Ridley Road Market

This is a really interesting cultural experience!Fruit and veg is super cheap and you can find some interesting unusual items here. I liked the fact that so many communities were working side by side, asian,african and english. While the clothes were not my style i could see the attraction as everything is tailored for the African community and prices are really low! Jewellery every £1 and fruit and veg £1 for bowls of peppers,cherries and the like. everyone is friendly and smiling :)

This has always been my favourite market really cultural it’s the only place really left for me to pick up an array of cultural foods for a reasonable price been coming here all my life and I’m 33 now

Ridley road market is usually open now 24/7, I've lived in it since I was a screaming nagging baby.
I love the cheap stuff and clothes on sale, even rich people come in ridly road market to buy cheap stuff. I don't know why though.

When you’re on the hunt for unusual fruits like papaya, durian, and young green coconut,

there’s more of a chance of finding them down the back of your sofa than at a conventional

supermarket, which may go some way in explaining why, despite being flanked by two

supermarkets and countless mini stalls outside of shops in Dalston trying to seduce you on

the promise of cheap fruit and veg; this market still attracts huge crowds.

The best time to go? Saturday at 9am. Don’t (unlike at Borough Market) wait for the last

minute bargains at 4pm; they’re usually underwhelming and only good for those who aren’t

precious about eating stuff that’s a bit mouldy. Doing the morning shift by contrast is

great; most families don’t wake their kids up that early, so no worries about tripping up

over little tykes; and I assume the rest of the world is too tired/weary/hung over at that

time of the day to fight you for that gleaming bowl of yellow plums.

Don’t go expecting certain things to be there though; I once wasted three hours of my life

looking for the perfect giant avocados, but lovely soft ones (why oh why does everyone sell

them rock hard?) did I get them?...not a chance.

Also, contrary to archetypal British reserve; don’t be scared to haggle. I was shopping with

my 'raw food buddy’ V, and we snagged two giant coconuts for £3. Result!

Ridley Road Market is a mixed bag. When I first moved to the area, I loved it (and still, to an extent do). It’s cheap, varied and a interesting snapshot of West African culture. There is a good variety of fruit and vegetables to buy – and they’re all reasonably priced (although the stalls do vary in quality to pick carefully). However, what gets me down is the level of litter it produces in the area. This is cleared up, in the main, at the end of the day, but it’s an eyesore for the rest of it. Why can’t vendors be encouraged to keep the area tidy during the day?

I absolutely love Ridley Road Market and have been part of Dalston for the last 20 years.. You can find almost anything although it was quite different 20 years ago (change of ethnicity groups from Afro-Carribbean to Turkish/ Eastern European) I still can not pass there without a brief walk down the market.

Great place to buy fresh fish, good vegetables and fresh fruit.. There is a hidden fishmongers half way down on the right side, where I always buy my fish from.. Ask for Pete - he is absolutely fantastic!!

There is also a hidden bagel shop on the left hand side within the first 100m of the market - I highly recommend the bakery there.

There is an indoor shopping area on both ends of the market that have great places for hair products, skin products and herbal medicine.

For the best offers - go on a Friday at around 3pm’ish.. bargains are highly sought around that time!! Also need to note that certain stalls are only there 2 days a week, so most of them are around on the Thursday/Friday - I would avoid Dalston Market on a Saturday as it gets very very crowded.

open 24 hour a great selection of filled bagels and at reasonable prices. also unfilled the hot turkey bagel is great value for money,hot drinks are also available, and although it may seem in a bit of a dodgy place to go at night there are always plenty of people about and police buying bagels so its as safe as anywhere

THIS MARKET OFFERS GREAT CLOTHES AND FOOD AD ITS CHEAP. THEY CATER FOR ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE AND SELLS EVERYTHING TO HOUSEHOLD GOODS.ITS ONLY OPEN ON A TUES AND THURS TILL ABOUT 2 BUT UR SURE TO GRAB A BARGAIN.

I like Ridley Road Market. My wife used to live in Hackney and went all the time. Now that we’re on the west side of London we don’t go as much, but if I’m in the neighbourhood I’ll always stop by.

This isn’t a genteel market for well-heeled antiques shoppers. What they do have, packed tightly along the road, is what my father-in-law would describe as “everything from baby shit to a clap of thunder.” Packs of underwear, batteries, cosmetics, shell suits, rolls of satin, hats, clock radios, washing-up liquid: it could be anything. It can be a handy place to pick up, for quite cheaply, all those odds and ends you need around the house.

But the main thing you’ll find is food. Bags of courgettes. Barrels of lentils. Pile after pile of fish. The Afro-Carribean community is substantial around here and if you’re only used to seeing de-boned nicely-packaged scent-free portions of meat at Tesco you might not be prepared for the slabs of goat, buckets of pigs’ feet, and turkey gizzards obtainable here. But for those who want whole, fresh meats it’s great one-stop shopping.

It can get incredibly mobbed on a Saturday, so much so that you’ll have trouble pushing your way through the crowd.

This market might be cheap but it's also a dump. The people are rude and it smells really bad!
I would recommend the Shopping Mall right next to it though!

Serving a very diverse community, the produce you find in Ridley Market is equally as varied and exotic.
Turkish, Jewish, Asian, cockney, African and Caribbean food sit amongst saris, african music and clothes in the buildings lining the market. Certainly for items unobtainable in most british shops and supermarkets, this vibrant market is the place to go to find exotic and exciting goods in North London.

I love this market and I probably go their every week. This is a market that sells mainly food although there are a few stalls that sell clothes but not I wont recommend them. However this is the place to buy your fresh fish, meat, chicken, fruit and veg, and continental food.

What ever your traditional food is, or whatever recipes you are looking for you will find it here. There are stalls that sells various Continental food such as African, Caribbean, and Asian food at reasonable price.

Most people that lives in Hackney knows Ridley market and probably shop there regularly. It is a very busy market and can be very crowded which is the only thing I don’t like about it especially on a Saturday. But it is definitely my best food Market to do regular shopping.

If you like pretty markets, give Ridley Road a miss. Ridley Road is the sort of market where you can buy cheap underwear, fruit at a pound a bowl, and you have to avoid the piles of boxes and the smell of slightly doubtful fish. However, it does have its uses. The fruit at a pound a bowl is one. It also has a range of slightly more unusual products. It’s a very mixed race area, so you can buy yams and plantain, or head down to the Greek supermarket at the bottom end for lovely breads, olives and the rest. Or there’s the bagel shop (I recommend cream cheese and tuna, and ask them to heat it up). It’s not pretty, but if you can pick your way through there’s nice stuff to be had.

Dalston is a bustling and extremely vibrant place with an indoor shopping area as well as this open air market which stretches down Ridley Road (pretty much opposite the Dalston Kingsland Silverlink station) where you can find stall after stall of 'hard to find anywhere else' Afro-Carribbean and Asian food stuffs, yams, plantains, spices, fruit and veg at low prices and a crazy, busy atmosphere. This place usually makes me forget I'm in London cos it's a bit of a clash of cultures, smells and strange exotic foods. Good place if you're looking for a specific ingredient, or just to walk through and check out the cheap stuff.