London Markets

Spitalfields, Brockley, Maltby and Brixton.

The markets in Camden and Camden locks, as well as the entire area, is neat on a sunny, mild, day, especially a Saturday.

They are not quite the wonderful mishmash of clothing, craft, and food vendors it was years ago. They have cleaned up, built new structures, and vendors are a bit more upscale. But there are lots of eateries, shops, and just walking along the Regent canal is a treat.

Another area, near Spitalfields, is Brick Lane and markets in and around the old Truman Brewery. There are several market areas and buildings, selling a wide variety of crafts and items, plus lots of street food type stalls.

The Brick Lane markets are my favourite, and there are some great food places. I have to confess we normally end up at Morleys eating fried chicken. Best I've ever tasted!

As you consider the question, I want to hear about the markets that you enjoyed and what you enjoyed about them. Little interest in second hand information, leave off the ones that you didn't like, and skip over Borough. This isn’t a "what's the best market?" question, in a sense it's all about you and your pleasures.

Hmmm... Interesting. Good way to phrase a question.

Camden Market is still worth a visit in my book. Yes, it's pretty busy with tourists but it's still worth seeing. I called it "Goth Blackpool" in another thread recently (Blackpool is a tacky seaside town). The choice of street food stalls is fantastic. There's some really tasty stuff. The advantage it has over Borough Market is there's a lot more places to sit down. Borough Market you'd usually find yourself wandering aimlessly with your munchies in your hand.

The Stables Market at Camden is where you'll find the artisans and makers, still good if you're looking for some hand made jewellery or some upcycled clothes. There is quite a lot of the same foreign-made tat you'd find in every market, with some repetition between stalls with lighters, bongs and tie-dye pants as well. I dated a girl briefly years ago who worked in Cyberdog in Camden Market. It's the one-stop shop for your rave outfits, huge pants, day-glo furry boots and steampunk goggles etc. Downstairs in the basement is "adults only" as a warning / tip. It's a thing worth seeing, even if you're too old and arthritic for raving.

Camden is still worth a visit. Some good pubs (some well known and touristy, some rough as a badger's arse), bookshops and general north London vibe. Easy way to spend an afternoon.

I have more on other places I may post later.

Spitalfields market is there most of the week but the market in Brick Lane is really Sundays only. Close by there Columbia Road Flower Market is also worth a look. And the joint craft and food market in Greenwich.

I was in London in August and finally added a market other than Portobello Road to my itinerary--I chose Old Spitalfields on a Thursday specifically because they have antiques vendors that day and I love poking through vintage stuff. A sterling silver stag brooch and a 1950s Hungarian pottery gnome came home with me. There were perhaps 40 stalls, good selection of interesting things, along with the established shops around the perimeter, and then a section of quality handcrafted items. Lots of food stalls, they were quite busy and we ended up having an artisan hot dog, of all things. I'd definitely return there but would like to visit Borough Market too. Another market I love is in Greenwich--it's covered, and has been there since the 1730s. Different focus on different days of the week, and Greenwich makes for an easy day trip from London proper.

I'd echo others sentiments about Spitalfields, Columbia Road and Brick Lane.

I'd add Columbia Road is best from 10am until midday Sunday for an arrival time, especially if you have any intention of buying flowers. After 2pm it's really wound down. It's nice for pictures of all the flower stalls and there's many pleasant little places for coffee and snacks too.

Paul mentioned that there are several markets around Brick Lane. The big vintage market indoors at Trumans Brewery is really something. There's the remnants of an old fashioned bric-a-brac market at Sclater Street. Sclater Street used to be where you'd go looking for your bike for sale at the weekend if it had been stolen in the week. Kingsland Waste on Kingsland Road used to be another really dodgy one, but I think it has scaled back and relaunched with traders specialising in more legal wares.

Another Hackney one is Broadway Market. It runs Saturday and Sunday, I think Saturday might be the main day. It really is hipster central. I'll link to the list of traders and that gives you an idea of what's going on. It was absolutely packed on a Saturday in July when I was last there. There's some great shops and eateries on Broadway Market too. I think I've mentioned before it's good to combine with a walk around London Fields or a walk down the canal to Victoria Park. If you're out early you could feasibly do Broadway Market, Columbia Road and Brick Lane / Spitalfields in a nice walk over a couple of hours or so.

https://broadwaymarket.co.uk/directory/business-category/saturday-stalls/

Chatsworth Road is a sort of "mini Broadway Market" in my neighbourhood. It's a pleasant small, hip Sunday market, mainly food. Several very high quality places to eat and drink coffee in the street, my favourite being 46b.

Staying in Hackney, I have affection for Ridley Road Market. If I'm walking to or from Dalston in the day, I'll always choose to walk up Ridley Road as opposed to other routes. It's not somewhere appealing to tourists, it's mainly produce, but it definitely has a vibe. There's quite a few stalls with a bit of an African flavour; exotic fruit and veg, bushmeat, and fish you've never heard of. I always enjoy walking that way just to look even if I have no intention of buying anything.

Just to finish off, nipping over to Islington there's Chapel Market. There's quite a few food stalls, with a jerk chicken one that I hope is still there. It's not quite the market it was years ago, but there's a few stalls for locals including home goods, cycle repairs and clothing. As a bit of classic British TV trivia, some of the first couple of series of "Only Fools and Horses" was filmed on location there. The market in the title sequence you see in the first couple of series is Chapel Market.

I'll bump this with somewhere else I thought of - Strutton Ground.

Strutton Ground is a small market on weekdays in Westminster. I'm posting it because I think it's an ideal place to have in your amoury for lunch on the go if you're visiting sites in Westminster. It's only a short walk from Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliament and Victoria.

It's centred on food stalls of a pretty high quality. I used to regularly frequent a falafel stall for lunch when I worked around there. There's loads of choice and a few sandwich and takeout food shops aside from the market.

There's thousands of people work in that vicinity. The Home Office and Channel 4 TV are some of the big employers I can think of but the Civil Service and UK Government is run from offices around there by and large.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/baakAoK9Ca9jxcWD8 - Strutton Ground, SW1P.

Skip Camden Market and walk up the hill to Hampstead instead.

Of the ones we have visited, this is how I would rank them. Enjoyed them all, though, for different reasons.
1. Camden market and Locks- just loved the area. Taking the bus there, so many vintage clothes that were appealing to my 20 something daughter. Fun to see clothes I wore in my 20s (Levi’s jackets, rugby shirts!) proudly hanging on the racks!
2. Portobello market- loved to see the scarves, paintings, housewares
3. Spitalfields- a nice mixture of a bit more upscale things with food stands to check out as well. Great soaps, hats, candle selections.
4. Brick Lane- the street art of course! Again, more vintage than you could imagine, plus there were street musicians out playing. Such an eclectic group of humans roaming around!
5. Columbia Road- the various flowers and plants. So many! And very reasonably priced compared to back in the States. Also, the shops down the road were sweet, some for pets, too!

We were fortunate to time our visits to some of these on their popular days, which lent to the excitement of each place’s vibe. The only downside was for a couple- Borough in particular in late June- it was so incredibly crowded that it took away from seeing many of the stalls.

Christa, thanks for the hint that Old Spitalfields market has antiques on Thursday. I added it to my list to see.

Horsewoofie--on Mondays there's also an antiques market at Covent Garden, the Jubilee Market--right next to the wonderful London Museum of Transport. I've found a few goodies there, usually 30-40 stalls. I've learned to check the websites for markets wherever I go so that I don't miss a chance for some good antique hunting, though the handcraft days are worth a visit, too.