Borough Market in London - is it too busy to take kids? A family review.
Borough Market in London is a firm family favourite of ours to take the kids for lunch.
It's fair to say we're a little bit obsessed and every time we're in London we visit. It's as simple as that! If you've been to Borough Market - you know! When we're just a couple at Borough Market we indulge in our favourite and visit The Wright Brothers for the most delicious oysters (I'll do a full blog post on these guys as they're my faves for oysters, crab and shellfish), when we're with the kids, we indulge in all the delicious street food stalls.
It's not the first thing that jumps to mind when looking at things to do in London with kids.
But if you've got inquisitive kids that will try foods this is a great experience. Similarly for kids who are a bit on the fussy side, a trip to Borough Market to sample different foods can be great to build confidence around food and trying new foods. Our 5 year old went through a fussy stage and a trip to the market helped normalise food variation and seeing everybody eating/trying really helped him see how silly his refusing of food was. He was the only one, around lot's of keen tryers. He started to try, and realised that he was missing out.
If you've never been to Borough Market in London before and you like your food and produce you simply must go. Go NOW! It's a Market in London that as a day trip Must Visit as a couple. And especially so with kids too, you can look around over 100 stalls, buy fresh quality seasonal produce, eat sublime food, taste and try things, chat to the really knowledgable sellers, see chef demonstrations, soak in the atmosphere & just generally be around a positive food experience with the kids. Borough Market is classed as the UK's finest market. It's a cacophony of smells, colour, & vibrancy a good day out.
If you follow our blog you'll see that we travel a lot so are out of the UK, but when we return we like to do all the things that we love and have missed. And as food (good food) features highly on our passion / to do list, as does good coffee - Borough Market has us covered. They do both in outstanding abundance.
Rows of pretty cakes at Comptoir Gourmand
There are three main areas at Borough Markets to explore: Three Crown Square (the larger producers and merchants), Green Market (the smaller, more specialist produce traders) and Borough Market Kitchen (the street food traders). Surrounding the Market there are many restaurants, bars and shops to dig around. You can see the full traders list at the Borough Market website.
Always taking pictures of flowers everywhere we go.
There's so much to see and do in London. We love to go into the city as a couple and equally with the kids. Don't be put off by the thought of expensive restaurants and hipster coffee shops that you feel you just can't take the kids to. You don't have to have deep pockets either to take the kids to London and explore. There are tons of free things to do in London with kids. Once you're in the city with a day tube pass you can get around and explore all the free things to do in London with Kids. A trip to the market, is a free experience, where you can make the journey getting there fun seeng street performers and London sights, plus stroll along the river. And when you're at the market, you can pick up reasonably priced (and delicious) food and treats along the way. Our kids love it.
The Market For Kids
If you take kids to Borough Market try to get some instagram pics of the kids and tag @boroughmarket with the hashtag #marketexplorers .
The market is a great place for kids to learn through their senses. A cacophony of smells, tastes and visuals. Borough Market do a series of digital downloads for kids to help children discover more about the produce sold in the Market. Each learning booklet looks at a specific ingredient, tracing it from field to fork, which we love, and includes several delicious child-friendly recipes to prepare at home. Including: Tips for cooking safely with children. Click here for your free digital download for kids from Borough Market. A great thing to do in the holidays. Or before / after your visit to the markets. Plus they can cook one of the recipes at the end of it. We made their honey & lavender muffins. Winning!
Free Borough Market Colouring in Download for kids to print out & colour in - cute!
The History of Borough Market
Borough Market is London's oldest Fruit & Veg market. Nestled in on the south side of the river Thames beneath London Bridge. Since the 11th Century, London Bridge has been a market place, an area where traders gathered.
How to get to Borough Market
Borough Market is just off Borough High Street. Borough Market nearest stations: The closest tube station to Borough Market is London Bridge but it's only a short walk from Borough Station too. If you get off at London Bridge, take a walk along the South Bank to the London Eye. And soak up all the things you'll see along the way with the kids.
Borough Market Opening Times
Borough Market London is open every day. Monday - Friday 10am - 5pm | Saturday 8am - 5pm | Sunday 10am - 3pm. Be prepared for the market to be busy. Get there early to avoid the crowds for a coffee or tasty breakfast or brunch. Or just accept that crowds are inevitable and all part of the hustle and bustle of a thriving market. London Borough Market gets busy, but anywhere that's good does - and if we avoided every place that's busy because we had kids, we'd just never go anywhere. We used to take our buggy, which was a hassle anywhere in London. But needs must. Now the kids are older EVERYTHING in life and travel is so much easier. It's clearly not a place for kids to run around and play and we pep talk them to hold hands etc. But there's no way they're missing out on anything just because it's busy.
We are going to try Greenwich Market with the family (Mum, Dad, 2 kids - a teenager and a 5 year old) next time. Do let me know if you have visited Greenwich?
If you visit Borough Market after reading this post, come back & tell us what you thought. We'd love to hear what you ate!!
EASY LINKS FOR BOROUGH MARKETS
Let us know your thoughts if you visit Borough Market, we'd love to hear how your experience went.
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