Best Markets in London: Collectors Market, Haynes Lane, Crystal Palace

This is a little hidden away gem of a market. Think Brighton's Snoopers Paradise, except that Haynes Lane Market is not just on one floor like Snooper's (I know the Brighton shop is massive, and there really is no call to criticize it for not having another floor. It's just lovely to know when you're walking through a market that there is a whole another level waiting for you...Also, Snooper's is run on a different principle for many of their goods - they rent out sections to people who want to sell their vintage stuff.) At Haynes Lane, just when you think you've reached the end of the shop, you realize that the hidden corner, behind the meter-long pearls and faux-fur coats, actually leads down to another floor of goodies. This market is heaven if you like a good rummage.

There exist vintage and antique shops where you could walk around in fifteen minutes and see every single thing on offer. Not so in Haynes Lane. The upper floor is sequin and lace heaven, with off-the-shoulder cocktail dresses, Edwardian-style velvet jackets, and lots of lace, and you're just as likely to find a tin Victorian box advertising "Murray's special mixtures," as cheap LPs, tinsel and beads to make a magpie sob with happiness, and cups and plates galore.

Downstairs there is a series of shops that sell craft items, clothes, mirrors and furniture. And there is a shop whose proprietor said "It's only books" when I poked my head in for a moment - he meant it as a deterrent, not a sales pitch. Hmm....

Brick Lane

Talking of markets in London, Spitalfields market on Sundays, and just the long, long list of curry houses in Banglatown are worth a visit. Though not the best Indian food in town - it's a little bit greasy, and somewhat fast-foody, Tooting is better for food - Brick Lane does have a variety of Bangladeshi cafes that serve fish curry and biryani, cuisine that is not easily available elsewhere.

Spitalfields though is another thing altogether. On Sundays the market is bulging with locals and tourists walking around the stalls selling vintage and homemade clothing (think florals, fifties swing skirts, faux-fur and polka-dot), beads, chunky jewelry, LPs (though beware, sometimes the LP covers are just for show, to attract customers to buy second-hand CDs!) and pottery. Food stalls serve fudge and brownies, pies and Greek salads.

I danced in a street gig up and down the length of Brick Lane this weekend, as part of an Indian festival. Within minutes there was an interesting assortment of tourists, local hippies, as many people from the Indian sub-continent as you're likely to see on a street in Delhi, and a boat-installation with two people rowing on stilts following the band through the street!

Best Markets in London

Borough Market

If you're on a diet, don't go to Borough market. The place is addictive and not for the fainthearted. But if you take every meal as a new challenge, if you attack your food like you're an avatar in Alien vs Predator, or when asked "If you could only have one for the rest of your life, food or sex, what would you choose?" you actually stop and think, then Borough market in London Bridge is the place for you.

You start at one end with the Cumberland pies, the chicken-and-sea-food Thai curry, and the fish and chips. I've now been vegetarian for about six years, but friends say the traditional pork pies are delicious, and I don't think I've eaten better battered cod anywhere in London. Try the battered haddock, if you like fishy fish!

Then undo a button or two and walk through to the fruit and veg stalls (warning: this is not a cheap market!), inhaling the scent of the figs and the melon juice, through to the veggie food section, with veggie pies, falafel, fajitas, strawberries and cream in the summer, and glassfulls of Pims! One of my favourites is the cake stall, with about seven hundred varieties of cheese cakes. My dream is to go early one Saturday and dive into their banoffie pie...

The market is open Thursdays (11am-5pm), Fridays (12-6pm) and Saturdays (8am-5pm).