Camden Market
by Mandy C

Should you want to get the real atmosphere of this area then you should come here on a weekend, when the roads are packed with all sorts from tourists to hippies and the people that dress up to shop mixing with the people that dress way down. The main High Street is alive with the sounds of different music from stalls spilling over each other and the smells of a variety of food being cooked (or at least stirred) before your eyes. Its not just falafel around here you know…

see images

The main street feels more like a fairground, lots to see and a variety of colours! Look up as you are walking, most shops have put up an installation over the top half of their building that advertises what they sell below - whether these are huge Doctor Martin Boots or a 'Metallers' skull! Within these shops you can browse for vinyl - shops full of quietly breathing men and women expertly flicking through to find their hearts desire, or you can find trendy shoe stores - hip to the max trainers and platform boots so high that every step you take in them you fear is going to be your last. There are also shops that look like they have been lifted whole from Oxford Street (you know - the ones that have a chipped mannequin chained outside wearing a dog collar and a leather trench coat.) Inside will sell you everything from sunglasses, clothes, London memorabilia, chain link belts, sparkly purses and jewellery. There are bargains to be had so step inside!

Most of the markets are open seven days a week (with the exception of the Electric Ballroom, Canal Street Market and the antiques part of the stables market). So if you have time to browse in the week you will find a lot more space and chilled atmosphere to explore.

Electric Ballroom
At the weekends, you get a variety in here - retro clothing (velvet jackets and the like), glittery jewellery, cool printed T-shirts, and black gothic style. Shop and be accompanied by beats from the sound system.

Buck Street Market
This has many stalls to discover within its narrow aisles. It can get very packed at the weekends, as you slowly join the shuffle of people moving through the market and peel away to jump into the small alcoves that hold the stalls. This area is very good for clothes, as you will find something for everyone whether you are into the inevitable rainbow coloured knit-wear, retro T-Shirts with slogans such as 'Chopper' and 'Bagpuss', denim mixed with suede and lace, skinny rib cardigans and big baggy jeans.

Inverness Street Market
This is a fresh fruit and vegetables market that has grown in recent years to accommodate stalls that are generally found in most London community markets - cut price electrical gods, kids toys and London memorabilia (by this I mean underwear that has the underground sign on saying 'Private Property' and sequin purses of the Union Jack.) You can also buy kitchen goods (checked tea towels, marigold gloves '3 pairs for a fiver',and that new sink plunger you have been waiting for.) Well Camden does do 'normal' too! Good bars along here as well.

Canal Market
Antiques and bric-a-brac are well represented, as is pop memorabilia. If it's a nice day you can take your food and sit by the canal and watch the barges float by. A jacket potato and a pint of beer on a hot sunny day - nothing better.

Market Hall
A relatively new building though you would never know it from its grand Victorian appearance. This houses two floors of arts and crafts, with clothes and gifts to be found in the small shops and boutiques that live around the sides. Here you will find that special item that you have been waiting for to treat a friend or yourself to! Leather bound books, pressed flower lanterns, carved wooden ornaments, second hand books, picture frames, original jewellery, embroidered shawls - actually you can discover the rest for yourself!

East, Middle and West Yard - Camden Lock Market
East yard seemed to be more of a continuation of the High Street the day I was there, with some original bargains to be found behind the rainbow tops. The Middle and West yards however seem to focus on more original designers and crafts people, where you will find beautifully laid out boutiques, workshops and specialised outfits. Explore and be happy around the market square!

The Stables Market
Run the gauntlet of the fast food enterprises and unless you are interested in chicken with black bean sauce do not catch the seller's eye! Calls echoed after me - 'Eat here, very good food, not too spicy, very good noodle - you like the noodle?' Here is where fashion gets a lot trendier, with cool retail outlets that stock for hard clubbers and stylish boys and girls. For our more serious, black lipstick wearing friends - goth is well-represented and not served up on a tired dish of tie dye and velvet. For bodices so tight you need breathing apparatus and PVC that you need PVA to stick you inside them - here is where you find it. Outlets behave more like clubs then clothes stores, and clubbing wear seems to include rubber, plastic, wetsuits and quilted bits - I am curious to know where these clubbers go clubbing - Iceland maybe? Retro clothes a go-go, with amazing finds and 70's shirts, clothes for the boys, girls and inbetwens. Did you throw away that old school tie? Don't worry you can buy it back here - £15. Even though this is part of the Stables market - the old horse hospital at the end is an antique haven. Pop memorabilia, retro toys, old Jackie annuals, 50's telephones, maps and books, furniture and handbags. Definitely my favourite part of the whole of Camden - I can get lost in a 60's time warp here and only emerge at closing time - with a handful of old photographs and a Beano annual. Great stuff.