Borough Market

Borough Market is the market every other UK market is measured against, and for good reason. With roots stretching back around a thousand years, it is one of London's oldest food markets, and today it splits across Three Crown Square, the Green Market and the covered Borough Market Kitchen. The result combines serious produce merchants and specialist food shops with a street food line-up serving everything from salt beef bagels and raclette-topped grilled cheese to fresh pasta, paella and Ethiopian plates. It is free to browse but gets genuinely rammed at weekends and lunchtimes, so go early or midweek if you want elbow room, and come to graze on the go rather than for a quiet sit-down meal. As a one-stop introduction to how good British market food can be, few other markets match its range.