PalenQ

I recently spent most of Sunday in London's gritty East End to visit the flower market and famous Petticoat Lane Market and the other markets that impinge on it. If looking for something to do on Sunday mornings and early afternoon besides going to church, which i guess nearly noone in London does, head east.

I first took a bus to Columbia Road (though if you take the Tube to Liverpool Street Station it's not a bad walk), venue of the famous Columbia Road Flower Market.
I had heard about the market for years but never got there. The London Transport poster about the Flower Market had hung on my wall for years, whetting my appetite. But it was only when i posed the question a few years ago on Fodor's about Where Can I Find Cockneys and i think flanner.uk (not sure but someone in the know did) said to head here.
Here amongst the Cockneyed barks of touts pushing their floral wares is a very animated street that has not just pulchritudinous flowers but lots of local color as well.

Actually i was there in December and Christmas Trees and wreathes, etc. were largely being hawked - "a fiver a tree" seemed reasonable to me for a nice enough Christmas tree. But there were blooms as well.

But along each side of the street were lots of seemingly trendish boutiques and antique shops to explore - the downscale area attracts plenty of upscale folks it seemed as the stores were humming.

TBC with Petticoat Lane, Brick Lane, Bangli Market, etc.

I'd like to hear others' takes on the Flower Market as well!

PatrickLondon

Columbia Road is great fun, but a terrible crush. And there's a huge temptation to buy far too much (I speak as someone with just a couple of window-boxes). The surrounding streets and alleys also have some interesting shops.

flanneruk

"besides going to church, which i guess nearly noone in London does"

Eh?

Admittedly, the brand of church I usually patronise has loyal customers all over the world, and a pretty large proportion of them are always going to be in London at any given moment.

But the churches I go to are always at least half full, (120% full if Mass is in Polish). And I doubt any city in the world offers anything approaching the quality, and range, of liturgical music that's on offer in London every week.

Being in London on a Sunday morning and not going to a church - be it Pontifical High Mass in Latin, Divine Liturgy in Greek, Communion in proper 1662 English or just plain Service in charismatic Caribbean - is like being in Paris and not eating in a brasserie. Worse: it's like being in New York and not eating in a deli.

PalenQ

flanner - i was referring to statistics that say over 90% of British do not go to church regularly.

And if Coronation Street is a barometer of the average English religious bent there are very few true believers.

Going to church to hear liturgical music is fine but of all the travelers i know no one goes to church in London - albeit maybe they should.

carolyn

I do. We have been to St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey, and St. Stephen's on Gloucester Road. St. Stephen's is a beautiful small church, but St. Paul's is my favorite.

kmowatt

Got around to doing the Columbia Road flower market on my last trip in March - loved it!! I can easily see getting carried away with buying at this market Patrick! In fact, I need to write myself a list of needs before heading to the garden centre because there's always a plant that looks too good to pass up. Exploring the area around the market also proved fun - I really liked the terrace houses in this area and was surprised by that. Brick Lane and down into Fournier Street and Spitalfields is also a good walk, especially on a Sunday. A.Gold on Brushfield Street is a great store for food stuffs and the market area has gone through a major reno over the last couple of years and doesn't look too "market" like anymore. Great area to explore, but hardly the depths of the east end anymore.

PatrickLondon

>>hardly the depths of the east end anymore<<

Nowhere is. Wapping High Street is among the most expensive addresses in London, much public housing was sold off to residents (and then sold on), and any new developments are deliberately mixed. Real old slums went a long time ago, and any surviving workers' terraces/cottages are now all dolled up and fetching £350k a pop.

There are places where the main roads seem to be all kebab shops, pound shops, betting shops and minicab offices, surrounded by sad-looking tower blocks. But that's hardly distinctively "East End".

PalenQ

From the Flower Market i trekked over, thru housing estates that seemed to be in good condition, a bit upscale for East End it seemed, to Brick Lane.

I had been going to Brick Lane for years - ever since in 1978 when i stopped in London after spending some months in India and Pakistan and Brick Lane at that time seemed to come right out of those countries.

There were many bakeries showcasing those typically bright Indian/Paki sugary pastries and Indian/Paki foods. They were redolent so much of the places i had eaten at in India.

And there were sari shops and many turbaned and saried folks trotting around.

I thought the street then was so great.

But this time i found it dour - a remnant of its former vitality - oh there were a few sari shops and the odd Bangli restaurant but not much else.

I assume the Banglis like any upwardly mobile folks had probably headed west to Wembley or Southall or some more leafy area - leaving Brick Lane a ghost of its former self.

But in the vicinity of Brick Lane, on this Sunday, was a vibrant South Asian market - going strong with many many people flocking here.