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  • Brick Lane Market guide

  • By Katie Dailey. Photography Ed Marshall

  • Brick Lane Market is where Eastern promise meets East End chaos. As well as bric-a-brac and fruit and veg, you can now pick up everything from retro furniture to vintage jewellery

    Brick Lane Market guide

    Eastern promise meets East End chaos © Ed Marshall

  • Read our full Shoreditch area guide

    The lowdown
    Brick Lane Market is growing faster than your waistline after a Bengal curry. Formerly just a trail of bric-a-brac and a smattering of fruit stalls, the now sprawling market has a buzzy new appendage every time you visit, from the fashion fare at the covered Upmarket to quirky T-shirts and jewels at the Back Yard, retro furniture at the Tea Rooms and an eclectic jumble of tat and vintage on the main thoroughfare.

    The dolling up (and dulling down) of Spitalfields worked in Brick Lane’s favour, causing the more madcap and small-scale stallholders to migrate to the surrounding streets. Now Brick Lane Market is in many ways how East End veterans recall Spitalfields in its heyday: full of surprises, a bit ramshackle, very noisy and packed to the gunnels with strange smells, sights and stalls.

    Don’t miss…
    While you’rethere, have a look at some of the quirky shops neighbouring the market.Rough Trade East on Dray Walk is arguably London’s best independent music shop and plays host to an impressive line-up of in-store gigs.

    Downside...

    Overzealous poppadom pimps poised outside curry houses; bikes sold by iffy-looking youths who hang out on Sclater Street – if it’s brand new, worth £500 and selling for £50, then it was stolen from the pub railings last night…

    Refuel at…
    Grab a handmade gastro-burger from Moos Boosh on Dray Walk – where stallholders buy their lunch – or if you fancy a drop of London beer in an authentic East End boozer, then nip down to the Pride of Spitalfields (3 Heneage St).

    Feature continues

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    Brick Lane’s top stalls
    Maria Zureta Bijoux

    This fabulous stall is a must-visit for anyone with a penchant for statement chainy jewellery. Designer Roberto Costa fashions together masses of different vintage trinkets – anything from a china clog to a bejewelled trout, and uses them to make gloriously OTT layered pendant necklaces with an antiquey feel.
    Upmarket (near back, left-hand side).

    The Tea Rooms
    This orderly, well-laid-out furniture warehouse and tea room sees the cavernous space beneath 93 Feet East transformed into a haven of reasonably priced antiques, homeware, haberdashery and ceramics. Seek out Goodnight Vienna, a stall selling immaculate Ercol tables and chairs.
    Truman Brewery.

    Vintage market
    This weekly market has a variety of well organised stalls peppered with accessories, glam fur coats and cheap men’s suits which date from the 1920s to the 1990s.
    F Block, Truman Brewery, 85 Brick Lane, E1 6QL. 11am-6pm every 
    Fri and Sat, 10am-5pm Sun

    Insider tips
    Our insider
    Thelma Speirs, East End fashion celebrity and designer/partner in Brick Lane’s Bernstock Speirs hat emporium (www.bernstockspeirs.com).

    When should you visit Brick Lane?
    ‘Every Sunday. It’s best to go as early as possible for bargains; it winds down at around 5pm.’

    Top spots
    Twentysevenpalms.com is a lovely, colourful stall in the UpMarket section of Brick Lane, selling cushions made from bright printed fabric. The carpet stall (actually more of a wall than a stall) sells carpets and rugs very cheap. It is located just off Brick Lane on Bacon Street. In the main part of Brick Lane, near the corner of Cheshire Street, there is an occasional stall selling wonderful old luggage and trunks. Also, Hunky Dory Vintage is a shop at 226 Brick Lane that is the best place to buy clothes and handbags.'

    What should you avoid?
    ‘The fur protesters who don’t appreciate my ’60s mink jacket.’

    Top tips
    ‘Combine your Brick Lane experience with a trip to Franze and Evans on Redchurch Street, an Italian café with the best coffee in town, and then drink it in the beautiful surroundings of nearby Arnold Circus. After the market, head for a stiff drink at The Nelsons Head on Horatio Street. It has lovely art on the walls and a fashionable clientele.’

    Brick Lane (plus Dray Walk), E1. UpMarket & Backyard market: The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1 6QL (7770 6028/www.sundayupmarket.co.uk). Aldgate East tube or Liverpool St tube/rail. 10am-5pm Sun.

  • Add your comment to this feature

17 comments

  1. Posted by John Plant on 18 May 2012 20:58

    The main day for Brick Lane is Sunday. A lot of traders are also around Saturday.

  2. Posted by Rachel on 18 May 2012 13:11

    is the market open 7 days?

  3. Posted by Gabz on 01 May 2012 11:23

    Hey can anyone email me the carpet guy on Brick Lanes details ?
    Tel or Email would be fab :)

  4. Posted by Streetbeatpoet on 22 Mar 2012 20:07

    hi dog lovers -You can take any pooch - yes raelly- into the pink clad Vintage Emporium tea rooms- on 14 Bacon St - esp. good if its pouring rain in April showers, pop in and pop out when its stopped- outside is a very cheap knock off food stall ; the cheese selection at £1 for Brie Danish blue etc is legendary...

  5. Posted by tino lutteral on 05 Feb 2012 18:52

    is the bricklane street market open the first week of march ?

  6. Posted by John Plant on 23 Dec 2011 16:52

    Just in case you are, wondering, the Tea Room and the Tea Room and the Backyard Market will be open Christmas Eve. 11am to 6pm. All day parking £8 in the Truman Brewery car park next door.

  7. Posted by Katie on 15 Dec 2011 12:01

    I'm not a protester but I wouldn't appreciate your fur jacket either. 60s or not!

  8. Posted by Hailley on 01 Sep 2010 04:28

    Would like to go there someday...

  9. Posted by Snoejk on 26 Jun 2010 00:44

    fantastic market - does anyone know when the insane soviet poster stall will be back ? It was there earlier in the year, but nothng of late
    tks

  10. Posted by JJP on 31 Mar 2010 08:41

    Parking? Saturdays you might find a space in Brick Lane itself, or on Cheshire St. Sundays the controls are fierce. Nearest free on street is just East of Vallance Rd. Beware of the Sunday morning closure of the top half of Brick Lane, which can send you back out onto Commercial Street.
    There is a carpark at the back of Tea Rooms/BackYard Market for £12/day, sometimes restricted if being used for yer typical East End film set.
    If you come, call in to us, 1st bay on right in the tearooms. Best old china in the market, amazing hand-made aprons.

  11. Posted by ETS on 04 Mar 2010 23:26

    An Update on the Vintage Market for everyone interested. This is Now weekly, upstairs from the Sunday Up Market. The Vintage Market runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. you can access it from 85 Brick Lane, or the stairs inside the Up Market on a Sunday. This vintage market is really gathering pace as THE destination for vintage clothes in the area, cheaper than Rokit and Absolute Vintage, with more discerning traders, offering better quality gems. Something for everyone in this market, so go and check it out.

  12. Posted by jtz on 01 Feb 2010 11:35

    does anyone know where the best place to park will be (preferably free-dont mind a 5 min wal)

  13. Posted by mrskunk67 on 25 Jan 2010 13:06

    go and see the "rib man" the best ribs in london

  14. Posted by Noel on 12 Nov 2009 23:06

    Brick Lane ! Dont forget Big Game Steaks & Burgers, was at Upmarket, Eleys Yard, now the council has stopped that market, they are now along Brick Lane at the railway bridge, Zebra Steaks, Wilderbeest, Cheval, Python, Crocodile, Kangaroo, Ostrich, Bison, Wild Boar, Etc. Etc.

  15. Posted by story on 12 Oct 2009 14:09

    The council really needs to stop the sunday car traffic on Brick Lane. It's like a bunch of sat nav idiots with no clue to what's going on made it into town.

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