Camden is home to at least nineteen regular markets, eight of which are public street markets managed by the Council. The other markets are privately managed and held on private land and in school car parks.
From the ancient Leather Lane to the new markets in redeveloped Kings Cross and from the international tourist destination of Camden Lock to the traditional local markets of Chalton Street and Queen’s Crescent, our markets are an important part of the culture, history, and economy of Camden.
Employing over 4,000 people, Camden’s markets provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and create a diverse shopping experience for those who live and work in our borough as well as visitors from around the world.
All our markets and kiosk sites can be found on our Open Data Portal
Chalton Street Market
Getting there
Rail and tube: Euston Station
Buses: 168 and 253
When to go
The market is open Wednesday to Fridays.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 4pm.
What to buy
The market is a great place to buy fruit and veg as well as affordable household goods and clothing.
Learn the history
Established in 1795 as the 'The Brill', Chalton Street was once one of the largest street markets in London. It has always been a traditional market selling a mix of food, clothing, and household goods. Henry Croft the the founder of the tradition of Pearly Kings and Queens was born in St Pancras Workhouse.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 7pm.
What to buy
Earlham Street Market has street food and clothing for sale.
Learn the history
The street was completed in 1710 and it is likely that the market dates from then.
In 1877 Adolphe Thompson describes the market as crowded with traders and being between the Seven Dials and Five Dials (now demolished to make way for Shaftesbury Avenue).
In 1892 the market consisted of 41 stalls of which 12 were operated by shopkeepers and the remainder by independent street traders. The market was greatly diminished from its former size. Perlmutter records the market having 22 pitches in 1983 but that they were largely unoccupied. He lists fresh seafood, antiques, and vintage records for sale. In the mid-1990s the market is described as consisting of 12 stalls selling army surplus, clothing new and second hand, wooden toys, and recorded music.
Tube: Goodge Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Warren Street
Buses: 24, 29, 73, and 390
When to go
The market is open Monday to Friday.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 3pm.
What to buy
Goodge Place Market is an international street-food market serving lunch Monday to Friday.
Learn the history
Established in 1850 on Charles Street (now the stretch of Goodge Street between Charlotte Street and Newman Street.
Goodge Place, like Goodge Street, is named for Francis and William Goodge who in 1766 began developing Goodge Street as a shopping street.
In 1878 the market was on the south-side of the street and one of the last street markets remaining in the West End of London. Fifteen years later the market is described as consisting of 45 stalls selling food, homewares, flowers, and books. By 1983 the market had relocated to Goodge Place.
In the 2000s the market became an international street food market.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 6pm.
What to buy
Inverness Street Market has souvenirs, fashion, and street food.
Learn the history
As in the case of Plender Street Market, Inverness Street Market represents a remnant of Camden Town Market which moved off of Camden High Street after the late nineteenth century electrification of horse-drawn trams.
Latterly a successful boxing trainer, George Francis worked on Inverness Street Market in the 1940s.
Until the 2010s the market was predominately fruit and veg. However, as the traditional shops turned into bars and eateries to cater to Camden's booming tourist and night-time economies the market evolved towards clothing, souvenirs, and street-food.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 4pm
What to buy
Leather Lane is a lunch market with street food from around the world. We also have cut flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, fashion, and homeware.
Learn the history
Street trading in Leather Lane began in the aftermath of the great fire of London in 1666 when traders from Cheapside began serving the displaced London residents who were camped out in the open spaces around Hatton Garden.
The market is Camden's largest surviving street market and has been consistent in size since the 1850s.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 4pm.
What to buy
Plender Street Market sells fruit and veg, pet supplies, fashion, and factory seconds.
Learn the history
Established in 1851.
Originally King Street but renamed in 1946 as Plender Street in honour of William Plender a former High Sheriff of the County of London.
As in the case of Inverness Street Market, Plender Street Market represents a remnant of Camden Town Market which moved off of Camden High Street after the late nineteenth century electrification of horse-drawn trams.
The market was still on the High Street in 1878: “Saturday evenings the upper part of the street, thronged as it is with stalls of itinerant vendors of the necessaries of daily life, and with the dwellers in the surrounding districts, presents to an ordinary spectator all the attributes of a market place”.—Edward Walford
Journalist, author, and broadcaster Bernard Levin grew up on Plender Street.
The market once ran to 90 pitches but had reduced down to five stalls by 1983.
The market is open every Thursday and Saturday, except for Xmas day and New Year’s Day.
Traders are allowed to operate between 7am to 7pm but their working hours are weather-dependent.
The market is mostly active between 10am to 4.30pm (until 7pm in the summer).
What to buy
Queen’s Crescent Market is a great place to buy fresh fruit and veg, fresh bread, kitchen and cleaning supplies, bedding, fashion, street food, cut flowers and plants, and much much more.
Apart from the stalls there is a fantastic selection of independent shops and cafes trading seven days a week.
Learn the history
Queen’s Crescent is named for Queen Victoria who liked to ride in her carriage to West End Lane, Hampstead.
Market traders moved from Malden Road to Queen’s Crescent in 1876 when electrification works were undertaken on Malden Road to replace the horse-drawn trams.
Shortly before the market the Sainsbury’s family also moved to the street to bring up their family in, what was then, London’s leafy suburbs. Queen’s Crescent once sported three branches of Sainsbury’s.
In 1956, Shanta Pathak and her husband Lakshmishankar Pathak moved to Queen’s Crescent from Kenya. Whilst Lakshmishankar worked cleaning drains for Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras, Shanta started a business from her kitchen making and selling Indian sweets and snacks, this business would grow into Pathak’s. She soon had queues outside the door and was making deliveries across London.
By the early 1970s, Sainsbury’s had closed and been replaced by Studio Prints a workshop run by artist and printer Dorothea Wight which was responsible for printing the etchings of many prominent British artists of the last 40 years, including Lucien Freud, Frank Auerbach, Ken Kiff, Julian Trevelyan, R. B. Kitaj, Celia Paul, and Stephen Conroy.
As with other traditional street markets, Queen’s Crescent Market was at its busiest in the 1980s and even featured in the third episode of the popular television show Minder.
Swiss Cottage Market has street food and groceries as well as antiques on Fridays and a farmers market every Wednesday.
Learn the history
Started in 1974 as an informal and unlicensed market in an area of derelict land owned by Camden Council next to the nearby junction of Fellows Road and Winchester Road. It was describes a market selling homemade food, secondhand clothes and books as well as bric-à-brac and plants.
At the end of 1981 the original site was redeveloped and the market moved to a new location close to the sports centre.
Camden Council designated the pedestrianised western end of Eton Avenue as a street market from 2003 allowing Swiss Cottage Market and Swiss Cottage Farmers Market a permanent home. Swiss Cottage is the youngest of Camden’s street markets. On Wednesdays it hosts Swiss Cottage Farmers’ Market which is run by London Farmers' Markets and started in 1999.
In November 2019 Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited to mark the Farmers Market's twentieth anniversary. Charles had visited the market once before in 2000.
