Borough Market (For The Best British Food!)

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If you’re in London and want to discover what British food is all about, you need to visit Borough Market! This classic London Market, nestled beneath London Bridge, is very much worth visiting for all travellers interested in quality British produce and classic dishes.

Borough Market food photo
Food at Borough Market. Alongside British street food, you’ll find some international dishes, ready to eat. This is possibly the best place in London for street food.

Food at Borough Market

Since we’ve been back in the UK we’ve been revelling in the British food scene, privately and professionally. Borough Market is a great place to eat and buy British food at its best, this Borough Market blog post will give you an idea of what food is available and what to eat at Borough Market London.

Borough Market view
Borough Market can be very busy, avoid lunch-time. If you can, get there early. We gice you opening times and days further down the post.

Our review of Borough Market is very positive and is our personal recommendation of Borough Market and the food available there. We visit every time we’re in London and we think you should too!

Borough Market London

For those who don’t know, I am a British travel blogger, my Aussie husband is an executive Chef and is loving working in London’s top hotels again during this working holiday in London.

Borough Market meat stall
Borough Market stocks meat, fish, seafood, fruits and vegetables from all parts of the UK, plus a few stalls from other parts of the world.

Great food is easy to find in restaurants and in London’s shops, local markets being a particularly good place to find quality produce, and lovingly-made local speciality foods. You will find fresh produce to take home along with street food dishes ready for you to eat at most farmers’ markets in the UK.

Borough Market ceramics stall
Borough Market doesn’t just sell food, you can also find stalls celling ceramics and flowers. These British ceramics woulf make a great souvenir of London. These Richard Bramble ceramics are very famous and of beautiful quality, I have some at my home in Australia to remind me of home.

On Saturdays in London we visit Twickenham Farmers Market for tomatoes and gourmet breads, on Sunday we may wander along the Thames in the opposite direction, crossing from South London to north, to Richmond’s Duck Pond Market to pick up some jumbo organic goose eggs, a new favourite. 

Traditional British food at Borough Market
You will find quality traditional British foods at Borough Market. Look out for game pies, scotch eggs and excellent cheeses.

For a special treat, we take the tube into Central London for what is billed as Britain’s finest market, Borough Market. Look, shop, taste, eat, it’s a great place to hang out in the city.

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Borough Market food photos

Other places to find British street food in London include Greenwich Market and the South Bank food markets, but Borough is a perennial favourite. If you go on weekends and at peak times, it will be busy

How To Visit Borough Market

Borough Market is in South London, on the south side of The River Thames, just beneath London Bridge. Since the 11th Century, London Bridge has been a marketplace, an area where traders gathered.

To visit Borough Market, simply walk to London Bridge, near The Shard, or get the tube to London Bridge Station. The market is located on the south side of the river, near Southwark Cathedral. For full details on how to get to Borough Market, click through for routes and a map.

Borough Market London Street Food
Traditional British meat stall nestling under the bridge supports on Bedale St, just outside the Green Market entrance. You’ll find plenty of old London favourites at Borough Market.

In the 13th Century traders relocated to nearby Borough High St and in 1755 Southwark residents got together to buy the triangle, the site that has remained the core of Borough Market to this day.

Borough Marlet London seafood
The fish and shellfish on sale at Borough were incredible. I have a friend back in Port Douglas who used to be a professional scallop diver, braving icy Shetland waters every day to gather a quality product like this.

London’s oldest fruit and veg market now has over 100 stalls, each selling top-quality products. High quality is essential to qualify for a pitch at Borough.

The atmosphere at Borough Market is great, the stall holders are friendly, and the food is sensational.

Borough Market fresh mushrooms
Speciality mushrooms, I’ve not seen anything this impressive since the street markets of Luang Prabang in Laos.

If you need more reason to visit Borough Market, it’s right outside London Bridge Tube Station, you could hop off here and walk along London’s stunning South Bank all the way to the London Eye. There are endless attractions, dining opportunities, and street performers along with a few kids’ play opportunities and scenic views to provide you with a complete day out while you’re in London UK.

Best ice cream borough market
A treat for the kids. A lovely lady helped us out with finding an ice cream for my dairy intolerant son. Sensational goat’s milk ice cream, apple pie flavour is the business.

From this part of the city you can enjoy views of Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and of course, the London Eye and Shard towering above you.

Attractions on the South Banknear Borough Market include the Tate Modern, (currently of interest to bird watchers as the RSPB have set up telescopes to observe the resident peregrine falcon), the Clink Prison Museum, the London Aquarium, Drake’s Golden Hind and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Best coffee near borough market
A treat for mum. The best coffee I’ve had in a very long time and hand made chocolate produced on site, from pod to finished product.

If you’re looking for good coffee near London Bridge and Borough Market, try this little coffee and chocolate shop in the photo above. It’s Hotel Chocolate, 8 Bedale St, just a few steps from Borough Market’s stalls.

Another restaurant that we recommend near Borough Market is Padelle, for fantastic Italian food on Borough High Street.

Borough Market Opening Times

Borough Market will likely have been affected by the current global situation. At the time of writing, the opening hours below were correct, please check.

The full market opens at 10 am Wednesday to Friday and 8 am on Saturday. Closing time is 5pm except on Fridays, when you can stay ’till 6. At other times the market may be partially open for lunch, best to check their website for full details, the link is above.

Borough Market fresh produce London
Heritage tomatoes, just wow!

We think Borough Market is a must-do in London for anyone with an interest in food. British food has an undeserved dull reputation, something I’ve never been able to fathom.  An Australian friend once told me that Britain doesn’t produce fresh fish, there are a lot of myths like that out there that deserve busting, check it out for yourself, Borough really is quite stunning.

We always find something to be impressed with wherever we go, if you seek you will find and there are always interesting surprises in the world of food. It’s one of the reasons we travel, we just love our food!

Borough Market Drinks
One last reason to visit Borough Market, it’s always Pimm’s o’clock.

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About the author
Alyson Long
Alyson Long is a British medical scientist who jumped ship to chase dreams. A former Chief Biomedical Scientist at London's West Middlesex Hospital she started in website creation and travel writing in 2011. Alyson is a full-time blogger and travel writer, a published author, and owns several websites. World Travel Family is the biggest. A lifetime of wanderlust and over 6 years of full-time travel, plus a separate 12 month gap year, has given Alyson and the family some travel expert smarts to share with you on this world travel site. Today Alyson still travels extensively to update this site and continue her mission to visit every country, but she's often at home on her farm in Australia.

4 thoughts on “Borough Market (For The Best British Food!)”

  1. How lovely to have a husband who’s a chef! Bet all food – not just British food – tastes great when he cooks dinner for the family :-). And it looks like you can pick up some really tasty supplies at the Borough Market.

    Reply
  2. Wow, that coffee alone has sold me! We are in Cork, Ireland at the moment and can’t find a decent coffee to save ourselves! I’m from NZ so I know good coffee and everything here is standard single shot and milky, ugh! Anyway we have a week in London booked next month so I must check out Borough Market. I’m also loving reading all your other tips as we are travelling with our 2 year old. Once I get over the price we paid for our AirBnB apartment for a week I think we are really going to love London! Thanks.

    Reply
    • You’re going to be very busy Emma! Too many things to do in London, we’re giving it months and I know we’ll leave having missed a few things, lots of free attractions to make up for the sky high accommodation prices though. I’m off for another of those coffees soon and the chocolate was incredible. I think the shop was called cacao, but I’m trying to check.

      Reply
  3. Oh British food soooooo rocks!! One of the many reasons I am a total Anglophile. Drooled all the way through this post…. loved the Pimm’s finale! Thank you!!

    Reply

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