London Markets: Vintage, Fashion and International Food

Wandering around London markets with Mara and Stefano from Mindthetrip.it

The beauty of England's capital city also resides in its lively markets. Leadenhall Market, unconventional Camden Market and fashionable Covent Garden's Apple Market, there's no doubt London markets are worth a visit. Mara and Stefano, travel bloggers from Mindthetrip.it, recently got back from London and here is their list of the top six markets. If you want to keep updated about their adventures follow them on Facebook, Twitter and G+.

Food, Shopping and Much More at Borough Market

Borough Market, which opens from Tuesday to Thursday, from 10am to 5pm, on Fridays from 10am to 6pm and on Saturdays from 8am, is the most famous food market in London. It is right opposite London Bridge metro station(Jubilee and Northen Line). It not only has a wide choice of quality local products, but also a great number of international food stalls. Among the fine stalls of the market you will find Italian burrata, Spanish jamón, Arab pastries, Indian spices, kangaroo or zebra meat, garden grass or tree fresh juice. But at Borough Market there's much more you can do than just food shopping: you can have lunch! On Mondays and Tuesdays, when it is open from 10am to 5pm, take away food stands serve delicious dishes made with the very products they sell.

London's Stylish Leadenhall Market

A short stroll away from Borough Market is Leadenhall Market. This fine market, which probably is one of the most stylish ones in London, is in Gracechurch Street, in the heart of the City. Leadenhall Market dates back to the 14th Century and became famous becuase the initial part of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was set there. It opens every day at 7am and what makes it so lively are its butchers, people selling dairy products and flowers. As visitors enter the market they can't get their eys off the Victorian building which houses it and its ceiling's red and gold nuances. Try a delicious English Breakfast at Leadenhall Market: it is right in one of those typical butchers with their open-style kitchens near Whittington Avenue's Northern exit that English chefs can cook the best English Breakfast you've ever tasted.

Fashionable Covent Garden market

This market, located in the very heart of London, right at Covent Garden metro station(Piccadlly Line), is open every day from the morning to 6pm. Covent Garden market took its name from the district where it is located, which is famous for its high fashion shops, luxury bookshops and fine restaurants. While in the past the main square in Covent Garden held a fruit and vegetable market, it now boasts of local products and home-made cakes during the week and of singers and street performers at the weekends. The indoor part of the market features Apple Market: a mixture of stalls with fashionable jewelery, trendy clothes and colorful scarfs. Whereas downstairs you'll quite often find an opera singer who entertains people at the restaurants, upstairs you'll get the chance to enter in French pastry shops, souvenir shops and peculiar stationeries.

Huge and unconventional Camden Market
It is perhaps the most famous among London markets, partly because it is where young people discover their rebel soul (if they hadn't known about it yet) and partly because it is one of the biggest and most peculiar markets of the city. Camden Market streches from Camden Town metro station (Northern Line) to Chalk Farm and you may even take up to a whole morning (and part of the afternoon) to explore it all. It opens daily from 10am to 6pm but you'd better not go at the weekends, when it is so packed you can barely walk. This is the right place if you like deals: you can spend hours bargaining for prices and buying international objects and pieces of art. Extravagant and vitage clothing complete the picture together with unusual shops, such as the one selling magic mushrooms, and Pink Lady's stand, where clothes and accessories are all of the same colour: pink. Don't forget that you can also eat at Camden Market (we didn't say “eat good food” though): there are food stands selling jacket potatoes, Chinese and African dishes, fish and chips and kebabs.

International food and vintage clothes at Brick Lane

It is located at Aldgate East metro station (Circle, District or Hammersmith lines). Brick Lane market is open on Sundays, from 9am to 5pm. The city district where it is located is called Shoreditch, which is famous both because much of Bansky's street art can be seen here and because it was here that Jack the Ripper's crimes were committed. If you feel like Bansky's graffitti are too hard to be found and Jack the Ripper's story scares you a little bit, don't worry: there's Brick Lane market with plenty of things to do. The best time to visit it would be lunch time. There's such a wide range of culinary delights you can choose from here: part of the market is entirely dedicated to international take away food. If you wish to have Mexican, Japanese, Lithuanian or Italian food just have a sit with your lunch box in one of the wodden benches downstairs. When you're full it'll be time to visit the second part of the martket, packed with vintage and cheap designer clothes stands: things for the house, colourful t-shirts, unusual souvenirs for your friends are there waiting for you. The flower market in Colombia Road is also worth a visit; it is a 10-minute walk from Brick Lane Street and there you'll find flowers and plants at discounted prices. This area of the city was rather set aside in the past, however it is now a core location for London underground trends: art galleries, shops and independent bars make it lively also at night.

Portobello from Hugh Grant's film to reality

Eternalized by the film Notting Hill, Portobello Market is 3km away from Marble Arch, however it is easily reachable from Notting Hill Gate metro station (Central line) and from Ladbroke Grove Station (Hammersmith line). Those who dream about meeting Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, raise your hands! That's at least what I dream about every time I walk around Notting Hill, I still find myself lost in the film scene where scatterbrained William Thacker is looking for his love, Anna Scott. Portobello Market is open on Saturdays: early in the morning is the ideal time to visit it, when the majority of tourists are still in bed or having breakfast. You will find anything here: hand-worked teapots and tea cups that could even make the Queen green with envy, famous London buses, record players from old good days, huge brass trumpets. You'll be also entertained by street performers with their music: some of them are at the corner, on the sideways, others are inside a lorry that has been refurbished as a stage to play music in it.