“SPITALFIELDS Market – LONDRA”  

It is not for everyone, but it is one of those things I strongly suggest you to visit in London: Spitalfields Market, London’s oldest market.

There is a little bit of everything in here, vintage fashion and modern items, home design, clothing, vintage children toys, and of course restaurants and food tracks.

It is actually the place in London that has the higher number of award winning restaurants all gathered into one place. Great choices, and it is for everybody: kids and adults, and offers to all of you a family friendly location with lovely cafes too.

It is all mixed up, you can find indipendent small shops next to a well known brand, old accessories and shops with modern interior design items, and guess what the famous beauty and make-up products Benefit is in Spitalfields as well!

 

Some love it, some hate it. Back in 2003 Sir Norman Foster re-designed the entire market, making it a cleaner and nicer place to visit. Some say this renovation kind of took the real hearth of the market away, but still…some just adore it. And I’m one of them.

Yes, it is a market but as you enter it it kind of feels like you are entering a mall, and it is split in different areas. Nice restaurants at both sides and stalls in the middle, this is what is called Spitalfield Market, then we have the area called Old Spietalfields Market, just at the other end of the previous one, with maily stalls all crammed into this space, and there is a third section which is what is left of the original market.

It becomes very crowed on Sunday so if you can try and come on a Thursday for example, which is a good day for vintage fashion and antiques.  Sunday is very lively, a very fun place but it is just like being in Oxford Street, so full of people. Advice given !
Don’t even think about withdrawing cash from ATM’s in the area, they are usually packed with people! Bring cash, plenty of it 😀

One of my favorite place to eat while in this adorable market is Chop’ed, where you can design your own salad and they also sell soups & stews. But of course there are plenty of very good eat places, Bleekers is here too, Leon, the amazing food truck that has a real wood oven inside and serves typical pizza from Naples, Gourmet Burger, Wagamama, and many others. For a complete list please visit Spitalfiels Market Website.

Is this a place that you like in London?! Come on, I wanna know what did you buy on your latest visit to the market!

So, whats in the same area? Brick Lane of course! How could I possibly tell you about the market and skip Brick Lane!

I must admit, although I lived in London for a few years back in the 90’s as well, I’ve never been to Brick Lane lane before, it was just last year that I visited this area and loved it immediatly.

I decided to write about these two places because it is a very characteristic area and needs to be visited, al least once. Street food vendors, shops packed jam with colourful clothes, music and of course tourists, but also the locals hang out here too.

Unlikely Spitalfields Market that can be visited on week days as well, Brick Lane offers its best “show” on a Sunday. So yeah, in order to avoid coming to this area twice, you should accept the fact that it’s better to come on a Sunday and see the best from both places. The locals avoid this area on a Sunday, but they can see it every single place, so be patient and enjoy your Sunday here, because it really is super fun.

What will really  strike you are the independent stores, that have been here forever and one of the nice things about comeing here on a Sunday is that all these small shops will be so full of energy, colours, voices, people, so lively!

Did I convince you to come on a Sunday?! Nope? Ok, I’m sure now I’m going to succed with the following information: Sunday is the day where all food trucks gathered in the area and offer food from all over the world. They are actually part in Brick lane and part in the Old Truman Brewery, just around the corner basically. Seating area, juicy burgers and so many other yummy things to eat!

HOW TO GET TO SPITALFIELDS AND BRICK LANE

Brick Lane’s is very close to  Shoreditch High Street station and Liverpool Street station. If you decided to use Liverpool Street Station and walk your way up, it will take you no more than 8 mins to reach Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane is literally around the corner.

When are you planning to go!? 🙂