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London’s oldest food market, the vibrant Borough Market has been around for over a thousand years. Not only is it UK’s best-known — it’s one of the most famous food markets in the world.

It’s survived for so many centuries because a 1754 Act of Parliament ruled that it would remain “an estate for the use and benefit” of the local community “forever.” In its current form, it’s owned by a charitable trust and governed by a board of volunteer trustees.

The market is crammed with stalls run by highly knowledgeable small producers who grow, cook, or directly source the food that they sell. Sharing its philosophy of transparency in food production, provenance and flavour with the Slow Food movement, it has many Slow Food-accredited traders. Indeed the market itself, and a number of its stallholders, are regular recipients of Slow Food awards.

Additionally, there’s a strong commitment to the environment: as much as possible is recycled, rainwater is collected to feed the plants, and low-energy lighting is used. So, then, how do you get the most out of this sprawling international icon… and, first of all, where do you start?

Get to know its history

You’ll appreciate the market more if you learn about its colourful past, and can place the venue and its buildings in a historical context. Read up on its fascinating history here. You’ll discover how the market has been in existence in some form or other since before 1014; and how its fortunes were revived in the 1990s, when our current interest in artisanal foods began to take shape.

Get your bearings

The market is a mixture of open spaces and passageways lined with shops and stalls. Three Crown Square is its largest trading area, selling essential produce including fruit and veg, meat, fish and cheese. In the spaces around are speciality foods from around the world.

A map will give you an idea of the market’s layout. However, the best way to experience it is to simply walk around. Follow the crowds and the food aromas, and you’ll eventually find your bearings. If it’s your first visit, take a quick walk around, then re-visit the shops that caught your attention the first time around. Take your time, linger as long as you like, talk to the traders, and get to know their products. Don’t be afraid to get stuck into samples.

Book a guided tour

If you’re short on time, or looking for a more organised approach, why not book yourself on a walking tour. Cookery writer Celia Brooks is the only person officially licensed by the market to conduct guided tours. In her three-hour walks, she’ll tell you about the market’s history, producers and ingredients. There are plenty of tastings along the way, including tutored wine and food sessions.

Brooks tells us: “People are fascinated by the depth and complexity of every bite and sip we take, but also love to learn how to use so many amazing products and ingredients in their own kitchens… They come away enlightened to many surprises they didn’t know existed.”

Attend special events throughout the year

Borough Market isn’t only for shopping. It hosts a wide range of lively, topical, thought-provoking and fun events throughout the year. They’re led by renowned chefs, food writers and food and drink personalities. Make a point of planning your visits around these.

Food festivals, talks and debates may include everything from an evening of free cheese tasting, to a seminar on the future of food. Or join the Cookbook Club that meets at the Cookhouse. There are cookery demonstrations, too, from respected chefs and cookery writers in the market’s demonstration kitchen.

Jenny Chandler, who specialises in cooking with beans and lentils, demonstrates here regularly. She enthuses: “Demonstrating at Borough Market is a privilege. Every time I set off around the market with my shopping list, it’s like winning Wonka’s golden ticket; buying some of the best ingredients the world has to offer and, most importantly, learning, always learning something new, from the knowledgeable and passionate traders.”

Best times to visit

If you’re not taking a guided tour or attending an event, avoid peak times. There’s a limited market (which means not all stalls are open) on Mondays and Tuesdays, and a full market between Wednesday to Saturday. Get there as early as you can to beat the crowds.

The best time to visit is between 10am to midday Wednesday to Friday; and 8am to midday on Saturday. Yes, Saturdays are the liveliest, but also the most crowded.

Alternatively, go at around 4pm. The crowds will have thinned out by then, and many stallholders will give you their unsold products (especially perishable fruit and veg, baked goods and cooked dishes) at a heavily discounted price.

Visit these famous classics…

Firstly, let us tell you about two of our favourite shops. One of the very best greengrocers in the capital, Turnips sells seasonal and speciality fruit and veg from farms around Britain, Europe and beyond. And the small, aromatic Spice Mountain is crammed with amazing spices and herbs from around the world, making it one of the best speciality shops in the UK.

There are plenty of baked goods too. Located in Cathedral Street, you can watch bakers at work in the glass-fronted Bread Ahead bakery and cookery school. They also have a stall in Three Crown Square. The Flour Station sells long-fermented sourdoughs, and a good choice of cakes and pastries. Pieminister is popular for its hearty British meat and vegetarian pies.

For something even meatier, acclaimed butcher The Ginger Pig sells British meat and offal. The highly regarded British charcuterie brand Cannon & Cannon hosts events, tastings and workshops at their Meat School in Jubilee Place.

Cheeses rarely come better than the locally matured British and Irish ones available at the revered Neal’s Yard Dairy. Making cheese locally in Bermondsey, Kappacasein is also famous for its cheese toasties (and their Swiss raclette, too, is delicious).

A firm favourite of serious coffee lovers, Monmouth Coffee Company sells locally roasted beans and freshly made coffees.

… And these little-known gems you might not know about

Another company specialising in London-made cheeses, Blackwood is based in Brockley. It specialises in soft raw cow’s milk cheese.

Rubies In The Rubble is a commendable social enterprise that employs disadvantaged people, and sells homemade jams, chutneys and preserves, cooked using excessive fruit and veg that would otherwise go to waste.

Handcrafted spirits and liquors have become fashionable in recent years, and the East London Liquor Company sells ones made in a converted glue factory in Bow Wharf. British recipes, ingredients and flavours are the big draw here.

A number of shops focus on just one type of product. Nut Farms sells cobnuts and walnuts grown in Kent; plus excellent cold-pressed nut oils. The Tomato Stall sells organic Isle Of Wight tomatoes that professional chefs make a point of boasting about. Sweet Roots is very niche: it sells liquorice products from Calabria in Italy.

… And the best of these international flavours

The market is a microcosm of London life: it sells high-quality and hard-to-find ingredients from around the world. Monika Linton’s renowned Spanish deli Brindisa sells top-notch imported Spanish foods. Don’t miss their legendary chorizo roll, served outside the shop. The many varieties of Mexican chillies can be difficult to get hold of in London, but Cool Chile Co sells a great range; plus Mexican herbs and spices, freshly made sauces, tortillas and corn products. The long-established Italian deli Gastronomica sells imported products from small producers around Italy.

East European bakery Karaway specialises in delicious and wholesome rye breads. Ran Wilson’s vegetarian Israeli boureka pastries, made according to his grandmother’s recipes, can be found at Balkan Bites.

There’s also a large choice of delicious street food from around the world. Famous food writer Anissa Helou’s Koshari Street specialises in koshari: a wholesome Egyptian vegetarian mix of rice, lentils, pasta, caramelised onions and spices. Award-winning Gourmet Goat’s USP is east Mediterranean village food centred on the meat of young male goats, as well as ethically produced rose veal.

Gujarati Rasoi serves up home-style vegetarian dishes from western India, such as moong dahl, potatoes with fenugreek leaves, and cauliflower with peas. Also specialising in veggie Indian fare, Horn OK Pleasesells tasty street food, including bhel puri and aloo tikki chaat.  

The hugely popular Ethiopian Flavours sells spicy meat and vegetarian stews with injera bread. It’s well worth waiting in the queue.

Make a day of it

So you’ve been nibbling, munching and grazing all day… but you must leave room for a sit-down dinner. There are a number of wonderful restaurants and bars in the area, such as the contemporary Middle Eastern Arabica Bar and Kitchen and chocolate-centric Rabot 1745 in nearby Bedale Street. It’s a unique place where every dish is based on some part of the cocoa tree.

And you can’t miss Iqbal Wahhab’s Modern British Roast, located right inside the market. It’s also an ideal place to kick off your day with a glass of champagne — a toast to all the good things to come.

Here are a few of the best spots to explore in Whitechapel, London:

Trail in the Footsteps of Jack the Ripper

Just go back in history and take the well-known Jack the Ripper Tours that take place almost all evenings in Whitechapel. You can join the forces of the Victorian police force and Victorian London residents to solve the most scandalous serial killer cases in the history of London. You can book your Jack the Ripper Tour online.

Enjoy Mouth-Watering Food at Tayyabs

This restaurant was started 40 years ago. This restaurant specializes in Punjabi cuisine and hence is very famous among travelers who come from all corners of the world. As the food is affordable and reasonable, many tourists like to come here. The weekends can get crowded. You can book your table in advance to avoid last minute disappointment.

Visit One of London’s Most Attractive Galleries

London is a place full of many museums and galleries. Most of the galleries are free to visit. The Whitechapel Gallery is one of London’s most esteemed art galleries. Though this gallery is smaller than others, it has some wonderful pieces. In earlier times, the gallery exhibited some lesser-known artists, who have now become world-famous. The gallery also stocks some of the Picasso’s work dating back to 1938. This gallery is free to visit.

Visit the East London Mosque

This is one more wonderful Whitechapel experience. The East London Mosque is a promiment Whitechapel landmark and it is an aide-mémoire of how nicely widespread this area is. You can check out their website to look for some days where you can get a tour in the mosque and get to know more about its history.

Visit the Makers of Big Ben and the Liberty Bell

This is one of the best secret places in London. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is the most popular bell producer in the world. It has a great history of more than 500 years. This small foundry in fact made Big Ben and also the liberty bell, which is a well-known symbol of independence in the United States. If you are lucky, the bell-makers may also allow you to see some of the soon-to-be famous bells that are being made. This can really be a wonderful experience.

Poke a Donkey at Spitalfields City Farm

London has a farm smack-bang in its heart. The Spitalfields City Farm is just few minutes’ walk from the Whitechapel tube station and this is the best spot to enjoy a lazy afternoon. The place is enjoyed by visitors as well as locals. It’s free to visit between 10 am-4 pm and if you come here in spring, then you may even see some cute little lambs.

Go to See the Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town

This is the best café in the area. Just come to this Breakfast Club Café and tell the staff that you have come to visit the Mayor. Seeing The Mayor is like a secret password that will help the staff to open a hidden fridge door. Just come here through the fridge and you will understand that it is not a fridge and you have come to the London’s coolest ‘secret’ bars. This is the most amazing place in the city. Just do not forget the password that is “I’m here to see the mayor”.

There are lots of things to see and do in the Whitechapel area of London that will make your London trip very memorable.

So you’ve eaten a beigel/curry, bought a vintage jacket, and learned what a Huguenot is. You’re done with Brick Lane, right? Hmm. Take a look at some of the lesser-known things to do in the area:

Spitalfields City Farm

A couple of minutes walk east of Brick Lane is Spitalfields City Farm. It’s free to visit (although donations are always appreciated) and is home to the likes of donkeys, sheep and pigs, all waiting to be stroked/have funny noises made at them. The farm also hosts the annual Goat Race, a pun on the Oxford/Cambridge boat race that got out of hand.

As well as a place to get your dose of cute, Spitalfields City Farm is a working farm. A vegetable garden is run by volunteers, and the wildlife garden attracts different species all year round. There’s a small café — with queues a lot shorter than those at Beigel Bake.

Shoreditch Nomadic Community Garden

If the City Farm hasn’t satiated your appetite for the city countryside, Shoreditch Nomadic Community Garden weds urban with nature seamlessly. It was set up in 2015 to give local people somewhere to grow vegetables — also making use of what was essentially a disused building site. Think large wooden planters meets street art, with occasional special events thrown in. Though locals are in charge of growing things, everyone’s welcome to visit.

19 Princelet Street

West of Brick Lane is the the tourist spot of Spitalfields Market — between the two sits 19 Princelet Street, a former synagogue telling the stories of refugees to the area, and functioning as a museum of immigration.

The house was built by Huguenots in the 1700s, and has since been inhabited by Irish, Polish and Jewish families. The exhibition describes these waves of people who made Spitalfields what it is today. 19 Princelet Street only opens to the public occasionally: check the website.

Charles Booth Walks

One of the best East End walking tours you’ll go on. Sean Patterson takes you back to the Whitechapel known and mapped by the social reformer Charles Booth. This tour isn’t stuck in the Victorian age though: find out where Gilbert and George live, discover the only building in London that’s been a church, synagogue and mosque, and learn why Brick Lane is called Brick Lane.

Close-Up Cinema

The Brick Lane area is a treat for cinema lovers. You’ve got Rich Mix showing new releases (it’s worth checking out Rich Mix’s exhibition and live music programme too), and the nearby Electric Cinema for those who like their films with a little more luxury.

Lesser-known is Close-Up Cinema, a cinema and library dedicated to all things film, and tucked away on Sclater Street. The programme of film screenings is curated to reflect the history of cinema, featuring both reel-to-reel and digital projections. Real film buffs, though, will be drawn to the library and archive, which has over 19,000 titles, ranging from early cinema to independent films, as well as books and publications about the film industry. There’s an on-site cafe and bar to boot.

Learn how to make something

You’ve probably heard of perspex jewellery wizards Tatty Devine, but did you know that the Brick Lane store offers jewellery-making workshops? Spend half a day getting to grips with the tools and techniques the Tatty Devine guys use in creating their products, and take your finished materpiece home with you.

You can’t visit London without visiting Brick Lane. Eye-popping street art, street food markets, vintage finds and cutting edge designers, it’s everything that makes East London such a vibrant wonderful place, distilled into a thin cobbled street that’s seen more action over the last 100 years than possibly anywhere else in town.

Food

In the mood for cereal? The Cereal Killer Café caused a ruckus when it opened; whether it’s hipster hype or fills a childhood craving, only you can decide. Pop in for pimped up bowls of cereal.

Brick Lane Beigel Bake is one of the most famous bagel stores around. Churning out salt beef and cream cheese goodness 24 hours a day, its clientele is a slice of real London – from clubbers to taxi drivers. Grab yours and go (although there’s a few spots if you really need a sit down).

You can’t come to Brick Lane and not have a curry. While there are numerous brightly lit spots to indulge in a tikka masala, The Monsoon keeps things simple and not too kitsch, with South Indian specialties like Azwan chicken on the menu.

Just behind Brick Lane on Commercial Road you’ve got the meat masters themselves, Hawksmoor. Recognised as one of the best places in the city to get a steak, the restaurant mixes high quality sourcing with a hip industrial vibe.

Middle Eastern meets European small plates are served up at Jago, which also has a cool covered over patio for winter eating outside. The décor’s trendy, the people watching is good and the soup’s a winner – it’s a good bet for a lunch spot.

Coffee

A mainstay of the weekend Brick Lane happenings, Cafe 1001 has served up organic Fairtrade coffee for years and it turns into a club and live music venue in the evenings. At weekends there’s a barbeque outside – everything is homemade and you’ll often see artists and musicians hanging out.

Kahailia is a slice of everything good. Local suppliers and homemade food go hand in hand here. It’s also a community space and a charity so all profits go back into the local area to support a range of projects. Building friendships with the people who pop in is what it’s all about here.

The Canvas Café is much more than just an ethical café serving up good flat whites. As an events space it hosts the Winter Happiness Festival (this year with added ball pit) and is London’s first Happy Café – expect pop ups, supper clubs, collaborations and plenty of smiles.

You can’t get a fresher cup of coffee than getting it from a roastery and that’s exactly what Nude is on Hanbury Street. Pop in for an espresso or filter coffee and some homemade cakes and cookies and you can also pick up beans to take home or book into a coffee masterclass.

If you haven’t had a Crosstown Doughnut yet you haven’t lived. The doughnut can be found at a number of street food markets every weekend, but there’s also café and doughnut shop on Brick Lane – fatal for anyone trying to avoid sugar. Order up the apricot and lavender and revel in the sugary glory.

Shops

Famous jeweller Tatty Devine has her flagship store at the north end of Brick Lane. Pop in for over-the-top plastic in primary colours with witty slogans or a sideways take on what’s on trend elsewhere.

Borderline brings together a mix of local designers and up and coming stars in men and women’s clothing. It’s the perfect spot when you’re after something totally unique.

Rokit 101 is one of the most famous and long-standing vintage shops along the cobbled strip. It’s the place to rummage for secondhand finds, plus there’s a good selection of recycled and upcycled clothing.

Want something designer but not dull? Illustrated People have their eye popping womenswear store just off Brick Lane. Think sugar pink hoodies, leopard print dresses and cheeky T-shirts.

Religion Clothing is global brand but it started out in East London and still has a store on Brick Lane. For grown up clothes with a rebellious edge pop in and discover everything you need for a bit of London grit and grime.

Bars & Pubs

Apples and Pears do a cheeky take on a cocktail bar with acoustic Folk, Soul & Blues music Tuesdays to Wednesdays and DJ sets at the weekend. There’s plenty of nods to the East End location including a cocktail called Jack the Ripper, and they also have many signature cocktails to choose from.

Pop into The Alice after work – it’s not as squeezed for space as some of the tiny bars down Brick Lane. This large pub offers up local pints, plenty of cocktails with a dose of 1950s glitz and glamour.

The Big Chill Bar has been here for going on 15 years and is always a good shout for a low key pint and a decent burger, without needing to get all craft or gourmet about it. DJ sets and live music step it up at the weekend.

Compact is the name of the game at the Exit Bar, which serves up cocktails and burgers in style. Try a Velvet Elvis and embrace the booziness of Brick Lane.

Take things up a notch with Beach Blanket Babylon Shoreditch, a luxe cocktail bar, restaurant and booth centred club where anyone with a bit more bling comes to play.

Do & See

It’s all about the crazy golf in East London right? Embrace clubs and cocktails at Junkyard Golf Club in the Truman Brewery – there’s nine holes to putt, three courses to choose and food comes courtesy of a number of cool pop ups including Hoppers. Oh, and there’s four bars. Four.

All Star Bowling Lanes helped to kick off the obsession with retro indoor games and their Americana vibe sees them busy every weekend. Book a lane, boogie to some bangin’ beats and down a few cold beers. It’s not as cool as the Big Lebowksi but it’s close.

Brick Lane is a hotbed of market action, from vintage and upcycled furniture to the area’s coolest up-and-coming designers sharing their wares. Pop down most weekends and find something on under the arches and covering the cobbles. Street food pop ups will tempt even the most unwilling of shoppers down here.

Catch the next big thing of the art world at the Brick Lane gallery, which is curating a series of group exhibitions this spring, aimed at showcasing some of the future stars of London’s art scene.

Wander. Seriously. Brick Lane has some of London’s most dazzling and vibrant street art. Spot Banksy and D*Face alongside smaller more intricate works. The best thing is every time you come you’ll see something new. If you really want to get to the heart of it, book a tour with Inspiring City