
• Nearest tube: London Bridge (Borough High St, west exit).
2 GREENWICH MARKET
Greenwich is less busy than other markets so it is a great place to wander round. There are
several market areas in the town (most of them are held 9am-5pm, Saturday and Sunday): towards the centre from Greenwich station, there are stalls selling antiques and second-hand goods. At the end of Stockwell St the main outdoor market offers nostalgia, vintage collectables, and furniture. Heading for the Cutty Sark, along Greenwich Church St, a flagstone passageway leads to the official covered market with stalls selling contemporary crafts, confectionery and French food.
• Getting there: Jubilee Line tube to Canary Wharf then Docklands Lt Railway to Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich, or Greenwich Stn.
3 PORTOBELLO MARKET
Portobello Market began life in the 1870s but didn't become a centre for antiques lovers until 1948. The upper half of the road is lined with shops and stalls selling quality antiques, many of them surprisingly affordable. The bustling atmosphere is friendly and well-heeled. Among our favourites were a shop
selling turn-of-the-century leather items such as cricket balls and hat boxes, and another with vintage kitchenware. The stalls are a great place to find old watches, jewellery, crockery, silverware, prints, objets d'art and more obscure items such as Victorian tools
and Edwardian dresses. After the junction with Westbourne Park Rd the market turns its hand to top-notch fruit and veg. There's some posh nosh, too, with an increasing number of stands selling excellent deli foods. Past the stalls selling cheap clothing and household goods, the last leg of the market takes you past Westway flyover – it's distinctly shabbier here, but there's more chance of a bargain.
• Nearest tube: Ladbroke Grove, or Notting Hill Gate
4 CAMDEN MARKET
This relatively 'new' market offers a diversity of wares. Between the tube station and Camden Lock, a
purpose-built area selling 'grungy' youth fashions is followed by shops selling shoes, boots and zany,
outlandish clothing. In the courtyard next to the canal, and inside the adjacent building, the stalls and boutiques sell ethnic and hippy-ish crafts, from rugs to jewellery. Outside, there is a cornucopia of unusual fast foods from which to choose. The Stables area offers vintage collectables and antiques, including Victorian kitchenware, second-hand books and records. You'll find furniture, too, from almost every era. The Lock and Stables areas are open daily, and the section near Camden Town tube opens at weekends.
• Nearest tube: Camden Town. (If you want to avoid the worst of the crowds, get off at Chalk Farm tube and walk back to the Lock.)
5 COLUMBIA ROAD FLOWER MARKET
The sight of so many glorious blooms and exotic plants in a small, East End street is an uplifting sight on a Sunday morning (8am-1pm), whatever the weather. In between gazing at the endless array of fresh flowers, from gladioli to gypsophilia, as well as varieties we couldn't identify, we loved the sight of huge plant leaves bobbing above the heads of the crowd as their new owners carried home their latest acquisitions.
In the Victorian shops lining each side of the street you'll find all sorts of interesting goods, from farmhouse cheeses to antiques. At the end of the road, take a table in Laxeiro, a superb Spanish tapas bar.
• Nearest tubes: Old Street, Liverpool Street or Bethnal Green.
6 BRICK LANE
Brick Lane, centre of the local Bangladeshi immigrant community, and its neighbouring streets are home to a Sunday morning market which is an inimitable East End institution. It starts at 6.30am, when the down-at-heel traders flog anything they can on Bethnal Green Rd. From 7.30am, in Scalter St, pet foods, tinned foods, electrical goods and tools make better buys. In Cygnet St, new bikes, meat and frozen foods are on sale. Worth more of a look is the lower end of Brick Lane with its leather jackets, fruit and veg, cheap jewellery, and jellied eel stands. However, the real finds are in Cheshire St where stalls sell CDs, cassettes and household goods – look out for
demonstrations of kitchen tools by classic East End salesmen. Here, also, are the lock-ups and warehouses holding second-hand books and piles of old junk, clothes, and particularly furniture – you could find some real collectors' gems here, at bargain prices.
• Nearest tube: Aldgate East, or Shoreditch.
7 SPITALFIELDS
This covered market on Commercial St has taken
several guises since it was first established in 1682 as a vegetable market, later becoming a centre for fine silks. Its current incarnation is as a second-hand crafts and organic market, attracting most visitors on Sundays (it is open on Fridays, too, with a few stalls operating throughout the week). The organic section still peddles fruit and veg among its wares but more significant is the number of stands selling crafts such as hand-turned wooden bowls, basketware and kitsch, plus those with a broad range of second-hand clothes. We spotted some amazing bargains, including Russell and Bromley black evening shoes (unworn) for just £10. There's a Bohemian feel about Spitalfields, and it's popular with the trendy types who have helped to gentrify this otherwise rather grim part of London in which the market forms an oasis of colour and light.
• Nearest tube: Liverpool Street
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Refreshments
1 Borough Market
The George 77 Borough High St, SE1. Tel 020 7407 2056
2 Greenwich Market
Try the open-air Thai café
3 Portobello Market
Café Grove 59A Portobello Rd, W11. Tel 0207 243 1094
4 Camden Market
A variety of food stalls
5 Columbia Road Market
Laxeiro 93 Columbia Road, E2. Tel 020 7729 1147
6 Brick Lane Market
Nazrul Café 130 Brick Lane, E1. Tel 020 7247 2505
Beigel Bake 159 Brick Lane, E1. Tel 20 772 90616
7 Spitalfields Market
Cafes in the Old Market area.
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