Camden Market

This is a really famous area of the city of London. Once it was a place only for weirdos, outsiders and crazy people. Fortunately, you can still find lots of them nowadays!

From gothic, hardcore or new age style, magic mushrooms, piercings or tattoos shops to Chinese, Japanese and Mexican restaurants: there's nothing you can't find in Camden Town.

Just get lost in there and you won't be bored for the whole day. Even when I returned for the 5th or 10th time I would still find something surprising and new.

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Camden market is one of the craziest and most famous markets in the world. You can find there everything you need, but if you love the "punk world", you can't miss this place. "Punk" specialized shops where you can find boots, clothes, CDs, tattoos, are the heart of the market, but it's a real show in all its corners. Inside the market, built along the Regent's Canal where once there were just horse stalls, you have a great choice of international cuisines: Italian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Moroccan, etc. Furthermore, clubs and discos are opened until late on Saturday and Sunday. You'll have great fun!

In the famous neighbourhood of Camden, in the heart of London, you will find, every day from 10am til 6pm, a wonderful market.

Camden market is situated in the heart of London

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Camden is only two stops away from Kings Cross

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You can wander around for an hour among the countless stalls, emitting aromas from all around the world. In fact, among local Fish and Chips and Paella, not forgetting the spicy dishes straight from Sri Lanka, you will find out what your stomach can and cannot handle in one go!

'Fish and Chips' in Camden

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Paella in Camden

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Of course, once you are fed, you will have to continue wandering around the gigantic bric a brac. The perfect place to find what you didn't even know you were looking for.

You can find anything and everything in Camden

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Old vinyls from Led Zep, T-Shirts, strange posters, dodgy jewelry, bikes... Just some of the many objects you will find at Camden Market!

Jewelry in Camden

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You can buy old vinyls in Camden

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I do however take one star off for the crowds which can make this charming market a bit stifling!

Buildings in Camden

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Camden by night

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How to get to Camden Town

The area is accessible via the following tube stations, which pass across the South to the North of London.

• Euston (Victoria and Northern lines).
• Kings Cross / St. Pancras (Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines).
• Mornington Crescent (Northern lines, Charing Cross branch only).
• Chalk Farm (Northern Line).
• Kentish Town (Northern Line).

If you prefer taking the bus, you can get to any place in the North or the centre of London. Kings Cross and Euston are such big and important bus stops, with buses that run across all areas of the city. Camden High Street and Chalk Farm are part of an important bus route which passes through the Camden Town area. A number of buses converge on Mornington Crescent, Camden Town and the tube stations of Chalk Farm, which connects the centre of London with the more Northern boroughs. Kentish Town is connected to a few of the buses which pass through the high street, but it also has connections to buses which are separate, for the more Eastern boroughs. The N5 night bus travels between the stations of the Northern Line and therefore is very useful in Camden at night.

And if you prefer the train, there are three big train stations in the North of London - Euston, St. Pancras and Kings Cross, are located in the city with good connections to other parts of London and the Northern suburbs.

Euston is the London terminal for the West Coast Main Line with interurban services to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. It's at a short walking distance from Camden Town, or you can get there by taking the tube via the Northern line.

St Pancras International is the final destination of the main Midlands Line (service of Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield) and the high speed line to continental Europe.

King's Cross serves the East Coast Mine Line with interurban services to Cambridge, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, as well as commuter services to the northbound traveler belt.

Camden Town

For millions of visitors, Camden Town is famous today for its markets and the diversity of its shops and stands - here it's possible to find almost anything from any country and culture on the planet! However, it's also good to remember that Camden Town played an important role in the recent history of popular British music.

Ever since the 1930s, and probably before, music has been a vital part of Camden life. It was in this era that many Irish immigrants began to establish themselves in Camden, and with them they brought their traditional music. Irish flute and violin musicians played in the bars and ballrooms to an enthusiastic local audience. In the 1960s, the great appeal of Rock and Roll began to attract Camden the attention of a wider public musical leader to its current position at the center of the London music scene.

The first big event of Rock and Roll in Camden took place on the 15th of October of 1966 at the Roundhouse, an old refurbished train engine shed on top of Chalk Farm Road. Pink Floyd and Soft Machine turned the night into a rather unconventional show, (that somehow involved jelly and a motorbike! ), in front of an audience of 2000 people. This set the tone for the following events at the Roundhouse - music and theatre were never the same. Artists like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Marc Bolan, Motion, Cream, Hawkwind and many other top bands played there over the next few years.

Other major music venues of the 70s opened in Camden, including Dingwalls (1973), the Music Machine (1977), (which became the Camden Palace in 1982), and the Electric Ballroom (1978). At the same time, several local pubs introduced live music, including the Carnarvon (now Fusilier and Firkin), the Royal Exchange, the Monarch, the Devonshire Arms, the Falcon, Underworld, Dublin Castle, and the Good Mixer.

More recently (1990), the moving into the Jazz Cafe scene introduced a different color to the musical tapestry of Camden.

Over the years, an incredible number of bands have recorded, performed, or simply hung out in these pubs and clubs.

Camden Town was the birthplace of the Britpop, even before someone coined the term. Blur, Pulp, Oasis and more, all have their roots in Camden, with several members of the bands having lived here at the beginning of their musical careers. It was in the summer of 1995 that Britpop really arrived. The teenagers came to Camden to see the likes of Blur, Pulp, Oasis, The Stone Roses, Suede, Elastica, The Boo Radley, Radiohead, Supergrass, Black Grape, Sleeper, Echobelly, and The Bluetones. Things reached a critical point when Blur's 'Casa de Campo' and 'Roll With It' by Oasis were released on the same day - August 14 - and their battle to the top of the lists were documented in the media as "The Battle of Britpop. " Blur won the singles race, but soon, Oasis and their album sold more. '(What's The Story) Morning Glory? ' became one of the biggest selling British albums. In later years, Suggs released his first solo album, which featured a song called Camden Town, which further increased public interest in the town.

Camden Town's musical reputation has attracted more of its share of record label media companies, such as the Creation, to television giant MTV (Europe), which has its studios here on the same channel in Camden Lock. It is no surprise that well-known musicians are often seen in the bars and shops of Camden. One, Prince = the artist, even opened his own purple shop painted on Chalk Farm Road in the early 90's.

Some of the many artists with a significant Camden connection: - Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, The Ramones, Madness, Blondie, U2, REM, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Motorhead, Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, Smashing Pumpkins, Courtney Hole Love, etc., etc.

Camden Town was not always the dazzling extravagant place it is today. Until the late 18th century, it was nothing more than a bare patch of land in the North of London. There were a couple of farms and two bars, Mother Cap Red, still there, under the name of The World's End and the Southampton, now called Edwards. Luckily for us, however, a man named Charles Pratt came along, all this time ago, to begin the process of urbanization of the place. Now, 200 years later, the city of Camden has become the most alternative, lively and throbbing part of London.

Although nowadays, Camden is most famous for its markets, which are not the main reason that drove people to the place. The local audience is mainly composed of students, artists and other alternative souls, but seeing that it is very touristy as well (mainly due to its markets) Camden Town is usually crowded with more visitors than locals. Especially at the weekends, Camden is a hive of pleasure people seeking, from Londoners themselves to tourists from all over the world.

Camden's pubs and nightclubs are notorious for their craziness, fun and alternative atmosphere. Apart from obviously the Worlds End and Edwards, if only for their historical appeal, you should also pop into the Devonshire Guns if you want to mingle with the goths, relax among the young at the Lock Tavern, see some football at Oxford guns or see if you can still discern vague Gallagher impressions on the bar stools in your former meeting place - the Good Mixer.

Looking for some clubs after a few pints at the pubs in Camden? Check out the electric dance hall or the Monarch for live performances, usually of the rock genre, dance your ass off at the burlesque turkey bar or pay a small visit to the Jazz Cafe.

As previously mentioned, the city of Camden is most famous for its markets. What used to be the Midland Railway Stables and Horses Hospital, is now the setting for the famous Camden Stables Settlement, a wonderfully quirky marketplace to tour, where you can get your vintage clothing, piercings and even antique style furniture. Go to Camden Lock Market for your arts and crafts, jewelry and other accessories and secondhand books. The same commodities are available in Camden Lock Village, which was born on the reopening of this part of Camden in 2009 after the devastating fire in 2008. Do not spend all your clothes shopping money before you have navigated through all the markets in Buck Street and Main Street, however, and for all its other nooks and crannies, enjoy the stalls on Inverness Street, where you can also collapse into any of the cozy pubs.

If you only have four days to see this amazing city, check out our guide on what to see in 4 days in London! But if you're here for longer and are thinking about renting a flat in London, read our ultimate guide on how to do so.