Bankside, Borough & Bermondsey
London's best eating district, laid along the south bank of the Thames: a thousand-year-old food market, a power station full of modern art, a rebuilt Elizabethan theatre, and streets of former warehouses now packed with small restaurants.
Who it's for: Eaters above all — this is where Londoners send visitors who care about food. Art people, for Tate Modern. Walkers, since the Thames Path here strings the sights together. Anyone who wants a neighbourhood that works at weekends, unlike the City across the river.
Things to know
- Borough Market trades Tuesday to Sunday, but not all traders every day: Monday to Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 9am–5pm, Sunday 10am–4pm. Saturday afternoon is the worst crush of the week; Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are the pleasure.
- The best restaurants around the market are almost all walk-in only and small — Padella, Rambutan, El Pastor and Barrafina all queue. Eat at 5:30pm or after 9pm, or go at lunch.
- Tate Modern is free and open until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The Blavatnik Building's top-floor viewing level is also free and has one of the best skyline views in London.
- Shakespeare's Globe releases £5 standing 'groundling' tickets every Friday at 11am for the following week's performances, online only. They go quickly and they are the best-value theatre in Britain.
- The Globe's summer season runs roughly May to October in the open-air theatre; the indoor candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse runs through the winter.
- Maltby Street Market is a weekends-only affair (Saturday 10am–5pm, Sunday 11am–4pm) on a lane called the Ropewalk. It's smaller and less crowded than Borough and a better bet on a Saturday.
- This is the easiest district in London to do on foot. Tower Bridge to Tate Modern along the Thames Path is about 30 minutes and passes almost everything worth seeing here.
- Bermondsey Street, ten minutes south of the market, is where the neighbourhood restaurants are — smaller, calmer, more bookable, and where locals actually eat.