Borough Market - my favourite place in Britain

Borough Market is 1000 years old and sits on the south side of the River Thames. It is nestled between the 800 year old Southark Cathedral and the brand new Shard skyscraper and I wouldn’t swap it for either of them. Borough Market Info

I moved to the capital in 1990 and quickly settled into the North West London style of life, which meant rarely going South.

In fact I ventured South of the River only when a band I absolutely needed to see were playing at Brixton Academy. These journeys were military affairs. Surgical in their planning and meticulous in their execution. In, out, and leave not a trace. This North side snobbery is well known in most major River cities but in London it is ingrained to such an extent that it is widely acknowledged that you can’t get a regular taxi to ever take you 'over there'. “Sorry mate, I don’ go Sarf”   

It was only in 2011 when redundancy and impending destitution forced me to find a more affordable residence that I found myself heading across the River.

For the most part my long held suspicions were proven correct. South London has little or no functioning infrastructure. The Tube trains don’t go here, the road system is a wriggly nose to tail mess and the buildings are mainly dirty and dull. A decrepit Victorian era tunnel and a totally rubbish ferry service are the only connections for a car owner between North and South London and the anonymous residential areas merge one with another in a never ending 'mis en scene' of shabbiness; I should say that Blackheath, Dulwich, Chislehurst and the centre of Greenwich do provide some respite from this, but overall there is very little that would make anyone want to ‘go South’; except for the love of fresh, exciting, affordable and extraordinarily high quality food.

Shortly after picking up my SE postcode someone told me I ought to visit Borough Market and after some prevarication I got up early one Saturday morning, boarded the 8.04 to London Bridge and discovered my favourite place in Britain!

Borough Market is a cornucopia of stalls, traders, mind blowing food, wondrous smells, romantic sounding accents and gorgeous French girls selling fabulous cheeses brought over from Normandy that very morning.

There are far too many wonderful things to list them all, but you should know that my life has been improved exponentially by the discovery of Chorizo and Saucisson from  The Ham & Cheese Company , Tortano and Chelsea Buns from The Flour Station , Fiery Red Chili stuffed Olives from  The Fresh Olive Company , Wagyu Beef Burgers from The Exotic Meat Company and top of them all, everything from The Ginger Pig .

The Ginger Pig is the most helpful and consistently excellent butcher probably anywhere. Their Pork cuts are fantastic, their Black Pudding exquisite, their smoked Bacon is simply perfect and it would be sheer foolishness to try to explain how wonderful their Sausages, particularly their Garlic Toulouse Sausages, are.

For food and atmosphere, for vibe and friendliness, Borough Market is the place to visit for anyone living in or visiting London.