Exploring the Christmas Markets in London

Day two of our visit to Essex led us to the train station at Stanford-Le-Hope and heading up to London. We had stupidly forgotten to use our railcard at the ticket office which would have saved us a third off our fare.
If you live in the UK you probably know all about railcards but if you are visiting from abroad it is worth looking into on line as there are so many to choose from which save you money if you are using the trains to get around.

It takes just under an hour to roll into Fenchurch Street Station. We are slightly early as the markets don’t open until 11 a.m. so we grab a coffee and a cake at Costa Coffee at Tower Hill. I’d received an offer from them recently where if you spend £20 on a gift voucher they would add another £5 to the total. As we were likely to be out and about a lot over the Christmas period it seemed like a good idea to save a bit of money and so I paid for the voucher and gifted it to myself! I had also been awarded a free drink in November and had saved this too for when we came to London where the prices are much higher than at home. Ever the bargain hunter me!

The winter sun was still rising as we approached the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The tourist crowds were out in force reminding me that London is a top destination for visitors at this time of year. I managed to snap this photo of the sun’s Winter rays reflecting off the water of the Thames before we walked across to the South side of London.

Christmas by the River:
The first market on our adventure today is aptly named “Christmas by the River” and starts at Tower Bridge and meanders its way along the banks of the Thames to London Bridge. The very first stall exudes Thai spices backed by the sizzle of a hot wok. My mouth waters as I spot the samples being prepared and displayed on the front counter. This is my type of food but lunch is still a couple of hours away and so I drag myself away and focus instead upon the wooden cabins displaying gifts.
I’m a little disappointed, there aren’t as many as I was expecting from the pictures I had seen on line, particularly when you eliminate those selling food and drinks. It’s not long before we reach London Bridge and are checking out our next port of call.

Hay’s Galleria
My research had alerted to me to this indoor arcade with its huge vaulted roof inside of which is a sculpture by David Kemp. This rivet-covered bronze sculpture known as The Navigators, is something to behold, with the face of a man and the body of an industrial-age ship. The 60-foot sculpture is actually an enormous kinetic machine which when activated has oars that move through the water at it’s sides. It was installed in 1987 during the renovation of Hay’s Galleria, which saw the conversion of this old wharf into the current shopping arcade.

Also taking pride of place at this time of year is the grand Christmas tree which is worth looking at although the rest of the arcade was a little disappointing and somewhat lacking in Christmas spirit again compared to the pictures I had seen on line from previous years.

Borough Market:
This market is on a lot of tourists’ “must visit lists” and as it was en route to our next Christmas Market destination we thought we would stop by. Be prepared to fight your way through the hordes of people, it is intensely busy!
It ranks as one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, having had a market here dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were built in the 1850s and nowadays, the market is home to over 100 stalls, stands, shops, restaurants and bars. You can buy a whole host of fresh produce: cheese, meat, fish, fruit and veggies, alongside pantry items like oil, condiments and coffee. There are also street food stalls selling everything from falafel wraps to pies to noodles. We were here around lunchtime and the queues were immense causing us to hold onto our hunger and look further on our trail.
Before departing though I have to mention the artisan bread stalls, these are my favourite and I cannot wait to come back here in the summer to buy some freshly made bread for a picnic!

Check out the cheese mountain on this photo

Southbank Christmas Market:
Our path leads us back onto the river bank and eventually to the SouthBank Christmas Market. It’s beginning to feel like we are on “Christmas Market Repeat” . The stalls are once again in essence the same as those we have viewed already. It’s beginning to feel like one person is running the contract for these markets and companies wishing to sell their goods are offered a bulk buy discount resulting in the same companies displaying their wares at every market. There is very little variety which is really disappointing.
Unfortunately one stall that hasn’t repeated is the original Thai food stall so in the absence of anyone selling something that tempts our taste buds we eventually decide to take a break and get lunch at Wagamama instead. We can sit indoors on what is proving to be quite a cold Winter’s day, enjoy some Asian inspired food and take a much needed rest.

Eventually feeling ready to tackle what we perceive to be the two main markets on our adventure we walk across the Golden Jubilee bridge and head north to Trafalgar Square.

The stalls are arranged back to back in a bank of wooden chalets but once again we are faced with the same articles on sale but obviously with different sellers! This is not at all what we expected when we planned our day out in London and decide to walk on to our final destination at Leicester Square.
There are more chalets to choose from here but in essence we are again on repeat.

I guess if you are a tourist you would possibly only visit one or two of these markets when you are perhaps in the vicinity and not dedicate a whole day to go Christmas Market shopping like we had so maybe you wouldn’t be disappointed.
Personally I cannot help but compare what I have seen today to those in more provincial areas. I’ve personally visited Bath Christmas Market and Chester Christmas Market, at either end of England, and they far exceeded what we experienced today. I have also had the joy of visiting Christmas Markets in Berlin, Cologne and Lille and they also exceeded London.

The London Christmas Markets seem to be primarily set up for evening entertainment. A place where people can come and stroll, peruse the stalls whilst partaking in drinks and food. I’m sure there are lots of people who enjoy this annual social event but if like us you are looking to do some serious Christmas shopping from true independent market stall holders I would suggest heading out of London and checking out what other cities have to offer.