It's not the biggest in London by any means but has a good mixture of produce, and I am particularly fond of its fruit and vegetable stall from Perry Court Farm Kent.Other favourites of mine are the Bath Soft Cheese Company (not every week - though they also do Oval farmers' market and probably others), Nut Knowle Farm goats' cheese, and Cakehole bakery. There's also chicken, lamb, and other meat, delicious-looking bread and baked goods, and various hot lunch-type dishes.
I like the Perry Court Farm stall because everything comes from their own farm. In autumn the stall is groaning with apples and pears (and they still have some stored fruit now, as well as unusual apple crisps). Right now you can get beetroot, leeks, cabbages, cauliflowers, spring greens, radishes, spring onions, celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, cavolo nero, spinach and probably a few other things I've forgotten. Pricing is simple - most items are £1 per item/bunch/bag, with some exceptions, such as 6 onions or 5 beetroot for £1. So for a value-minded person like me it pays to select the biggest examples on the stall! This week I got six large red onions, five whopping beetroot and a large head of spring greens for a grand total of £3. (The greens, incidentally, got chopped, stir-fried with some garlic, ginger, chilli and soy sauce, and served with rice. It took me about ten minutes and was simple yet delicious.)
The only slightly annoying aspect of the market is that it starts at 9am, and stallholders have been told not to take any money before then. Apparently this is because of its licence from the council, but I can't imagine Camden Council would particularly care whether some leeks get sold at 8.50am.
Vital stats:
When: Every Thursday 9am-2pm
Where: Torrington Square / Byng Place, behind ULU, WC1E 7HY
Number of stalls: 12 (approx, number varies)
Range of produce: Good
Value for money: 8
Marks out of 10: 8
As a fan of both Bloomsbury and Farmers' Markets, I'm thrilled to learn about this market. Thank you for posting!
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