Fiona MacLeod on the parts of the city that reward the visitors who bother to go further
By Fiona MacLeod
The tourists who stay within Zone 1 see a London that is genuinely magnificent and that contains approximately 15 percent of what makes London interesting. The rest is in Zones 2 and 3, in the neighbourhoods that have been shaped by the communities who live in them rather than by the requirements of visitors who are passing through, and which consequently feel more like a city and less like a permanent international exhibition.
Bermondsey, in Zone 2 on the Jubilee and Overground lines, has a Saturday morning antiques market that is the best antiques market in London and one of the best in Europe: dealers set up from 4am and the serious buying is done by 9am, but for a visitor arriving at 9 with a torch and a willingness to look carefully, the finds at 9am are still remarkable. The neighbourhood also has Borough Market adjacent, one of the best independent restaurant streets in London on Maltby Street, and a gallery strip along Bermondsey Street that has some of the better contemporary art spaces in South London.
Brixton
Brixton Market — the covered markets of Electric Avenue, Reliance Arcade, and Market Row — is one of the most genuinely multicultural retail environments in London, selling produce, fabric, specialist groceries, Afro-Caribbean cooking ingredients, and goods that reflect the communities that have made Brixton their neighbourhood for sixty years. It is also surrounded by restaurants that represent some of the best value food in London, independent music venues, and a cultural life that is specific to the community in ways that gentrification has changed but not yet entirely absorbed.
Hackney Wick
Hackney Wick, in Zone 3 on the Overground, is where the East London creative scene that Shoreditch used to host has relocated: studios, galleries, workshops, and the Crate Brewery on the canal all operate in industrial buildings that retain the conditions — cheap space, low footfall, tolerance for unusual activity — that creative scenes require. It is rougher than Shoreditch and more genuinely interesting in the ways that matter. The Visit London neighbourhood guide covers the standard options. The Londonist neighbourhood coverage goes further. Fiona MacLeod writes about London travel at prat.uk.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
