London markets in a day: the Sunday route
Almost every London markets list is written without checking which days they run. Columbia Road is Sunday only. Maltby Street is weekends. Broadway Market is Saturday. Put those in one article and you have given someone a plan that cannot happen. This route is a Sunday, in one direction, east to south-west, and it works.
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Why Sunday, and why this order
Columbia Road only runs on a Sunday, from eight until about three, and it is the one stop with a hard deadline. Everything else on this route is open later, so the day is built backwards from it. Go east first while the flowers are still standing, then work south to the river.
Do not attempt this on a Saturday. Columbia Road is shut and the whole thing falls apart.
1. Columbia Road Flower Market, 8:30am
Sundays only, eight until roughly three. By ten you are shuffling shoulder to shoulder, so the difference between arriving at half eight and arriving at half ten is the difference between a market and a queue.
If you would rather sleep, the other option is the last hour, when traders would rather sell a bucket of stems cheap than carry them home.
2. Brick Lane, 9:45am
Fifteen minutes on foot, south through Hackney Road. Backyard Market, the Sunday UpMarket and the vintage warehouses all run on a Sunday. A salt beef beigel at the top of the road is the correct breakfast and it is open twenty-four hours, so there is no excuse.
3. Old Spitalfields Market, 11:15am
Five minutes south. Open every day, but Sunday is the one with the full trader list. It is also the only covered stop until Maltby, which matters more in this city than the weather forecast suggests.
4. Petticoat Lane, 12:30pm
Ten minutes, and only if it is running. It is the oldest surviving market in London and it is cheap and chaotic. Give it twenty minutes and no more.
5. Over Tower Bridge, 1:15pm
Walk south through Aldgate and cross the river on Tower Bridge. Half an hour, and the best free view of the day is from the middle of the span.
6. Maltby Street Market, 1:45pm
Under the railway arches on the Ropewalk in Bermondsey. Small, packed, and the best eating on this route by a distance. Sunday hours are widely reported as eleven until four, though it is worth a check before you build a day around it.
7. Borough Market, 3:00pm
Sunday ten until four, and closed on Mondays, which catches people out constantly. Arrive by three or you are watching traders pack. Buy for tonight rather than eating here. You have already eaten at Maltby.
What we have left out, on purpose
Broadway Market is Saturday. Portobello is best on a Friday or Saturday and it is the wrong side of the city for this route. Camden is open daily and is a different day out entirely. Adding any of them turns a walkable Sunday into a day on the Underground.