Lady’s Guide to the Columbia Road Flower Market

When I go to the markets in London, I’m usually looking for food. From Broadway Market to Borough Market, Maltby Street Market to the Marylebone Farmers’ Market, I love browsing through the bright colors and fresh produce. But there’s one London market that doesn’t focus on food that still gives me the same feeling of excitement: the Columbia Road Flower Market.

Columbia Road Flower Market

Over in east London, the Columbia Road Flower Market is one of the city’s most colorful and lively markets. Every Sunday it welcomes visitors with fresh flowers, vines, plants, and all kinds of garden varietals.

From bright red roses to pink hydrangeas, purple pansies to spiky cacti, there’s an amazing variety on offer.

The narrow aisle between the two rows of stalls gets packed every weekend as the market’s vendors call out deals to encourage visitors to purchase their goods.

I’m here today to do just that, hoping to warm up my flat with pretty flowers as the weather cools down.

How to Get to the Market

So how do you get to the Columbia Road Flower Market? There are a lot of ways.

I usually take the tube, and there are a few stations in walking distance of the market. Old Street station on the Northern Line and Bethnal Green station on the Central Line aren’t far from the market.

Liverpool Street station is convenient for arriving via a number of other tube lines and mainline trains, too.

There are also a number of Overground stations nearby. These include Hoxton, Shoreditch High Street, Bethnal Green, and Cambridge Heath. Local buses stop in the area, too.

If you’re driving and looking for Columbia Road Flower Market parking, you can park for free for two hours in the pay-and-display or mixed use bay in the areas around the market, or park at Mulberry School on Gosset Street (a few minutes’ walk from the market) for 12 pounds between 8am and 4pm.

Columbia Road Flower Market Times

The market and shops start opening around 8am, so I arrive early knowing the crowds will be thinner in the morning.

I don’t get here too early, though. I’ve learned from past experience that the market doesn’t really get going until 9am or even 9:30am. Given the market closes around 3pm, I have a lot of time.

Market Stalls and Shops

As soon as I arrive, I walk through the passage, taking in the colors and sounds as I try to decide whether to pick up bright yellow sunflowers or wild pink heather.

When I come to the end, I walk back behind the stalls to browse the row of shops on Columbia Road.

They’re all full of stylish home goods, lovely antiques, pretty art, and—this being a flower market—gardening tools and wares. It’s all so beautifully presented I want to wrap it up and let it unfold in my flat.

Ezra Street

Back out on Columbia Road, I walk down to Ezra Street, where there are market stalls selling everything from scarves to olives as the sound of live music drifts over from the buskers down the road.

There are hidden courtyards full of vintage shops and bakeries, and restaurants on the street with great Columbia Road Flower Market brunch options.

I walk past a pub with the mouth-watering scent of Sunday roast wafting from its doors, and eventually stop at Cafe Columbia for a smoked salmon bagel in the sunny back garden.

Flowers

Eventually I plunge back into the flower market, which by this time has reached is noontime peak.

It’s so crowded I can barely move, and I let the throng carry me by all the pretty roses and sunny daisies until I come upon the flowers I want: sunflowers. What better way to keep the sun shining in London?

On the way back to the tube at Liverpool Street, I can’t resist a walk through Brick Lane‘s food markets. While they have a colorful array of goods on offer, I’m still glad I spent my morning at the Columbia Road Flower Market.

I may not be able to eat the flowers, but I love the market just the same.

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