Market Love: For the Love of Food, Vintage, Creativity, and Bargains

Market Love: For the Love of Food, Vintage, Creativity, and Bargains

posted in City Escape, Creativity, Uncategorized, Ventures by lazylykee on May 23, 2019

I’ve always been a fan of the show Flea Market Flip. More than the thrill of a good bargain, I always fancy how they turn things around: old to new, useless to purposeful, trash to treasure, ugly to beautiful, rusty to sassy.

Imagine my simple joy when I came here to London and realized there are plenty of flea markets to goggle my eyes with. When I shared a photo of it with my sister who, like me, is also interested in these, she was also amazed saying it’s a “legit” flea market. Back in the Philippines, we have bazaars and she was my partner-in-crime when we traded a few times.

Sort of flea market, Philippines-style, and we call them bazaars. This is our (my sister and I) way to declutter as well as sell some crafts we did. Click here if you want to read more.

These markets also had specialties. Some offer food, others fresh produce, also some vintage items, and in other markets, a mix of traders. One of my favorite activities here is exploring these markets. I eventually tried trading in some of them. Here are some of the markets that satisfied my eyes as well as my stomach:

Apple and Jubilee Markets in Covent Garden

Covent Garden is famous for a mix of everything which attracts the crowd in. There’s the London Transport Museum, Instagrammable benches, fashion and luxury shops, restaurants and cafes, street performers, and of course, the markets.

I remember a sign in the Piccadilly line tube saying if you want to avoid the crowd in the Covent Garden station, you can always get off either Holborn or Leicester Square and walk to there.

I was posing and waiting for my friend to snap a photo of me in here but I ended up with a photobomber stealing my scene. I really don’t mind if he’s as cute as this little guy.

Jubilee Market opening times:

Monday (Antiques): 5 AM to 5 PM
Tuesday to Friday (General): 10:30 AM to 7 PM
Saturday and Sunday (Arts and Crafts): 10 AM to 6 PM

The Apple Market is open from 10 AM until 6 PM, Mondays for antiques and Tuesdays to Sundays for Arts and Crafts which has a focus on British handmades. The East Colonnade Market is open from 10:30 AM until 7 PM.

A performer in one of the markets. There was also another one-man street show outside that day.

Spitalfields/Old Spitalfields Markets

I discovered upon writing this that these are two separate markets but I’m sure I’ve been in both because they are just adjacent to each other.

Old Spitalfields Market opening times:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 10 AM to 8 PM
Thursday: 7 AM to 6PM
Saturday: 10 AM to 6 PM
Sunday: 10 AM to 5 PM

Spitalfields Market opening times:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (Traders): 10 AM to 5 PM
Wednesday (Producers Market): 10 AM to 5 PM
Saturday Style Market: 11 AM to 5 PM
Sunday (Traders): 9 AM to 5 PM
Random dates (Arts Market): Click this link for dates

Camden Market

I call this Divisoria ng London. See next pic to know why.

This is probably one of the nearest markets to where I live in but I just visited this recently. I can’t believe how much I missed! From the high street with popping storefront designs, food markets with international cuisines, arts and crafts markets, and a possible boat ride from there (Regent’s Canal) to Little Venice , there’s just so much to do.

I couldn’t obviously master the focus of my camera.

Camden Market is open everyday from 10 PM to late.

The Lanes, Brighton

Well, this is not really a market but there are plenty of specialty shops around. Some streets were closed that weekend I visited giving way for some stalls or some shops extending their racks, or restaurants, their tables and chairs, on the streets.

Particular shops there that interest me were the fabric shop and the vintage shop, Snooper’s Paradise. I think the latter was a good shop to check out for costumes, me thinking Coachella-ish type costumes.

Westbourne Farmers Market

It was good timing that I visited Bournemouth on a first Saturday of that month. A small street (Landseer Street) turns into a Farmer’s Market only on first Saturdays of each month, open from 9:30 AM to 2 PM only.

During my visit, I found traders selling fresh meat (and some burgers), varieties of cheese, handmade soap, and vegetables.

Northampton Square Markets

I took my OSCE exam in the University of Northampton. One great way my cohort did to unwind from the stress of the exam was to visit this square. We were just new in the UK at that time so we were greatly overwhelmed with the difference of the price of fruits from here compared to those in London.

Bargain tip: There are a number of charity shops here. During our visit, we couldn’t resist the all-under-£3 charity shop and went home with big plastic bags (apart from the heavy fruit bags).

Marylebone Farmers’ Market

My friend and I went here on a sunny Sunday morning. We found traders selling meat, seafood, bread and pastries, vegetables, and plants.

You may not read the sign but this stall at the corner sells fresh seafood which we really craved for after a few months, me coming from a place where the best seafood is usually just at reach (and cheap).

There’s also a small park nearby where we took a rest to eat our burger and to take in all the warmth of the sun that we were deprived of for a while.

Flea London Vintage and Makers Market

This is a small market, or just seems so because it was wintertime and there were just a few traders. During my visit, there were no food stalls.

This market really lives up to its name as I’ve seen stuff as vintage as they could get. There’s a guy selling old tin letter signs. There are era-specific fashion, like the 90’s oversized denim jackets, vintage print blouses, and oddly sized sunglasses. Then quite random stuff that smells vintage. And I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned vintage in this paragraph.

Flea London Vintage and Makers Market opening times:

Saturdays: 11 AM to 5 PM
Sundays: 10 AM to 5 PM

Baltic Market

My friend and I originally just went to take a photo at the Liverpool Wings. This market was just a few steps away from the famous street art.

This artwork is just next to the Liverpool Wings.

An abandoned (?) skate park with graffiti art we passed by on the way to Baltic Market

This market was Liverpool’s first street food market. Opening times were as follows:

Thursday: 5 PM to 11 PM
Friday: 12 PM to 12 AM
Saturday: 11 AM to 12 AM
Sunday: 11 AM to 9 PM

Greenwich Clocktower Market

I haven’t visited this market before I decided to trade here for the first time ever. I just went with it despite the location very far from me. It was one hell of a commute with a large luggage, a backpack, and a folding chair.

This is a different market to the Greenwich Market or the Clocktower Market South Norwood.

Me trying to declutter and sell crafts I did at the same time

This was a smaller market compared to the Greenwich Market which is just nearby. This is more of a flea market (old chalkboards, chairs, tea pots and plates, furniture) compared to the Greenwich Market which are more arts and crafts.

Brick Lane Markets

This is the first ever market I visited and by far my favorite. I walked from my place to here so I really enjoyed the view with street art all over the Shoreditch area.

I knew I was nearby as I’ve heard a band playing and saw a crowd flocking around them.

Food stalls with cusiines from different countries. Going around deciding on which to try is really like going around the world.

Ely’s Yard where there are food trailers the first time I visited.

There are a number of markets here so here’s a link to their opening times.

This is also the market which inspired me to create and trade. Here’s my stall the first time I traded here:

Obviously, I need lessons in good presentation. In my defense, I must only carry a big luggage as I couldn’t afford an Uber here.

Having lunch is very convenient as general traders are next to the food stalls in the Upmarket. Con: So difficult to decide which to buy because it seemed like I wanted to try everything. As usual, my eyes were the ones hungry.

There you go, happy hunting for bargains, fresh produce, and delish food!

For updates on my trading whereabouts, follow this link, or follow me on my Facebook page or Instagram.

Apple market Baltic market liverpool Brick lane market Camden market Flea vintage market food greenwich clocktower market Jubilee market markets Marylebone farmers market northampton square market Old spitalfields market The lanes brighton ventures Westbourne farmers market