Photo: londondrum.comUseful things to know before your visit
Address: Borough Market, 8 Southwark Street, Southwark SE1 1TL. Website: boroughmarket.org
What are the opening hours?
Opening times are 10am to 5pm (Tue-Fri); 9am to 5pm (Sat); 10am to 4pm (Sun).
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to Borough Market takes 15 minutes (but more if you plan to stop and eat).
Which buses go to Borough Market?
Bus routes 43, 141, 149 and 521 all stop close by.
Which is the closest train station?
The nearest station is London Bridge, which connects with the Jubilee and Northern lines. It also serves National Rail trains. It only takes four minutes to walk to Borough Market.
Which other attractions are nearby?
These attractions are all within 15 minutes walk of Borough Market: Old Operating Theatre, Clink Prison Museum, Golden Hinde, The Shard, Globe Theatre, HMS Belfast, The Monument, Billingsgate Roman House & Baths, Tate Modern, London Mithraeum and Sky Garden.
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Borough Market dates all the way back to the 12th century (possibly as early as 1014) and for the first 600 years it benefitted from being near the city’s only river crossing. After that it served the waterside warehouses that sprang up around the docks, and for most of the last hundred years it’s been a wholesale market selling fruit and veg to the local shops and restaurants. It’s only relatively recently that it’s been taken over by artisan traders, and nowadays it contains around a hundred bakers, butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and delicatessens selling everything from sweets, meats and cheeses to pasta, pastries and cakes.
Photo: londondrum.comThe maze of passageways and iron frames is filled with the sound of stall-holders hollering over a rumbling thunder of overhead trains as they clatter into London Bridge. You’ll be dodging vans and pallets, carts and crates as you move through wave after wave of aromas – freshly baked bread, strong Italian coffees, big wheels of cheese – you can tell the fish stall is coming from fifty feet away.
Photo: londondrum.comI’m standing next to a tray of vinegary whelks and winkles and a big bucket of clams that looks like it’s been sloshed straight out of the sea. And I like the way the greengrocer has arranged his vegetables like a flower shop. He’s got an old ship barrel full of cauliflowers with a rainbow table of raspberries, pale pink turnips and deep green olives on a forest floor of nuts.
Photo: londondrum.comIf you want some lunch then you try the Crème Brûlée doughnuts in Bread Ahead, the hot sausage rolls in Ginger Pig, or Maria’s Market Cafe. It’s like a builders cafe with those squeezy ketchup bottles on a checkerboard tablecloth, serving hot buttered toast and five sugars in your tea. You can also try the street food vendors down the side of Southwark Cathedral who sear everything up on a sizzling griddle.
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What do you think? (6)
Ask a question, or share your experience of Borough Market
Julia This is a lovely little market that many people don’t know about but I recommend that you give it a visit. It has some of the best food stalls that I have been too. They have some really amazing cheeses, fancy breads and sweets. (reply)
Ben It is always very busy and because it is under the railway it has a nice atmosphere that you don’t get in any other street market that I have been to. (reply)
Patricia What day is Borough Market? (reply)
Craig Hi Patricia. It’s open from Monday to Saturday but only half of the stalls are open on Monday and Tuesday. So you want to try and go Wednesday to Saturday if you can. (reply)
JP Is there a car park at Borough Market? (reply)
Craig Hi JP. It doesn’t have its own car park, but there’s an NCP car park near London Bridge station. It’s probably only a 5-minute walk -- ncp.co.uk/find-a-car-park/car-parks/london-bridge/ (reply)
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