London markets are definitely a joy to explore, so spend a day visiting some of them including Borough Market, Old Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane. It makes a great day out, discovering what London had to offer. We walked between most of our chosen London Markets, but there is the option of the bus or tube. Below you can find the markets we visited, with suggestions on how to get between them.
Portobello Road Markets
We arrived at 9am, taking the tube to Ladbroke Grove. It is less than 5 minutes to walk to these London markets from here. Portobello road is known for its vintage clothing and antiques, as well as being a popular place to visit. Being early in the morning, it was particularly quiet and people were ambling around, browsing the stalls coffee in hand. We bought a very good coffee from Hermanos Columbian coffee. Additional information about Portobello road market can be found here.
Notting Hill Farmers Market
One of the small Saturday markets London is Notting Hill Farmers Market. It is between 10 am and 2 pm and is worth a visit if you are in the area. It is held in the outside area of Fox Primary School. The market was full of local fresh produce including fruit and vegetables, as well as cheese, bread and fish. Other stalls also sold handmade crafts and jewellery. There were queues for many of the stalls, which shows this markets popularity!
Harrods
From here we headed towards Harrods to see the temporary Louis Vuitton installation (this is no longer there). It is a 30-minute walk from the market, mainly across Hyde Park. This is a pleasant walk as you pass Kensington palace and Royal Albert Hall en-route. Harrods itself is always worth a look, particularly the amazing array of expensive products in its food hall!
Catching the tube to other markets in London from here
Rather than visit Harrods you can head straight to Borough market from Portobello Road. Walk back to Ladbroke Grove station and take the train to Baker Street where you change onto the Jubilee line to continue to London Bridge. It is about a 40-minute journey. From Harrods, take the tube from Knightsbridge to London Bridge to visit Borough Market. Alternatively to visit Camden market instead, catch the Piccadilly line to Leicester Square and then the northern Line to Camden Town.
Borough Market
One of the most popular and famous markets in London is Borough Market. It is also one of the largest and oldest food markets. The market is close to London Bridge station and it is always busy. It has a surprisingly wide range of foods available, including cheese, baked goods and meats. Street food stalls from around the world include Indian, Malaysian, Japanese and Mexican to name but a few. Do not miss this opportunity to get some lunch. We opted for crab stuffed charcoal pasta with Genovese pesto from La Tua pasta. It was a good choice as the pasta was stuffed full and the pesto had an amazing flavour.
Maltby Street Market
From Borough Market, the next London market on this route, is a 20 minute walk to Maltby Street food market. Make sure to take a peek in Vinegar Yard, where you will find a flea market and artwork, along with food and drink.
Maltby Street Market is situated under a railway arch and is an atmospheric market, with wine bars where you can take your own food in from the market, when you buy a drink. This is a small colourful market and the street food includes a variety of dishes from around the world. We tried the Vietnamese spiced chicken baguette from Banh Mi Nen and it was delicious.
Old Spitalfields Market
From Maltby street, we chose to walk 35 minutes to Old Spitalfields Market; it is possible to take the bus if you wish. We headed towards Tower Bridge, stopping at the Pommelers Rest for a quick drink. We always enjoy the views down the river from Tower bridge along with the walk alongside the Tower of London.
This London market dates back to the 17th century. In recent years it has been modernised into a shopping and dining destination. Here you will find handmade goods, vintage and independent fashion boutiques, as well as a mix of local and international food stalls. It is undercover and a lovely place to browse
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Humble Crumble Old Spitalfields Market
With its reputation preceding it, we were excited to see what Humble Crumble had to offer. Here you order your choice of fruit, crumble topping and then a further topping such as custard, frozen custard or cream, The queue is long but it moves quickly as you conviniently complete your own order on an iPad once you reach the front. The queue was worthwhile and the crumble tasted especially good. We had apple and cinnamon, with a shortbread crumble, topped with frozen custard. It was decorated with our chosen sprinkles; meringue and rose petals. Humble Crumble has another branch at Borough Market.
Brick Lane Markets
Around the corner from Old Spitalfields Market, you find Brick Lane and its markets. This diverse London market is spread over a few locations in the area. Markets include a vintage market, the Back Yard market which sells many handmade goods, the tea room market with a number of cute boutique-style stalls and of course a street food market which caters for a variety of tastes.
In addition continue walking along Brick Lane itself with its numerous vinyl stores and colourful graffiti. Part way down you will find a long queue of people outside the popular Beigel Bake.
Columbia Road Flower Market
About 10 minutes on from Brick lane you come to Columbia Road. This is one of the Sunday markets in London, but on other days, Columbia Road itself is worth a visit, if only for its quaint bars, shops and cafes.
Broadway Market
About another 20-minute walk from Columbia Road, you find Broadway Market. It is open on Saturdays. Visit this London market for a variety of stalls including a farmers’ market, craft stalls, clothing stalls as well as a number of food stalls. We enjoyed wandering between the stalls and seeing what they had to offer. The street has a number of shops, cafes and restaurants which are open all week. One of the cafes which caught our eye was l’eau a La Bouche. This was part delicatessen, part café with outside tables next to the market. We bought a delicious hot chocolate and spent a pleasant half-hour people-watching.
From here we walked the 20 minutes to Bethnal Green tube station, and caught the central line train back into town and headed home after a truly enjoyable day.
Other Markets in London
We always enjoy walking around London and visiting the markets took us to places we hadn’t discovered before. Obviously, not all these London markets have to be covered in one day and each on their own makes for a pleasant visit. This list is not exhaustive and there are noticeable omissions including Covent Garden, Camden Market, Leadenhall Market, Greenwich Market and Petticoat Lane Market to name but a few. Those I will save for another visit and a different post!
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