Columbia Road Flower Market
Our Twitter feed somehow is filled with gorgeously creative flower designers and shops in the U.K. For inspiration, we follow the Royal Horticultural Society and Flower Joos, among so many others!
On a recent trip to London, we were determined to visit the Columbia Road Flower Market. It is an open air market occupying roughly a block of Columbia Road in Bethnal Green, East London. Open to the public on Sunday mornings, it is jam packed with shoppers looking for flowers, plants, pots and antiques.
From the beginning of its historical record, Columbia Road’s unsavory past has been … dark. It was an area where crime was rampant and Resurrection Men hid out. The London Burkers were feared body snatchers in the early 19th century, selling cadavers to anatomists for a pretty penny.
In 1869, the land was purchased by Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts in order to save the area from its grim reality. Her intent was to create a fish and produce market and indeed, produce was sold there for about twenty years, until it closed and went into decline. The Baroness spent a fortune on a Gothic Hall market which was never really used, as the locals preferred to sell in the open air. (The Book of London Place Names, Caroline Taggart p. 197.)
The market evolved into a flower market, with songbirds for sale. The market, originally held on Saturdays, was moved to Sundays in order to accommodate Jewish traders. This was upheld by an Act of Parliament. The market has endured, despite a direct bombing during the Blitz on September 7, 1940.
This thriving market was festive on the day we visited, with street buskers and flower sellers calling their pitch “ev’ry thing a fiver!” We browsed everything from potted chillies to bamboo and all the gorgeous flowers in between. The hydrangea were in season and everything looked so inspiring!
Open every Sunday from 8am to about 3pm.
Sources and more info:
Caroline Corinne’s The Women of Columbia Road