Which London food market is worth your Saturday?

Brindisa sells a hot chorizo and rocket roll outside its shop at Borough Market every lunchtime, and if you only eat one thing at a London market, make it that. Borough is still the answer to the question in the title. The other four below are better for one particular thing: a Friday night, a bowl of udon, roast duck on rice or a burger after the theatre.

How we chose: the markets’ own sites for hours and traders, with the stalls and kitchens worth queuing for taken from Time Out’s 2026 lists and the market’s trader pages.

Borough Market

A market has stood here since at least the 13th century, on the current site since 1756, and it is run as a charity. Start at Brindisa for the chorizo roll, then find Richard Haward’s stall for oysters from Mersea Island, where his family has been harvesting since 1792. Bread Ahead’s glass-fronted bakery on Cathedral Street does the doughnuts.

Southwark Street, London Bridge · Tue–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm · closed Mon

Maltby Street Market

Under the Bermondsey railway arches on the Ropewalk, Maltby Street has run since 2010 and is the one market here that opens on a Friday evening. Eat from the grills: raclette, bavette steak and tacos are what it is known for. It also makes the start of the Bermondsey Beer Mile, the line of brewery taprooms that began when the Kernel moved under these arches in 2009.

Ropewalk, Bermondsey · Fri 5:30–9pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–4pm

Broadway Market

Hackney’s Victorian street market trades 52 weeks a year, Saturday 9am–5pm and Sunday 10am–4pm. The best food on it isn’t on a stall: in the mews off the market, Koya Ko serves handmade udon at a counter, and Time Out ranks it first among London’s Japanese restaurants. Mains are £10–17.

Broadway Market, Hackney · udon £10–17 · market Sat–Sun

Brixton Village

Brixton’s covered arcades went up in the 1920s and 30s and were listed in 2010, part of the market that became central to Afro-Caribbean London after Windrush. The plate to queue for now is at Three Uncles, units 19 and 20: char siu, crispy pork belly and roast duck over rice, £12–15.50.

Coldharbour Lane, Brixton · roast meat and rice £12–15.50

Seven Dials Market

Twenty-one street-food traders and two bars fill this covered market off Earlham Street, which makes it the easiest to use before or after a West End show. Bleecker Burger, which the market says won World’s Best Burger 2026, is the stall to head for, and Pick & Cheese sends cheese past you on a conveyor belt. It is mostly walk-in, with bookings for four or more.

Earlham Street, Covent Garden · walk-in, book for 4+

Checked October 2026.