Leadenhall Market
A jaw-dropping Victorian covered market in the heart of the City, all painted ironwork and cobbles. It played Diagon Alley, and on a weekend you can have it to yourself.
The lowdown
There has been a market on this spot for seven hundred years, but the building you walk into now is a glorious 1881 confection of wrought iron, glass and cobbles by Horace Jones, the same architect who did Tower Bridge. It is free to wander and one of the most beautiful covered streets in Britain.
Look up and the ceiling is painted deep green, maroon and gold, with dragons and crests picked out at the joints. It is so atmospheric that the films came calling, and you will recognise it as the entrance to Diagon Alley in the first Harry Potter film. The optician's shopfront stood in for the Leaky Cauldron.
During the week it hums with City workers spilling out of the pubs, and the cheesemonger, the wine shops and the lunch spots all do a roaring trade. Come at the weekend and it flips completely, near silent and gorgeously empty, just you, the cobbles and that painted roof.
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