My guidebook: Columbia Road (and its Sunday flower market)
Columbia Road is famous for its Sunday flower market: a place where you can buy an Instagrammable bunch of flowers, meet yet another green roommate, and show off your carefully chosen outfit to the huge, noisy crowd with similar intentions. On Sunday, it’s easy to find: start your journey somewhere around Bethnal Green and watch out for people carrying flower pots and surprisingly huge palm trees.
The street itself is also nice, even a bit toy-like, with tiny ground-level shops selling necessities like candles, marbled paper, artisan chocolate, locally baked bread, and gardening gloves.
After hours, it’s peaceful and calm.
The best way to build a first impression
- The Sunday flower market starts in the morning: popular among tourists and flatsharing locals alike, it can also be overwhelming depending on your sensitivity.
- Columbia Road also hosts Day of the Dead celebrations and some Christmas festivities.
- It might also be a nice spot if you want to practice portrait photography: during events, some people come here to showcase their styling abilities, so approaching them for a photo might be mutually beneficial.