Columbia Road Flower Market

Market

Market · London, United Kingdom 51.5294°N 0.0694°W

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Columbia Road Flower Market

Time needed

60 to 90 minutesLonger with the shops

Best time

Later on SundayQuieter, some sell out

Cost

Free to walkCarry some cash

Effort

Dense crowdsDuck into the shops

Season

Sundays onlyStock follows season

Access

Street marketStep-free varies

Guide

Not neededThe market is a street of stalls and shops; no guide is needed.

Opening hours

What time does Columbia Road Flower Market open?

Only on Sundays. The stalls set up at 8am and trade until roughly 3pm, and there are no flower stalls on the road on any other day of the week, including Saturday, so plan a London weekend around the Sunday.

Getting there

How to get to Columbia Road Flower Market?

Hoxton Overground is the nearest station, around a 7 to 10 minute walk. Shoreditch High Street, Old Street, Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street are also within walking distance, and buses 8, 26, 55 and 388 serve the surrounding streets.

Parking

Is there parking at Columbia Road Flower Market?

Parking is limited on Sundays, so public transport is the easier choice. Tower Hamlets Council sets aside 33 free one-hour bays for market visitors, which can be prebooked. Some local controls run from 8.30am to 2pm on Sundays, and the rules change street by street, so read the sign at the bay.

Weekdays

Is Columbia Road worth visiting on a weekday?

Only for the shops. Many of the independent shops, cafés and galleries open during the week, but opening days and times vary from one business to the next, and the flower stalls themselves are there on Sundays alone.

Christmas

Does Columbia Road Flower Market sell Christmas trees?

Yes. The stalls carry seasonal stock alongside the year-round cut flowers and houseplants, and in December that means Christmas trees. A cargo-bike delivery booked at the market on a Sunday can take a tree home for a buyer without a car.

Facilities

Are there toilets near Columbia Road Flower Market?

Yes. Public toilets are on Ezra Street, just behind Columbia Road and about two minutes on foot from the stalls. They are the nearest facilities for anyone spending the morning on the street rather than in one of its cafés.

Every Sunday a Victorian East End street fills end to end with stalls of cut flowers, houseplants, herbs and bulbs, and you can step off the road into the small shops and cafés behind them.

What makes it special

Columbia Road is a single street in London E2. On Sundays its stalls run the full length of the road, selling cut and dried flowers, houseplants, herbs, bulbs, succulents and garden plants all year.

The stock follows the seasons, so the stalls in April look nothing like the stalls in December, when the spring flowers have long given way to winter stock. Generations of traders have worked this market.

The run of Victorian shops behind them went up in the 1860s to serve the nearby Jesus Hospital Estate. It now holds more than 60 independent shops, cafés and galleries, which give the street its second half: a place to sit, browse and get out of the crush.

Visiting

Walk the full length of the street once to see what is on the stalls and compare them, then double back to buy from the ones you marked.

When the crowd gets too tight, step into the shops, cafés and galleries on either side. Leave the biggest plants until the walk back, so you are not carrying them through the busiest stretch.

Pair it with Shoreditch or Spitalfields, or with Brick Lane for a second East End street the same day.