London Markets for a Date: Borough, Maltby Street, Broadway and More

Start with the kind of date, then pick the day

Markets suit a first or early date for a plain reason: there is something to look at, you can walk and talk, and nobody is locked into a table for two hours. That is a pattern, not a rule, and it assumes you both like a crowd more than you dislike one. The markets below sit in different parts of London and trade on different days, so the day you are both free often decides the market.

Ask four questions. Do you want to eat as you go (Borough, Maltby Street)? Do you want something to carry home, such as flowers (Columbia Road)? Do you want to browse designers and makers under cover (Spitalfields, Greenwich)? Or do you want a long, unhurried weekend wander along a street (Broadway Market)? Then check the day-by-day section further down: Borough is closed on Mondays, Columbia Road trades only on Sundays, and Maltby Street adds a Friday evening session.

Grazing: Borough Market and Maltby Street

Borough Market describes itself as a charity run by a board of volunteer trustees. Its own history page records Parliament trying to shut the congested market in 1754 and parishioners moving it to its current site in 1756, and records Sunday opening starting in 2021, for the first time in recent history. The visit page gives Tuesday to Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm, with Monday closed. The same page says visitor numbers can be high at peak times, particularly Saturday afternoons, so a weekday or a Sunday is the obvious alternative if you want room to talk.

On access, Borough says its public spaces are on a single ground-floor level, so there are no lifts or stairs to plan around. It also says the estate has several different surfaces, including some cobbles, that some areas are harder to reach than others, and that a few of its restaurant buildings are multi-storey. Accessible WCs are listed in four locations, and the market is next to London Bridge station.

Maltby Street Market sits beneath railway arches in Bermondsey at Arch 46, Ropewalk, Maltby Street, SE1 3PA, and says it was established in 2010. Its homepage lists Fridays 5.30–9pm, Saturdays 10am–5pm and Sundays 11am–4pm. The Friday evening session is the one that suits an after-work date. The market's pages name no station, so plan the journey with TfL Journey Planner; Wikipedia, a secondary source, places the market near Tower Bridge.

• Borough Marketmarket

  Southwark, SE1 · Nearest: London Bridge

  Open Tuesday to Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm, closed Monday, on the market's own page (checked 4 October 2026); run by a registered charity.

• Maltby Street Marketmarket

  Bermondsey, SE1

  Fridays 5.30–9pm, Saturdays 10am–5pm and Sundays 11am–4pm at Arch 46, Ropewalk, Maltby Street, under railway arches; established 2010 according to its own page.

Flowers and plants: Columbia Road on a Sunday

Columbia Road's own site gives the flower market as Sundays from 8am until ‘3ish’, and says some shops on the road are open during the week. It lists cut flowers, dried flowers, succulents, cacti, house plants and herbs, with Christmas trees in December and herbs from spring. The same site counts about sixty independent businesses on the road, among them galleries, vintage clothing shops, delis, antique shops, pubs, cafés and restaurants, so the market can be one half of a longer walk.

The site's history page says the flower market began on Saturdays and moved to Sundays as the Jewish population grew, and that residents campaigned against demolition in the 1970s. For a date the practical point is the timing: on the site's own hours the market winds down around mid-afternoon, so treat it as a morning or early-afternoon plan.

The site says Hoxton Overground station is roughly a seven-minute walk, that Liverpool Street, Old Street, Shoreditch or Bethnal Green are about twenty minutes away on foot, and that buses 26, 55 and 8 serve the road. It suggests a stroll along Regent's Canal as a way to arrive, and warns that the area is rich pickings for traffic wardens if you drive. It gives no accessibility information.

• Columbia Road Flower Marketmarket

  Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets · Nearest: Hoxton (Overground), as stated by the market

  Sundays from 8am until ‘3ish’ (its own wording); some shops open in the week; cut flowers, house plants and herbs, with Christmas trees in December.

Browsing under cover: Old Spitalfields Market and Greenwich Market

Old Spitalfields Market publishes separate times for its parts. The traders' market runs Sunday to Friday 10am–6pm and Saturday 11am–5pm, with stalls ranging from fashion, music and jewellery to home interiors, and up to 110 stalls on busier days. Shops list 10am–6pm daily, and restaurants list Monday to Friday 10am–9.30pm and Saturday and Sunday 10am–4pm, with a note to check individual shop and restaurant pages. The traders' page describes the stalls under the canopy in Crispin Place as wheelchair and pushchair accessible. The market is at 56 Brushfield Street, E1 6AG, four to five minutes from Liverpool Street, seven from Aldgate East and eight from Shoreditch High Street, according to its getting-here page.

Its history page says a royal charter of 1682 gave the right to hold a market on Thursdays and Saturdays in or near Spital Square, and that work on a new market building was completed in 1893.

Greenwich Market says it opened in 1737 and is open daily 10am–5.30pm, including bank holidays, with over 120 shops and stalls across the Main Market Hall and the Cutty Sark Street Food Market. Its visit page also says the arts and crafts market trades on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends, and the antiques and collectables market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, so what you find depends on the day. The street food market is a separate area and its season is not stated consistently: the homepage lists Saturday 14 March to Sunday 29 November 2026, and the visit page gives Friday 10am–5.30pm and Saturday and Sunday 10am–6.30pm, so check that it is running. The visit page lists closures on Christmas Day and on the first six Mondays of the year. It says the DLR's Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich station is across the road, Greenwich station is a ten-minute walk and riverboat services stop at Greenwich Pier, five minutes away on foot. Neither Greenwich page gives accessibility details.

• Old Spitalfields Marketmarket

  Spitalfields, E1 · Nearest: Liverpool Street (4–5 minutes), as stated by the market

  Traders' market Sunday to Friday 10am–6pm and Saturday 11am–5pm; shops and restaurants keep their own hours, so check individual pages.

• Greenwich Marketmarket

  Greenwich, SE10 · Nearest: Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich (DLR), as stated by the market

  Open daily 10am–5.30pm with over 120 shops and stalls; established 1737 according to its own page.

A slow weekend: Broadway Market

Broadway Market's own site says the market operates 52 weeks a year, 9am–5pm on Saturday and 10am–4pm on Sunday, while the street itself operates 365 days a year and its shops, cafés and restaurants keep their own hours. The site's BMTRA page says the Broadway Market Traders and Residents Association is the organisation that set up the market in 2004. The market is on Broadway Market, London Fields, E8 4PH, in Hackney. The site lists London Fields Overground station, says Bethnal Green on the Central line is a fifteen-minute walk, and names buses 26, 48, 55, 106, 254, 388 and D6. It adds that there is free parking on local streets on Saturdays and Sundays but encourages sustainable transport.

The site's about page calls it a Victorian street market in Hackney with over 70 shops, cafés and restaurants open seven days a week. Wikipedia, a secondary source, cites an 1893 council report saying the market had existed since 1883, and says a food market was launched on Saturdays on 8 May 2004.

If you are weighing Borough Market against Broadway Market, the facts line up like this. Borough is a charity-run covered market beside London Bridge station that trades Tuesday to Sunday. Broadway is a street market in Hackney whose market stalls trade at weekends only, though the street's shops are open daily. Borough gives you a weekday option; Broadway gives you a street to walk along. The sources do not rank them, and neither do we.

• Broadway Marketmarket

  London Fields, Hackney, E8 · Nearest: London Fields (Overground), as stated by the market

  Market operates 52 weeks a year: Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm; the street and its shops operate daily; set up in 2004 by the Broadway Market Traders and Residents Association, per its BMTRA page.

Which market is open on which day

Monday: the Spitalfields traders' market (10am–6pm) and Greenwich Market (10am–5.30pm, except the first six Mondays of the year) trade; Borough Market is closed. Tuesday to Thursday: Borough (10am–5pm), Spitalfields and Greenwich. Friday: the same three, plus Maltby Street from 5.30pm to 9pm.

Saturday: every market here except Columbia Road trades. Borough and Broadway open at 9am, Maltby Street and Greenwich at 10am, and the Spitalfields traders' market at 11am. Sunday: Columbia Road opens first, at 8am, then Borough, Broadway, Greenwich and the Spitalfields traders at 10am, and Maltby Street at 11am.

Two cautions. These are the markets' published times for their market areas, and the shops and restaurants around them set their own. Times can also change; Greenwich's page, for instance, lists closures and a street food market with its own season. Look at the market's page on the day you travel.

Crowds, cobbles and access: what the sources say

Only a few sources in this guide say anything about crowd patterns. Borough Market says visitor numbers can be high at peak times, particularly Saturday afternoons. A 2024 transport analysis published by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea says Portobello Road market is busiest on Saturdays, says the road is too narrow to share between pedestrians and cyclists, and says the usable width for walking is limited during market hours because parked vans take up much of the street. The Portobello Road Market website likewise calls Saturday its busiest day and Friday the second busiest. The other markets' pages are silent. If crowds worry you, a weekday visit to Borough, Spitalfields or Greenwich is a reasonable inference, but none of those markets promises it.

On access, three markets say something specific: Borough (single ground-floor level, some cobbles, accessible WCs in four locations), the Spitalfields traders' market (wheelchair and pushchair accessible) and Brixton Village (ramp access provided on request, accessible toilets). For Maltby Street, Columbia Road, Broadway Market and Greenwich the pages we read give no accessibility details, so contact the market if you need them.

Two bigger street markets, covered in other Kindrd guides

The Portobello Road Market website (visitportobello.com, whose footer reads ‘© 2026 Portobello Road Market’ and does not say who publishes it) gives Monday to Sunday 8am–7pm, with traders usually operating 8.30am–6pm and seasonal variation. Read the headline hours with its day-by-day notes: Monday to Thursday only part of Portobello Road (Elgin Crescent to the Westway) and Golborne Road trade, with fruit and veg, household goods and a few clothing stalls; Friday is the second busiest day; Saturday is the busiest, with the whole market trading; and outside summer and December there is no Sunday street market on Portobello or Golborne Roads, though a food market and vintage stalls near Portobello Green are open; its separate vintage page lists the vintage clothing market Friday and Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm. It says the antiques arcades open only on Saturdays. Our vintage guide covers Portobello in more detail.

Brixton's street market (Electric Avenue, Pope's Road and Brixton Station Road) is council-run. Lambeth's guide for traders gives, as an example, trading from 8am until 6pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 8am to 3pm on Wednesdays and 8am to 7pm on Fridays, and lists no Sunday. The indoor Brixton Village lists Monday 8am–6pm and Tuesday to Sunday 8am–midnight, with individual shops keeping their own hours; its page also says ramp access is provided on request. Our neighbourhood food guide covers it.

• Portobello Road Marketmarket

  Portobello Road, Notting Hill · Nearest: Ladbroke Grove (5 minutes) / Notting Hill Gate (10 minutes), as stated by the market

  The Portobello Road Market website gives Monday to Sunday 8am–7pm with traders usually 8.30am–6pm, but only Friday and Saturday have the whole market trading; no Sunday street market outside summer and December.

• Brixton Villagemarket

  Brixton, SW9 · Nearest: Brixton (Victoria line), as stated by the market

  Monday 8am–6pm and Tuesday to Sunday 8am–midnight on its own page; individual shops and restaurants have their own schedules.

Before you go

• Open the market's own page on the day. Published hours are for the market area, and individual stalls, shops and restaurants set their own times.
• Access: Borough Market (single level, some cobbles), the Spitalfields traders' market (wheelchair and pushchair accessible) and Brixton Village (ramp access on request) are the ones that state anything. For the others, ask the market directly.
• Columbia Road is an early, Sunday-only market on its own site's hours, and its site warns about parking enforcement if you drive. Plan the journey with TfL Journey Planner.
• Seasonal changes: Greenwich's Cutty Sark Street Food Market is listed to 29 November 2026 this year, with inconsistent wording elsewhere on its site about whether it runs all year, and Greenwich lists closures on Christmas Day and the first six Mondays of the year.
• This guide lists no prices and no individual stalls, because stalls change week to week.

Questions people ask

Which London market is best for a first date?

It depends on the date. Borough Market and Maltby Street suit eating as you walk, Columbia Road suits a Sunday-morning flower stop, and Spitalfields and Greenwich suit browsing under cover. Choose by the day you are both free, because Borough is closed on Mondays and Columbia Road trades only on Sundays.

Is Borough Market open on a Monday?

No. Borough Market's own page lists Monday as closed, with Tuesday to Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm (checked 4 October 2026). Hours can change, so check the page before you travel.

Which London markets are open on a Sunday?

On their own pages: Columbia Road (from 8am until about 3pm), Borough (10am–4pm), Broadway Market (10am–4pm), Maltby Street (11am–4pm), the Old Spitalfields traders' market (10am–6pm) and Greenwich Market (10am–5.30pm).

What is the difference between Borough Market and Broadway Market?

Borough Market is a charity-run covered market beside London Bridge station, trading Tuesday to Sunday. Broadway Market is a street market in Hackney, run by a traders' and residents' association, trading Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm, 52 weeks a year.

Is there a London market open on a Friday evening?

Maltby Street Market's homepage lists Fridays 5.30–9pm, alongside Saturdays 10am–5pm and Sundays 11am–4pm. Old Spitalfields lists restaurants open until 9.30pm Monday to Friday, with a note to check individual restaurant pages.