tasteofengland - speciality foods direct from high quality producers accross uk

barbecued chorizo?

straight out the ground

loadsa bread

good enough for naked!

lock stock and just
round the corner

Take an old wicker basket along and enjoy shopping how it should be, talking to the producers who are passionate about their own produce and can provide you with something that the supermarket experience never can, real traceability.

An ever expanding number of producers are packing up their vans at dawn and travelling to "the Borough" from as far afield as Dartmoor and the Yorkshire Dales. Fresh, naturally reared wild beef, a superb range of breads, cakes, fruit, vegetables, condiments, cheeses to die for, handmade confectionery and all available directly from the people who carefully produce them.

Most of the market is held in the wonderfully evocative surroundings of the old and run down covered market and with trains rumbling gently overhead you could be transported back to a time when food was real. Well it still is if you know where to find it!

A trip to Borough Market on a Saturday morning is an essential pilgrimage for those who really care about food.

MARKET OPENING TIMES Friday – 12 noon to 6pm / Saturday – 9am to 4pm

tasteofengland.co.uk is designed to help you, the shopper, build relationships with speciality food producers, buy their produce directly from them at market and then eventually buy directly from them via the web as well. The internet will never replace great markets, but it will allow small artisans to compete.

Click to visit the London's Larder Web Site

Potted History of Borough Market

Borough Market's colourful history can be traced back nearly a thousand years to when it was situated on London Bridge which was built by King Canute
Records start in 1014 and indicate that even it at its beginning, the Market sold vegetables as well as fish, grain and cattle. Animal pens were constructed on and near the bridge to stop cattle wandering.
Because of the area's central location – the meeting point of all roads from the South Coast and Southern Counties into the City of London – merchants from all over Europe would travel from the coastal ports to London's perimeter and trade in this market. They would rest for the night in one of the many inns in Southwark, the best known of which 'The Tabard' featured in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".
As well as being a meeting place for merchants, Southwark had an unenviable reputation for crime. It was not uncommon for fighting to spill out of the inns onto the street; a frequent number of murders being the result.
During the 1800's most of the food imported into London arrived at wharves alongside Tooley Street and London Bridge – lending the Market its name "London's Larder". It is this tradition that the Trustees are now strengthening with their improvement of the Market area. Despite several changes of site locally (although the current premises have been occupied since 1756) the Borough Market has survived for nine centuries and remains as a centre of food excellence located right at the gateway to London. It is now ready to move into the next Millennium with improved optimism for a further one thousand years trading.

cheese galore

rain or shine

one punnet
or one hundred