Onin.London Spends A Solo Day At Old Spitalfields Markets
Old Spitalfields Market is home to a community of both life-long traders and exciting new brands and just before Christmas, I got to spend a gorgeous solo day exploring all it has to offer.
The market champions small producers, local creatives and independents, to ensure a collection of retail treasures you won’t find on the high street.
I arrived at midday and first headed to Noxy Brothers, just inside the market at 105 commercial st to pick up a much needed Banana Bread and cup of tea. Staff were extremely friendly and were happy to recommend favourite items to customers. This was also a great spot to sit and people watch and I noticed a few people working on laptops, so seams like a great place to set up shop for the day.
Next it was time for some retail therapy so I strolled past all the market stands and ventured into a couple of shops. Standouts included:
- Mercantile London – 17a Lamb Street. Debra the founder of this gorgeous store curate’s independent European womenswear labels. She stocks an amazing mix of fashion and homewares – it’s impossible to go in and not want to walk out with everything. I wanted so many of the dresses and other clothes items in store, actually going in about it 3 times to make sure I looked at every single piece.
- Inspitalfields London, 13a Lamb Street. I’ve always loved this independent stores, which is one of the longest trading businesses in the market. Fiona started InSpitalfields over 20 years ago and curates a perfect mix of gift and homewares from interesting, local and small producers. I did purchase some Christmas gifts with the voucher I received here. They had the cutest Christmas decorations and book selection here!
- Percy Langley, 61 Brushfield Street. Another great female run independent womenswear store and there were definitely some great pieces here. I definitely need to take my friend next time she visits the UK as every item of clothing reminded me of her.
After working up an appetite wandering around i headed back into the market for some food and drink. You really are spoilt for choice here with so many different cuisines.
You can also take the food you order in the market up onto the mezzanine and enjoy with some drinks from the Loft. I did this and loved being able to read my book while staring down at the crowds shopping. It was like a hidden little oasis and I almost didn’t want to tell you all about it in this article!
The Kitchens as they are affectionately known as, does have some great choices and it was really hard to choose which dishes to get. My favourites though were definitely the following three in no particular order.
- Melt – Melted cheese sandwiches
- Kushi – Japanese curry boxes and yakitori
- Karapincha – Sri Lankan street food is also delicious and worth a try.
Staff were friendly and helped me decided what dishes to try! The curry and roti at Karapincha was fabulous and full of flavour, while the Christmas dinner grilled cheese toastie with gravy to dip your toastie in was phenomenal. Plus you can’t go wrong with a Katsu curry!
On the way out I popped into Do’hut on 7 Lamb Street for a box of doughnuts for my housemate. She absolutely adored these and had already put in another order request for the Baileys Doughnuts the next time I visit Old Spitalfields Markets.
So whether you’re looking for a solo day out or a place to meet your mates, Old Spitalfields Markers is really something special. Food, drink and shopping… what more can you ask for really?
https://oldspitalfieldsmarket.
