Home Destinations Europe England London Sights Covent Garden Piazza

Covent Garden Piazza Review

Read our London sights reviews. Or post your own.

Covent Garden Piazza

Address: Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8BE | Map It

Category: Squares
Location: Soho and Covent Garden

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

The 1840 market building around which Covent Garden pivots is known as the Piazza. Inside, the shops are mostly higher-class clothing chains, plus a couple of cafés and some knickknack stores that are good for gifts. One particular gem is Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop at No. 44 in the market. Established in the 1880s, it sells delightful toy theaters. There's the superior Apple Market for crafts on most days, too. If you turn right, you'll reach the indoor Jubilee Market, which, with its stalls of clothing, army-surplus gear, and more crafts and knickknacks, is disappointingly ordinary. In summer it may seem that everyone you see around the Piazza (and the crowds are legion) is a fellow tourist, but there's still plenty of office life in the area. Londoners who shop here tend to head for Neal Street and the area to the left of the subway entrance rather than the touristy market itself. By the church in the square, street performers—from global musicians to jugglers and mimes—play to the crowds, as they have done since the first English Punch and Judy Show, staged here in the 17th century.