Weekday market walk #3

Neither Miss Moss Stitch nor I appreciate this unseasonable weather.  It is beautiful light for taking photos, but far too hot for one of our long yomps.

The Women's Library at Aldgate

So we stayed local again this week and based our choice of markets and cafés around a trip to The Women's Library, which is part of London Metropolitan University.  Today was the penultimate day to see this free exhibition by French installation artist Françoise Dupré.  It was a small exhibition, but so lovely.  Loads of colourful creations made from unusual fabrics such as plastic laundry bags, tights and citrus net bags.  I wandered around promising myself I'd find time to do more sewing in the next week or two.  It was rather inspiring.

Les Autres Mers at The Women's Library

Les Autres mers at The Women's Library

Creatures made from little girls' tights at Les Autres Mers

Tights and hoops at Les Autres Mers

Plastic laundry bag art at The Women's Library

Once we'd finished admiring the art, we headed for Spitalfields market, close by, but instead turned a corner and found ourselves in Petticoat Lane market, which I used to go to in my lunch hours when I worked nearby.  I had completely forgotten about it.  We didn't stop to look closely at every stall, but there was plenty to fill our senses, and loads of fantastic looking cafés to tempt us in for coffee.  Petticoat Lane is a clothes and fashion market, set in streets full of fabric shops and dressmakers.

Petticoat Lane market

A tailor's in Petticoat Lane

Pavement art and my feet in Petticoat Lane

Shop window full of African print fabrics in Petticoat Lane

What's not to like?  Although there were a few bits of weirdness too, including a (yellow painted) shop which sold real human hair.  Really quite disturbing.

Gah!

We resisted the lure of Petticoat Lane's cafés and continued on towards Spitalfields market.  This is a market I've been coming to ever since I first moved to East London fifteen years ago.  In this time it has changed - become more gentrified and chic, and less battered, comfortable old East End.  But...it is still lovely, and I still go every couple of months, on a Sunday morning, for a prowl around.

Christ Church, Spitalfields.  Designed by Hawksmoor.

On a Friday morning, however, the market felt empty and quiet.  There were some clothes stalls and cafés open, but not many people.  We went to Leon for a very tasty drink and cake, and sat and gazed at these handsome but still surroundings.

Leon at Spitalfields

Quiet market halls at Spitalfields (with Gill running away from my camera!)

The London Fruit & Wool Exchange, next to Spitalfields market

Glass roof and steel beams at Spitalfields market

I think we will need to head back here on a Sunday to show you the market at its busy, bustling best.  We headed slowly back down Commercial Road to Aldgate East station, and the tube home.  The pavements pulsed with heat, and we squinted in the midday sun.  It was hot out there today.

Commercial Road in the September heatwave

Weekday market walk #2

Today's market walk was a return to somewhere we really loved when we did our river walks in the spring - Bermondsey and Southwark.  We went inland a short way this time, to Bermondsey Antiques Market (sometimes also called Bermondsey Square Market).

The walk from London Bridge station to the market is full of visual treats - beautifully restored Victorian architecture, pretty cafes, a glass blowing factory, parks, pubs and shops.  Bermondsey Street even has its own festival this weekend.

South Eastern Railway Offices at London Bridge

Sign for a WWII exhibition at London Bridge

A florist's in Bermondsey

A restored warehouse in Morocco Street in Bermondsey

The market looks very small, but there is plenty to see.  Somehow Gill and I managed to spend two hours there.  The stalls are packed densely into the market square, and each stall has thousands of treasures that must be inspected, discussed and admired.

We saw

• silver soup ladles
• miniature penknives with mother-of-pearl handles
• beautiful Victorian thimbles
• enamel earrings in the shape of sea shells
• daguerrotypes
• ostrich feather fans
• hat pins
• box brownie cameras
• charms
• tiny, weeny silver mustard spoons
• embroidery on velvet
• brooches
• medals
• police whistles
• silver coffee pots

The stall holders were all so friendly, and happy to chat.  I asked loads of questions and prowled around quite happily, trying on dozens of tiny antique thimbles in vain.

Bermondsey Antiques Market - small but full of treasure

Baskets and baskets of old silver and silver plate cutlery, mostly from Sheffield

Box brownies

After the market we headed for a local cafe in search of a cup of tea.  Al's Cafe looked just the thing, and we had proper mugs of strong, milky tea and buttered toast to revive us.

Lots of menu options at Al's Cafe - Bermondsey Street

Delicious tea and toast at Al's Cafe

Walking back through Bermondsey to London Bridge, we suddenly caught sight of The Shard down one of the side streets - flashing bright reflected sunshine at everyone who walked past.  You can see some photos of The Shard from when we last walked in Bermondsey, back in May - they've made good progress since then.  I can't wait to see it finished; it will look spectacular in bright, autumn sunshine like today's.

The Shard - dazzling with reflected sunshine

Weekday market walk #1

The weekday walks are back - and this autumn we are planning our walks around markets.

Walthamstow Market - the longest in Europe

Today, at the end of what felt like a long week settling our nearly-twelve year olds into their new secondary schools, we walked to our most local market for a potter around.   It is just about half an hour walk from my house to the end of Walthamstow Market and we set off at a brisk pace, chatting away about everything and nothing - setting the world to rights with every step.

Walthamstow Market runs down the middle of a long street of shops, so as well as all the market stalls there are shops to explore too.  The whole market is gloriously eclectic - if you have a mind to, you can buy: 

• fruit and veg
• toys
• phones
• prayer mats
• matches and lighters
• goat meat
• saucepans
• carpets
• herbs
• CDs
• knicker elastic
• jellied eels
• chocolate
• books
• cake tins

I love it.  I have been visiting some stalls and shops for years, and others come and go with each season.

The last of the summer's strawberries

Stall selling knicker elastic

Market caff

Gill buys fruit

Headscarf mannequins

After a good prowl around, and having acquired bags full of fabric, ribbon and fruit without really meaning to, we needed a nice sit down and a cup of tea.  One of Walthamstow Market's best-loved destinations is L. Manze - a proper, old-fashioned, East End pie and mash shop selling jellied eels, pie, mash and liquor, and good strong cups of tea.  You can find out more about East End pie and mash shops here.

Walking into Manze's is like stepping back in time - the tiles, lighting, benches and sawdust-strewn floor are all from another era - and very calming to an addled, modern mind.

L Manze - an East London institution

Beautiful lights and tiles in the pie shop

Coat stand and an aspidistra in a brass pot

Booths at Manze's

Beautiful, old tiles at Manze's

But the best thing?  Piling your bags up next to you on one of their benches and settling down to a little china plate with one of their pies, and a cup of good, strong tea on the side.  Just what a tired shopper needs.
 

Pie and tea at Manze's