Three markets trade within a ten-minute walk of each other in Bermondsey, and Friday is the one day all three are open: the antiques market on Bermondsey Square from 06:00, the food producers in the Spa Road arches from the morning, and the street-food traders on the Ropewalk from 17:30. On Saturday you get two of the three. On Sunday you get one.
None of them is open on a weekday other than Friday. That is the whole planning problem here, and it is why visitors arrive on a Tuesday afternoon, find shuttered arches and cobbles, and conclude the guidebooks lied to them.
The area is a strip of railway viaduct running south-east from London Bridge station. The arches underneath it hold breweries, bakeries, cheesemongers and wine importers, most of them wholesale businesses that open to the public only at the end of the week. Our guide to Borough and Bermondsey covers the streets above ground, and our comparison of London's food markets places the Ropewalk against Borough and the rest.
The three markets and their days
- Maltby Street Market (the Ropewalk)
- Friday 17:30-21:00, Saturday 10:00-17:00, Sunday 11:00-16:00
- Bermondsey Antiques Market
- Friday only, 06:00-14:00, Bermondsey Square
- Spa Terminus food arches
- Friday and Saturday, hours set by each producer
- Address for the Ropewalk
- Arch 46, Ropewalk, Maltby Street, SE1 3PA
- Cost
- All three free to enter
- Walk from London Bridge
- About 15 minutes to the Ropewalk, 12 to Bermondsey Square
- Nearest Underground
- Bermondsey (Jubilee line) or London Bridge
Friday: the day that gets you all three
A Friday here has a shape that no other day has, and it runs from the dark to the evening.
- 06:00 to 08:00. Bermondsey Square, for the antiques. Dealers set up from about four in the morning and the buyers who stock shops elsewhere in Britain work the tables by torchlight. Bring a torch of your own.
- 09:00 to 13:00. The arches around Dockley Road and Spa Road, where the wholesale food producers raise their shutters. Bread, cheese, coffee, fish, ice cream and cured meat, sold from working premises rather than stalls.
- 13:00 to 16:00. A gap. Use it for the Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street, or walk down to the river.
- 17:30 to 21:00. The Ropewalk, for the Friday evening street-food session, which is smaller and much calmer than the Saturday one.
Saturday drops the antiques market and adds a busier Ropewalk. Sunday drops both the antiques and the producers, leaving the Ropewalk on its own from 11:00 to 16:00. If you can only come once, and you are not chasing antiques, Saturday is the easier day and Friday is the better one.
The Ropewalk: what it is and what it costs
Maltby Street Market has run since 2010 on the Ropewalk, a narrow cobbled lane of arches off Maltby Street. It is one alley wide. There are perhaps a dozen and a half hot-food traders, a few produce sellers, and bars in several of the arches, and the whole thing takes twenty minutes to walk end to end if nobody is in your way.
On a sunny Saturday at half past one, plenty of people are in your way. The lane cannot widen, so the queue for one popular trader blocks the route past three others. Arriving at 10:00, when the market opens, or after 15:00 gives you a completely different experience of the same place.
Expect £10 to £15 for a hot plate in September 2026, which is our estimate from the traders on the lane rather than a published list. Drink is better value than at Borough: several of the arch bars are the producers' own, so you are buying at something close to the cellar door price. Almost everything is card only.
We checked the traders we name on the Food Standards Agency register first. The Vietnamese sandwich stall and the barbecue trader on the lane both hold the top rating from inspections in 2024 and 2026; the coffee shop at number 36 and the rotisserie at number 37 both hold five from 2024. The Spanish ham and sherry bar in one of the arches, which is the best-known thing on the street, was rated three at its inspection in November 2025.
The Ropewalk is shut for most of the week, and the gate says nothing. Monday to Thursday the lane is closed and the arches are working premises with the shutters down. There is no sign explaining this, and the walk from London Bridge takes fifteen minutes each way. Check the day before you set out.
Bermondsey Square on a Friday morning
The antiques market has traded on or near the square for about seventy-five years, runs on behalf of Southwark Council, and is free to enter. It opens at 06:00 and closes at 14:00, and a good number of stalls have packed up before noon.
Six in the morning is not a gimmick. The first two hours are when the unusual pieces move, because the people buying in those hours are buying to resell. If you want the atmosphere rather than the bargain, arrive at eight, when it is light and still busy. Our guide to London's antiques markets goes into the stock, the haggling and how to tell old from nearly old, and compares Bermondsey with Camden Passage and the indoor arcades.
The square sits at the top of Bermondsey Street. Walking down that street towards London Bridge takes you past the Fashion and Textile Museum, which is the one ticketed attraction in this part of Bermondsey and a sensible way to fill the middle of a Friday.
Spa Terminus, and why the shutters are usually down
Spa Terminus is the name for the cluster of food and drink producers occupying the arches around Dockley Road and Spa Road, about twelve minutes' walk south-east of the Ropewalk. These are wholesale businesses: bakers, cheesemongers, a fishmonger, a greengrocer, a coffee roastery, an ice-cream maker. Their own description is that they open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays.
That is the crucial sentence. On any other day you are walking past closed roller doors in an industrial estate, and there is nothing to see. Individual hours differ from arch to arch, and several producers close at two in the afternoon on a Saturday.
The brewery taprooms in the same arches keep different hours again, and that whole subject belongs to our guide to the Bermondsey Beer Mile, which lists them in walking order with opening times. If beer is the point of your afternoon rather than lunch, start there instead of here.
How the three compare on what you actually want
| If you want | Go to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Lunch cooked to order | The Ropewalk | Saturday 10:00-12:00 or after 15:00 |
| Dinner without a booking | The Ropewalk | Friday 17:30-21:00 |
| Cheese, bread and coffee to take home | Spa Road and Dockley Road arches | Friday morning or Saturday before 14:00 |
| Silver, watches, prints and small furniture | Bermondsey Square | Friday 06:00-10:00 |
| Something open on a Sunday | The Ropewalk, and nothing else here | Sunday 11:00-16:00 |
| Something open on a Tuesday | Borough Market, twelve minutes north-west | Tuesday 10:00-17:00 |
That last row is worth taking seriously. Borough Market is the fallback for every day of the week except Monday, and the walk between Borough and the Ropewalk is about fifteen minutes through the arches. A Saturday that starts at Borough at 09:00 and moves to Maltby Street at 11:00 gives you the shopping first and the eating second, which is the right way round. Our page on where to eat near London Bridge handles the restaurants in between.
Getting here without walking twice
Bermondsey station, on the Jubilee line, is about seven minutes from Bermondsey Square and ten from the Ropewalk, and it is the closer option for the antiques. London Bridge is the better arrival point if you are combining the area with Borough Market or the river, and the walk is fifteen minutes along Tooley Street or Bermondsey Street.
For the Spa Road arches specifically, South Bermondsey and Bermondsey are both about the same distance and neither is obvious on foot. The industrial estates are confusing and the arches are not signposted from the street. Give yourself extra time the first time.
The whole area is flat, which helps with a pushchair or a wheelchair, but the Ropewalk is cobbled, narrow and crowded. Our guide to accessible London covers step-free stations and what to expect from older buildings.
Friday evening is the cheap and quiet version of Saturday. The same traders, fewer people, and no queue for the arch bars. It is also the one session of the week you can do after work and still get a table.
What to bring, and what to leave behind
Cash for the antiques market, because not every dealer takes cards at six in the morning. A card for everything else. A bag if you plan to buy cheese or bread from the arches, because the producers wrap for the trade rather than for carrying home.
Leave the car. Leave a tight schedule, because the Ropewalk does not reward hurry. And if you are taking food out of Britain, check your own country's rules on meat and dairy before you buy: our page on UK customs allowances covers what comes in, but the restrictions that catch people are on the way out.
Two markets in this batch make a natural pair with this one. Broadway Market in Hackney is the Saturday equivalent north of the river, and our table of London markets by day is the quickest way to check what else is trading on the day you have free.
Frequently asked questions
What days is Maltby Street Market open?
Friday from 17:30 to 21:00, Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00 and Sunday from 11:00 to 16:00, according to the market's own site in September 2026. It does not trade Monday to Thursday, when the Ropewalk is closed and the arches are working wholesale premises.
Is Bermondsey Antiques Market really open at six in the morning?
Yes, on Fridays only, from 06:00 to 14:00. Dealers set up from around four and the serious trade buying happens before it gets light. By nine the crowd is ordinary shoppers and by midday a fair number of stalls have already gone.
Can I do Borough Market and Maltby Street on the same day?
Easily, on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. They are about fifteen minutes apart on foot. Borough opens earlier on a Saturday, so shop there first and eat on the Ropewalk once its traders are running, rather than the other way round.
What is Spa Terminus and when can I visit it?
It is the group of food and drink producers in the railway arches around Dockley Road and Spa Road, most of them wholesalers. They open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays only, with hours that differ from arch to arch, and several close by two in the afternoon on Saturday.
Is there anything to do in Bermondsey on a Monday?
Very little in the arches. Bermondsey Street itself has cafes, galleries and the Fashion and Textile Museum, and Borough Market is closed on Mondays for most of the year. A Monday in this part of London is better spent north of the river.
Sources
- Maltby Street Market - opening hours and address, Arch 46 Ropewalk (checked September 2026)
- Food Standards Agency - food hygiene ratings, Maltby Street SE1 (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Jubilee line and London Bridge (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - bringing goods into the UK for personal use (checked September 2026)