Only three of London's well-known markets trade seven days a week: Camden, Greenwich and Brixton's arcades. Almost every other market has closed days, and several of the famous ones run on a single day. Columbia Road is Sunday only. Bermondsey Antiques is Friday only. Portobello's antiques arcades are Saturday only. Leather Lane and Exmouth Market are weekdays only.
Turning up to a closed market is the commonest wasted morning in London, and it is entirely avoidable. This page is a timetable rather than a guide: which markets open on which day, what time they finish, and what to do instead when the one you wanted is shut. Every day and hour below was read on the operator's or the borough's own page in September 2026.
Two warnings apply to the whole table. First, closing time is not the same as useful time: most street markets thin out an hour before they close, and food stalls sell out and go. Second, bank holidays are unpredictable and each market handles them differently, so check the individual pages linked below before a long weekend.
The short version
- Open every day
- Camden, Greenwich, Brixton Village and Market Row, Old Spitalfields (except Thursday's antiques switch), Leadenhall's arcade
- Sunday only
- Columbia Road, Brick Lane street market, Petticoat Lane, Islington Farmers' Market
- Friday only
- Bermondsey Antiques Market, 6am to 2pm
- Weekdays only
- Leather Lane, Exmouth Market, Strutton Ground, Wentworth Street
- Never on Sunday
- Berwick Street, Rupert Street, Ridley Road, Whitechapel, Chrisp Street, Portobello's street market
- Earliest finish
- Columbia Road and Bermondsey Antiques, both done by 2pm
- Latest finish
- Rupert Street in Soho, 10pm, and Brixton's arcades, midnight
- Cost
- Every market on this page is free to walk into
Monday: the worst day, and what still works
Monday is the day most London markets take off. Borough Market is closed. Chapel Market is closed. Portobello's full market does not run. Camden Passage's stalls are not out. Greenwich Market closes altogether on the first six Mondays of the year.
What does run on a Monday: Camden Market, from 10am to 7pm; Greenwich Market, 10am to 5.30pm, on its arts and crafts rota; Brixton Village and Market Row, 8am to 6pm, which is the arcades' one short day; Berwick Street in Soho, 8am to 6pm; Rupert Street from 3pm to 10pm; Leather Lane, Exmouth Market and Whitecross Street for the office lunch hour; and the East End's working markets, Whitechapel, Chrisp Street, Watney Street and Ridley Road.
If your only free day is a Monday, the honest answer is to go to Camden or Greenwich in the morning and to a weekday lunch market at noon, and not to attempt Borough or Portobello at all.
Tuesday to Thursday: the quiet, comfortable middle
Borough Market reopens on Tuesday, 10am to 5pm, and Tuesday to Thursday is the best time to go if you want to move at your own speed rather than shuffle. Chapel Market resumes on Tuesday from 9am to 6pm. Roman Road in Bow trades on Tuesday and Thursday, 8am to 6pm.
Two switches happen midweek. Old Spitalfields changes character on Thursday, when the daily market gives way to an antiques market from 8am: our guide to Old Spitalfields and Brick Lane explains why that is the connoisseur's day. Greenwich runs antiques and collectables on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and arts and crafts on the other days.
Wednesday is Camden Passage's other main day, alongside Saturday, with stalls out in all three market areas from about 8am. Islington Council's listing is more cautious about Thursday and Friday there, so Wednesday is the safer midweek choice; the detail is in our guide to London's antiques markets.
Wednesday is the single best day in London for antiques without crowds. Camden Passage has all three of its market areas out, the Silver Vaults and Alfies Antique Market keep full shop hours, and none of them has a Saturday queue. Nothing that matters for antiques is shut on a Wednesday except Bermondsey.
Friday: the day with the most on
Friday is the fullest market day in London after Saturday, and it is the only day several things happen at all.
| Market | Friday hours | Why Friday |
|---|---|---|
| Bermondsey Antiques Market | 6am to 2pm | The only day it trades. Dealers arrive in the dark |
| Maltby Street (the Ropewalk) | 5.30pm to 9pm | Its one evening session |
| Whitecross Street | 9am to 6pm | Full day; Monday to Thursday it runs only 11am to 2pm |
| Portobello Road | About 8.30am to 6pm | A full market day without Saturday's crush |
| Rupert Street, Soho | 3pm to 10pm | Vintage fashion day on Westminster's themed rota |
| Spa Terminus, Bermondsey | Hours set by each producer | One of only two days the food arches open |
| Greenwich Market | 10am to 5.30pm | The only day it runs both antiques and crafts |
The three Bermondsey markets are close enough to do in one Friday, in the order our guide to Maltby Street and the Bermondsey markets sets out: antiques at dawn, the arches mid-morning, the Ropewalk in the evening.
Saturday: everything, and everybody
Every market in this guide trades on Saturday except Bermondsey Antiques, Exmouth Market, Strutton Ground, Leather Lane, Wentworth Street and the Sunday-only markets. It is also the day when Borough opens earliest, at 9am, and when Broadway Market in Hackney has its main day from 9am to 5pm.
Saturday is the worst day to go to the two most crowded markets. Camden and Borough both peak on Saturday afternoon, and the honest advice is to be at either by 10am or not at all. Camden Passage and Portobello are also at their busiest, though Portobello at least spreads over a mile of street.
Two Saturday markets are worth knowing precisely because they are not famous: Archway Market on Navigator Square, 10am to 5pm, and Tufnell Park's Saturday market at Yerbury Primary School, 10am to 2.30pm. Both are listed by Islington Council and neither will be crowded.
Sunday: four markets in the East End and not much else
Sunday is the day London's markets divide sharply. In the East End it is the biggest day of the week; almost everywhere else it is the smallest.
- Columbia Road, 8am to 2pm. The earliest finish of any market in London. Go first or do not go.
- Brick Lane street market, 10am to 3pm. Tower Hamlets' own hours.
- Petticoat Lane, 9am to 3pm. Clothing and fabric across eight streets.
- Old Spitalfields, from 10am to 5pm. Indoors, which decides it if the weather turns.
Away from the East End, Sunday gives you Camden, Greenwich, Brixton's arcades, Chapel Market from 8.30am to 4pm with the Islington Farmers' Market on top of it from 10am to 2pm, Maltby Street from 11am to 4pm, Broadway Market from 10am, and Borough Market from 10am to 4pm. Portobello has no street market on most Sundays, though some stalls near the Westway open.
Berwick Street, Ridley Road, Whitechapel, Chrisp Street, Leather Lane and Rupert Street are all shut on Sunday. That is six of the markets a visitor is most likely to have read about, and between them they cover Soho, Dalston, Whitechapel, Poplar and Clerkenwell. A Sunday in London is for the four East End markets, Camden, Greenwich or Brixton, and nothing else on this list.
The one-day-only markets, in full
If your trip is short, these are the ones to plan around, because missing the day means missing the market entirely.
| Market | Day | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Bermondsey Antiques Market | Friday | 6am to 2pm |
| Columbia Road Flower Market | Sunday | 8am to 2pm |
| Brick Lane street market | Sunday | 10am to 3pm |
| Petticoat Lane (full market) | Sunday | 9am to 3pm |
| Islington Farmers' Market | Sunday | 10am to 2pm |
| Old Spitalfields antiques | Thursday | From 8am |
| Archway Market | Saturday | 10am to 5pm |
| Portobello antiques arcades | Saturday | About 7am to 4pm |
Weekday lunch markets, which are a category of their own
Four markets in central London exist for office workers and are effectively invisible at the weekend. They are the cheapest hot lunch in the middle of the city, and they are all Monday to Friday.
Leather Lane is licensed from 7am to 7pm but Camden says it is mostly active between 10am and 4pm, with the food stalls built around noon to 2pm. Exmouth Market runs 9am to 6pm. Strutton Ground, near Westminster Abbey, runs 8am to 6pm. Whitecross Street runs 11am to 2pm from Monday to Thursday and 9am to 6pm on Friday.
Berwick Street in Soho trades Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm, so it is the one weekday food market that also works on a Saturday, though there is less to eat then because the offices are closed. For how these compare on price, see our guide to cheap eats in London and our survey of London's food markets.
Bank holidays, Sundays and the rules underneath
Street markets are licensed by boroughs and each borough sets its own bank holiday rule, so there is no general answer. Three examples show the spread: Ridley Road closes on bank holidays except Good Friday; Portobello opens on Good Friday until 5pm and closes on other bank holidays; Camden Market opens on every bank holiday and closes only on Christmas Day.
Covered markets with large permanent shops are also subject to Sunday trading law, which limits shops over 280 square metres to six hours of Sunday opening between 10am and 6pm, and closes them altogether on Easter Day. Individual market stalls are not caught by that, which is why the outdoor half of a market can be open when the big units are not. Our page on opening hours and Sunday trading sets out the rule and lists the bank holiday dates.
December is the exception to everything above: Borough Market opens seven days a week, most markets extend their hours, and Christmas markets appear that do not exist for the rest of the year. Our guide to Christmas markets in London covers those and the December timetable.
Frequently asked questions
Which London markets are open on Monday?
Camden Market, Greenwich Market, Brixton Village and Market Row, Berwick Street, Rupert Street from 3pm, Whitechapel, Chrisp Street, Watney Street and Ridley Road, plus the weekday lunch markets at Leather Lane, Exmouth Market and Whitecross Street. Borough Market, Chapel Market and Portobello's full market are all closed.
Is Borough Market open on Sunday?
Yes, from 10am to 4pm, which is its shortest day. It is closed on Monday. Tuesday to Friday it runs 10am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm, and in December it opens seven days a week.
What is the best day to visit London markets?
Friday, if you want the greatest number open at once and can start early: Bermondsey Antiques at 6am, Portobello through the day, Whitecross Street at lunchtime, and Maltby Street in the evening. Sunday is better if you want the East End markets, and Wednesday is the quietest good day.
Which London markets are open every day?
Camden Market, Greenwich Market and the Brixton arcades are open daily, and Old Spitalfields trades every day though Thursday is an antiques market rather than the usual one. Greenwich closes on the first six Mondays of the year and Camden only on Christmas Day.
Do London markets open on bank holidays?
Some do and some do not, and the borough decides. Camden opens on all of them. Ridley Road closes except on Good Friday. Portobello does the reverse of what you would expect, opening on Good Friday and closing on other bank holidays. Check the individual market before a long weekend.
Sources
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets - Markets in Tower Hamlets (checked September 2026)
- Islington Council - Markets (checked September 2026)
- Camden Council - Visit Camden's markets (checked September 2026)
- Westminster City Council - Markets in Westminster (checked September 2026)
- Hackney Council - Ridley Road Market (checked September 2026)
- Sunday Trading Act 1994, Schedule 1 (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - UK bank holidays (checked September 2026)