Leadenhall Market: London Travel Guide (4.4★)

Glass, iron and cobbles

Look up before you look anywhere else. Leadenhall Market is a crossroads of covered streets roofed in glass on a cast-iron frame. The ironwork is painted deep maroon, cream and green, and gilded dragons and crests pick out the details. Underfoot are granite cobbles, uneven enough that wheeled suitcases rattle across them.

Sir Horace Jones designed the present structure in 1881. He is the same architect behind Tower Bridge and the meat market at Smithfield. Shopfronts line the arcades on both sides, many with their names lettered in gold on painted fascias. The central crossing sits under a tall octagonal lantern, the obvious spot for a wide-angle photo.

Two thousand years on one plot

The market sits on the centre of Roman London. Beneath your feet lay the forum and basilica of Londinium, the largest Roman building north of the Alps. The name comes later, from a lead-roofed mansion on the site in the 14th century. That hall became a trading place for poultry, game and cheese.

Victorian traders sold meat and fowl from these same arcades. Today the editorial description is more modest: clothing and accessory shops, plus restaurants and bars. It is one of the most-reviewed sights in the Square Mile, and it is consistently well rated. Expect company. This is a well-trodden stop, not a secret.

Film fans know it as Diagon Alley. The market stood in for the wizarding street in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. A blue door in Bull’s Head Passage, just off the market, played the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.

Reaching EC3

The address is Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT, but entrances open from several sides. Pick the station that suits your route:

• Bank (Central, Northern, Waterloo & City lines and DLR): roughly a five-minute walk east along Cornhill.
• Monument (District and Circle lines): walk north up Gracechurch Street.
• Fenchurch Street (c2c trains): a few minutes north on foot.
• Liverpool Street (Elizabeth line, Central line and mainline trains): about ten minutes south.

Opening hours vary shop by shop and are not posted centrally. Check the market’s official website before you go, especially if you plan to eat there.

Weekday buzz or weekend calm

The market’s rhythm follows the office towers around it. On weekdays it fills with City workers at lunch. After the offices empty in the early evening, drinkers spill out of the pubs and stand on the cobbles with pints. It is loud and sociable, and very much a working-City scene.

Weekends turn it inside out. Many businesses close, the arcades go quiet, and photographers get the roof and lantern almost to themselves. If you want atmosphere, come midweek. If you want the architecture alone, come on Saturday or Sunday morning. Arriving early on a weekday also usually beats the lunchtime rush.

Standing room on the cobbles

The pubs here run on standard British rules, and knowing them saves you waiting at an empty table.

• Order at the bar. Most pubs have no table service for drinks. Pay when you order.
• Pay by card. Contactless cards and phones are taken almost everywhere. Tipping at the bar is not expected.
• Drink standing up. On busy weekday evenings, people stand with glasses in the arcade itself. That is normal here, so don’t hover waiting for a seat.
• Mind the workers. At lunchtime, step aside to take photos. People on short breaks are trying to get through.

The Lamb Tavern is the long-standing pub inside the market. Its upstairs windows look down onto the crossing. For the Harry Potter door, head into Bull’s Head Passage and be considerate: it is a real shopfront, not a set.

Towers on the doorstep

The market makes a good base for a walk round the City’s architecture, old and new. Several landmarks are within ten minutes:

• Lloyd’s building, Richard Rogers’ inside-out tower of steel ducts and external lifts, rises directly behind the market.
• 30 St Mary Axe, better known as the Gherkin, is a few minutes north-east.
• Sky Garden, at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street, has free viewing galleries that you need to book in advance.
• The Monument to the Great Fire of 1666 stands at the foot of Gracechurch Street.

Combine the market with the Monument and Sky Garden and you have a compact half-day. The route runs from Roman foundations to some of London’s newest towers, and you can walk all of it.