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.