Heaven for foodies
Records from the 13th century refer to traders who sold fruit and vegetables on the main road now called Borough High Street. This place has always been a major traffic junction where roads converged on London Bridge, and today, in 19th century cast-iron halls directly beneath a railway viaduct, the market activity is accompanied by the rumbling of carriages and metallic screeching. Southwark has always been the poor relation of the City of London across the river. Despite pockets of prosperity, social problems remain in the area. Borough Market is run as a registered charity, a trust that is obliged to invest profits in local projects, and has thrived in recent years as a place where food-lovers find the ingredients for a good dinner party.
A committee of experts jealously guards the market’s reputation for gourmet shopping by checking the quality and origin of the goods. This ensures an invigorating mix of British and foreign foods: cheese from Cheshire and Wensleydale is sold alongside brie and mozzarella, English loaves next to rye bread and pretzels from London’s German bakery. Fishmongers sell the fresh catch from their own boats on the south coast. Customers who are tired of beef can buy camel, llama or kangaroo meat, and many of the products were scarcely known a generation ago: apple juice from a single variety of fruit, ice cream from goat’s milk, more kinds of mushrooms than most people can name.
Info
Address South side of Southwark Cathedral, SE1 9DA | Public Transport London Bridge ( Jubilee, Northern Line) | Hours Wed–Thu 10am–5pm, Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 8am–5pm | Tip The George Inn on Borough High Street, a coaching inn dating from 1676 with a galleried courtyard, is still a cosy pub that serves good ales.
It was inevitable that a trendy scene for foodies would spring up in the surrounding streets – a tapas bar and a chocolatier, an oyster bar and a specialist roast-beef restaurant. Good street food is easier on the wallet here, and many like to buy paella or pie from a cooked-food stall and eat it in the garden of Southwark Cathedral. The wares on Borough Market may not be cheap, but the quality is high, and bargains are to be had as closing time approaches.
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