There’s nothing quite like the old-fashioned give-and-take of a traditional market with its piles of fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, cheeses, sweets, and baked goods; home and artisan crafts and handicraft products, clothing, fabrics and household items.
A top market can give you a real idea of what an Old World country Great Britain is still like in many ways. And the opportunity to touch, taste and smell the products while exchanging jokes with the vendors, often the producers themselves, is irresistible.
Here are some of Britain’s favorite cities for both covered and open air markets. Take a look at the surprising range of food you can take home from the UK. Then bring a sturdy carry bag because you won’t leave empty-handed.
Bristol St Nicholas Market
St Nicholas Market, right in the middle of Bristol’s wonderful university and cathedral city, is one of the best indoor and outdoor markets outside of London.
It is huge with two glass arcades, a covered market and a gigantic market with a gallery around it. This is claimed to be the largest collection of independent merchants in Bristol and why would anyone doubt it.
Market traders sell almost everything you need: weekly groceries, hardware, clothing, and many things you never imagined you would need until you saw how cheap they were.
Find out more about Bristol
Visit the San Nicolás Market website
A Market Snack – Snuggle up at a table along the Glass Arcade and have lunch or a snack at one of the popular food stalls as well. Try Eata Pittaor Pieminster.
To stay : the Hotel du Vin in Bristol has showers big enough to hold a dinner party.
Norwich Market
Norwich claims to have the UK’s largest open air market with 200 stalls, operating Monday through Saturday in the city center, below the Castle. Extensively refurbished – and somewhat controversial – between 2007 and 2009, the market retains its traditional look of stalls under striped carnival awnings.
People have been buying and selling goods at Norwich Market for about a thousand years. Although there was an Anglo-Saxon market here once, the current market was established by the Normans. During the market renovations, the foundations of a large market cross were discovered. Look for its outline, marked in red tile, on the market floor.
Imagine the products for sale in a large modern shopping center and multiply them several times and you will have an idea of what is for sale here. Produce fresh food to eat here or to take home, books, CDs, vinyl records, crafts, pet accessories, fishing tackle, fashions, jewelry.
This is another big favorite market outside of London and it’s worth a trip to the charming cathedral city of Norwich. Find out more about Norwich
A snack at the market Several street vendors sell delicious local food that you can eat while shopping. Try Henry’s Hog Roast at Stall 81 for Norfolk Pork Roast with Applesauce and Stuffing or Reggie’s for Sandwiches, Teas, Coffees and Breakfast at Stall 100.
Oxford covered market
Before the Oxford Covered Market was built on Market Street in 1774, there had been a market that spanned several streets since the Middle Ages. Perhaps the elite Oxford scholars got tired of being attacked by blood, guts, rotten cabbages, and the general chaos of an open market right next to various universities. The new market, which is now more than 200 years old, removed the merchant stalls from the main streets.
Today, the city and clothing share retail therapy in this historic market, where independently owned boutiques and stores share space with traditional fruit, vegetable and cheese stalls, fishmongers and butchers. You can also shop for contemporary designer jewelry, fresh and dried flowers, shoes, trendy clothing, cake decorating equipment, and amazing artisan chocolates.
See More Photos of Oxford Covered Market
Visit the market website
A Market Snack : Read a review of Brown’s Cafe, the market’s original restaurant.
Kirkgate Market in Leeds
Kirkgate Market, near the Victorian neighborhood of Leeds, is a magnificent example of cast iron engineering from the mid-19th century. At least 800 stalls selling fresh produce, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, ready meals, gourmet foods and all kinds of household items every day are placed under its glass canopy and hardware. That makes it one of the largest indoor markets in Europe.
Originated as an open air market in 1822, the covered market was created between 1850 and 1875. Fire in the 1970s almost destroyed it, so what you see now has been extensively rebuilt. After restoration, Kirkgate Market was converted into a Grade I building.
Read through a list of what’s on offer and you’ll quickly realize there’s almost nothing you can’t buy at Kirkgate, from crafts, baby clothes, and comics to cell phones, home electronics, and party supplies. And of course, food and fashion too.
Kirkgate has a bigger claim to fame. In 1884, Michael Marks established a penny bazaar in the market. Not long after, he joined forces with Mr. Spencer and the famous British institution, Marks & Spencer, was born. While on the market, look for the market watch. To mark its centennial, Marks & Spencer erected the clock on the site of that original market stall.
Visit the Kirkgate Market website
A Market Snack Art’s Cafe Bar and Restaurant on Call Lane is a five minute walk from the market at 42 Call Lane. It serves a comforting range of sophisticated bistro-style food at moderate prices.
Birmingham Bullring Markets
Birmingham is the go-to place for full-immersion retail therapy, from luxury department stores to giant, multi-modular and multi-level shopping malls found in nearly 1,000 stores of all kinds in the city center.
But for market enthusiasts, nothing can beat the bullring markets (not to be confused with the nearby mega glass mall, also called the bullring). They have been trading in the same location for nearly 850 years, ever since Peter of Birmingham, the lord of the manor, was granted a letter in 1166. Even earlier, archaeological evidence suggests that this area was home to grain markets, bull bait and killings and leather. tanned for at least 1,000 years. Today, they are a cosmopolitan drink, reflecting Birmingham’s ethnic diversity in an uproar of goods and business.
There are three separate markets:
- The indoor market sells all kinds of household goods and services, from key making and shoe repairs to clothing, exotic fruits and vegetables, hardware and curtain fabrics.
- The open market of the bullring has 130 specifically built stalls selling so many different kinds of things that the whole place resembles an oriental bazaar: dry goods, clothes, decorative objects, toys, handicrafts, spices, your head will spin.
- The rag market is probably the oldest and most famous of all. There are 350 additional stalls and perimeter shops in this indoor market, open four days a week, selling fabrics, haberdashery, sewing and craft supplies and textiles. In recent years, Birmingham’s rag market has attracted Asian brides from all over Europe, shopping for wedding clothes and trousseau.
Find out more about shopping in Birmingham.
Visit the Bullring Markets website.
A market sandwich Markets in the bullring are more about buying and selling than relaxing and dining. Your best option, while shopping, is to graze the market stalls, eating what is available: fresh and dried fruits, breads and baked goods, cheeses and cold cuts, just as you see them. And, being a British market setting, you are likely to run into a man in a van selling teas and coffees, sausages and the like.
For more formal dining, Birmingham is not far from good restaurants. Read our reviews of:
- The Simpsons
- The balti triangle
Beverley Saturday Market en el East Yorkshire Riding.
Every Saturday from 8am to 4pm, the small East Yorkshire cathedral town of Beverley becomes a market for everything imaginable. At least 100 merchants set up their stalls in the huge market square arranged around a market cross dating from the early 18th century. Additional stores around the edges of the market add to the retail buzz.
Market traders sell fresh fruits and vegetables; Household items the kind you can’t really find anywhere else: giant plastic containers, beautiful baskets, natural bristle brooms. There are clothes from utilitarian to cheap and cheerful to designer clothes; dried flowers, exotic coffees, handmade chocolates, cakes to die for, flowers, jewelry, furniture, hardware store.
A Market Snack : If you want a quiet place to warm up with a quiet cup or a light lunch, away from all the market hustle, try The Tea Cozy (37 Highgate, Beverley HU17 0DN, tel: 01482 868 577). This small café, in the shadow of Beverley Cathedral (also worth a visit), serves a good selection of cakes and light meals in a friendly atmosphere.
London’s many markets
London has so many excellent markets that it is impossible to leave it off the list of the largest cities in the UK. These are some of the best:
- Borough Market – Foodies’ choice and a great market to eat. Borough Market has gone from being a weekend market to a daily party. It is open from Monday to Saturday, although the full market experience with all the operators present is from Wednesday to Saturday. This is one of the best markets in Britain, but it is not cheap. What you can expect is the best quality of meats, game, fruits, vegetables, cheeses and breads, plus all kinds of ethnic goodies, cakes and sweets, drinks, sauces and more. This is more than a market, it is lunch and afternoon. If you love food markets, don’t miss it.
- Camden Markets – Crowded, youthful and alternative. Best place to get retro clothes, hippy clothes, young clobber designer. But that’s just one corner of Camden Markets. Clustered around Camden Lock, Chalk Farm Road, and Camden High Street, there is a collection of different markets selling handicrafts, ethnic textiles, handmade jewelry, and more. If you wondered where all the hippie stores went when the 60s and 70s ended, this is the place. It’s also the place to hear London’s indie and alternative artists at night. Amy Winehouse was a regular at a local pub.
- Brick Lane: a traditional flea market in London’s “Banglatown”: antiques, cheap and vintage clothing, plus many Indian and Pakistani restaurants.
- Old Spitalfields – This covered market dates back to the 17th century and while recent developments have narrowed it down a bit, it’s still a really cool place to find just about anything. We once came across a man sitting on the ground next to his stall, knitting with the largest needles imaginable – they must have been four feet long and three inches in diameter. We have no idea what he was doing. Besides the unusual merchants, you can find a lot of nice and cheap jewelry and delicious things to eat.
- Portobello Road – Arguably the most famous street market in the world, it claims to be the largest antique market in the world, but it is also much more. There is something open every day, but the famous Notting Hill Antique Market takes place only on Saturdays. Arrive around 8:30 AM and you can tour the market before the biggest crowds arrive, then enjoy coffee or a full English breakfast in one of the cafes that line the side streets.
