a different market every day

Old Spitalfields Market

Free

Spitalfields · Liverpool Street

A covered Victorian market on the edge of the City, free to wander, with a different mix of stalls each day and some of the best street food in east London.

Getting there. A couple of minutes from Liverpool Street, on the seam between the City and the East End.

The lowdown

There has been a market on this spot since the 1600s, and the handsome covered hall you walk into now, all iron and glass, has been trading since the 1880s. Old Spitalfields is free to wander and one of the most reliable days out in the East End, because the stalls change by the day.

Thursday brings antiques and vintage, the weekends bring independent fashion, art, prints and homeware, and there is a permanent ring of excellent food traders around the edge whatever the day. Mixed in are proper bricks-and-mortar shops and restaurants, so there is always something open.

It sits at the heart of one of London's best wandering districts, minutes from Brick Lane, the Georgian streets of Spitalfields and the towers of the City, so it makes a perfect free anchor for a day of exploring on foot.

Locals only

The insider tip

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Check which day you are going, because the market is almost a different place from one day to the next. Then use it as the start of a free East End loop, out to Brick Lane and the old Huguenot streets of Fournier Street and Princelet Street nearby.

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