Spitalfields and Brick Lane

On July 5, 2015, I explored two of London’s quirky markets with my family friend Maya and her husband, Karan. I rode two tubes to get to Liverpool Station and had to pay no fee to get into both markets. I wanted to visit the markets to get a unique food and shopping experience, something different from what I saw in Kensington. As a traveling student, I also wanted to see more of London’s diverse cultures; what better way to do so than have two local friends guide me through the markets? Exposure to several types of people, foods, and their lifestyles helps me gain a wider perspective on how people live in Europe and brings global awareness to the way I approach new ideas.

The markets were close to Liverpool Station, so we did not have to walk too much to hit the first market, Spitalfields. Spitalfields has an interesting mix of vendors and stalls. There are more commercial shops on the outer borders, but within the interior there is an eclectic mix of goods to buy. I felt overwhelmed with all the new sights and options for shopping. However, we snaked through and finally found a cart filled with headbands, flowers and leaves banded around them. The headbands were only a pound each, so I ended up getting two as souvenirs for a friend back in the US.

Spitalfields also had such a variety of options for lunch. From Vietnamese, Japanese, Peruvian, French, American, Korean, Indian, and Caribbean, I had pickings from around the world in just one small, market in London. I found a Jamaican stall that had food that I had never tried before. I ended up ordering a lunch sampler of all their salads and a lentil cake. For only 6.50 pounds, I received five different vegan salads that spanned from savory to sweet and a little spicy.


Brick Lane was only a few blocks and turns away. I enjoyed walking down Brick Lane, and was especially intrigued by the enormity and vastness of graffiti that filled the walls of the street with colorful murals and inspirational sayings. My friends have done the Alternative Tour of London, so they were able to explain the meaning behind all the street art we saw. I found the small figurines that peaked through corners and crannies of the walls. We bought an enormous bowl of fruit for just a pound from a fruit trader and chowed on them while riding bikes along the road toward the end of the day.

Walking through Spitalfields and Brick Lane, only cost me about 9.50 pounds of expenses. Since we finished our bike ride in under thirty minutes, we were not charged! At such low expense, I was stimulated by multiple cultures in one day; London’s markets offered such great value to my time and money. -Anjali