Borough Market
A thousand years of food market under the railway arches.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs
Best time
Weekdays, before noon
Open
Closed Sunday
Entry price
Free
A market has stood here since at least the twelfth century, at the approach to London Bridge, and the wholesale market moved under the railway arches in the nineteenth. It nearly closed in the 1990s before reinventing itself around quality food.
Today it is half market, half stand-up eating: cheesemongers and butchers on one side, pork sandwiches, oysters and curries on the other. You lunch on your feet, and a weekday midday is when the value still holds up.
Getting there
Tube to London Bridge, Borough High Street exit, two minutes on foot. The market is under the tracks, between Southwark Cathedral and Stoney Street.
Hours
Closed Sunday for the full market
Rules on site
On Saturday, moving between the stalls becomes very slow and the queues at the known counters run over half an hour. Some stalls close on Sunday and Monday.
Other places in London
British MuseumThe Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon frieze and eight million objects — free of charge.
Tower of LondonNine centuries of fortress, prison and Crown Jewels.
Hyde Park and Kensington GardensTwo hundred and fifty hectares, the Serpentine, and Speakers' Corner on Sunday.
Camden TownThe locks, the stalls and what is left of punk London.