Borough Market in Southwark

We have had the great luck to make some wonderful friends while living in London. Gareth and Melissa Dickson from Brisbane live in our dorm complex, and are great fun to be with. Melissa is studying (excuse me… “reading” is the appropriate term in the UK) her PhD in English at Kings College for the next three years, and Gareth is currently writing a novel through correspondence with his university in Australia. They had a bit of a rough spot when the floods hit Brisbane as their apartment, which they are renting out, was flooded and they discovered “flooding” wasn’t part of their insurance policy. They are great to be with, and we find that we are laughing most of the time we are with them.

On a blustery cold Saturday afternoon, we went to the famous Borough market in Southwark. Crammed in between the pious Southwark Cathedral, and the grungy enclaves under the high street overpasses, Borough market features some of the more organic, vibrant wares and personalities of London’s markets. The steam and smoke from the many grills, steam pots and open stewing vats of Caribbean curries collect and mix with the chorus of shouts and yells of the merchants. Add the fact that Southwark used to be the scandalous fringe of London society, the atmosphere has an edgy rawness about it which is hard to find anywhere else in London.

After grabbing a few bratwurst for lunch (which are, in my opinion, heads and shoulders above English sausages), we sneaked into the cathedral to relax. It was there that we discovered a shrine to Shakespeare replete with a stained glass window filled with some of his many famous characters. This shouldn’t have been a surprise to us because not a few hundred meters up the Thames, the original globe theatre stood in the time of “Good Queen Bess”. It is known Shakespeare frequented the church, but this wasn’t the only impact Southwark has made on the arts. Charlie Chaplin was born there as well as modern actor Michael Caine.

While at the market, we walked around and checked out some of the interesting selections: boar salami, massive wheels of cheese, meter-long stalks of bright pink rhubarb, and of course, our favorite, South African biltong (sold by an Australian…). There even was a stall which had a clear cookie jar filled with truffles resting on ample beds of cotton. Just 100 grams of the stuff was going for 96 pounds! Realizing it was probably my only opportunity to ever smell it, I lifted the lid and smelled its tart, unique scent. Not my favorite, but what do I know?

Despite the unsavory reputation that Southwark has gained over the centuries, it recently has made a comeback with new building projects, high-end residential areas, museums, art centers and restaurants. London’s city hall even moved south of the river, and in a few years time, Southwark will be home to the tallest building in Europe. While Southwark gets its modern 21st century makeover, the true spirit of one of the best places in London can be felt and experienced at Borough Market.