Your choice of markets in London?
 

There are a lot of markets in and around London does anyone have experience with them and which would you prefer?

We have time to go out of our way to visit any one market but probably not time to visit two or three of them. I have Portobello Market marked for now but I've never been so would appreciate your thoughts.

While I love Portobello on a Sat morning for the antiques, my favorite of all is Borough Food market , I find Fridays the best day there. Another favorite for antiques is Camden Passage, wed. and Saturdays

When push comes to shove, all London markets are compromised.

Like they were once real markets now they are just crap.

Sad but true. You are better off spending your time in London elsewhere.

Oh dear. Well I think we'll move away from Portobella but still visit at least one of the markets....if it's totally junk we can move on.

I have marked Borough...it's nicely positioned too.

I also would recommend Borough Market on a Friday. We were there in August. Don't miss the cheese sandwiches, they're delicious!

Another vote for Borough market! Go hungry there and try as many tasty food as you can!
BTW, if you come closer to the end of the day, the vendors tend to lower their prices and some offer their produce for much less.
Enjoy!

Make sure you consider day of the week before settling on the one market to visit. I enjoyed the Spitafields market on a Sunday more than I would had enjoyed Portobello; not so if Saturdays when Spitafields is shops only and no stalls and Portobello its busiest.

We were very recently at Camden and Portobello on a Saturday, followed by Spitalfield's and Petticoat on Sunday.

First, very disappointed in Petticoat. Noone felt there was anything worthwhile there, even for browsing.

Portobello - jam packed with antiques and jun[que], as well as "contemporary" items. We always enjoy it on a Saturday afternoon. Packed with people, too, though.

Camden - wow. First of all, combining all the Camden markets, it is absolutely enormous. It's crazy packed with people. Some areas more so than others. Some areas medium quiet, some extrememly loud (as in blaring music). Seems like they sell everything possible, from touristy trinkets, things you'll wonder why you spend your money on them, and also unique crafts. We were really glad we visited, having been to Portobello in the past.

Spitalfield's - the product mix is a lot more craft-y and less trinket-y. More unique items. It's a covered market, so if it's raining, not a problem. We had an enjoyable lunch at Giraffe.

Borough is now on my list for my next trip!

We were in Borough market in late morning on Saturday two weeks ago. It was crowded beyond belief, and I don't think it was because the Festival of the Thames was happening along the river. (The festival crowds hadn't at that hour yet reached that far south.) As in, way too crowded to be fun, or to allow for actual browsing, imho. I am guessing that Thursday or Friday would be much better.

Borough market clearly had lots of wonderful-looking stalls of food (both prepared and raw ingredients). I didn't see other kinds of items, but then again, all I could do was shuffle along with the horde straight through along the main path.

It depends on what you like to look at or buy. Borough Market is great but they only sell food, no tourist stuff or clothes etc.

Camden Market is good, nice location by the canal, you can easily walk along the canal path afterwards up to Regents Park. We found Camden had a lively alternative type atmosphere (Sunday when we visited) though not our sort of stuff, didn't buy anything. The food looked good. Camden Market is very spread out, about 7 different markets (check out their website) in some interesting old buildings.

Spitalfields and Portobello Rd were OK but nothing to rave over.

Kay

I should add, there were no crowds at Spitalfield's. It wasn't empty but it certainly wasn't crowded. It was more "refined" than Camden, which is more "raucous".

Also, the food at Camden - it looked better than it tasted :)

Best bet for Borough Market is to get there early... by 10.30 it's already getting rammed!

Thank you everyone. I think Camden might be our choice.....but we'll see how the crowds are. If your in the right mood crowds can be a hoot but if we're tired I'm sure it won't be a good bet.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. :)

Don't get Camden Market and Camden Passage mixed up. They are totally different.

Good point Avalon, they are in different areas of London, one in Camden, one in Islington.

Kay

It would help, Kay and Avalon, if you indicated which is which.

I visited Spitalfields market on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing spectacular, just stalls selling cheap clothing. Not worth going out of your way to visit.

Camden Market is in Camden town (Camden town and Chalk Farm tubes) Camden Passage is in Islington (Angel tube)

What are you looking for in a market? Do you want to observe the natives going about their daily life buying fruit and veg. and sometimes meat and fish. Or do you want to go to a specialist market? e.g. Portobello Road which has pretensions to antique bargains.

Not a fan of Camden Town markets but you can see a cross section. Some food in Inverness St, near Camden Town Station. Infinite variation on the T shirt. Some fashion, usually accompanied by deafening music and skeletal shop assistants, very popular with the young local and visiting. Lots of arty crafty stalls, current fashion seems to be imports from Thailand. In addition there are shops selling the latest in shoes, Doc Martens seem to have given way to newer styles.

Basically what started as young and innovative and edgy 30 odd years ago is gradually morphing into a Mall. Areas are being redeveloped all the time and with it rents and the variety of what you can find. Tourism has driven out the interesting book shops etc. Chain cafes are taking hold over the individual proprietors.

Borough Market is my favorite. I go to Borough Market whenever I am in London. It is really great near Christmas time. You can smell the fresh christmas trees as they load them off the trucks. I have been to most of the markets and Borough is my favorite. In fact I will be in London the first week in December and you can be sure I will be at Borough Market. The bacon and sausage sandwiches are great!!