This the living embodiment of what a market should be. You can munch your way around the world without straying past the perimeter, for these stalls, gathered in what is left of Bristol’s old centre, cater for metropolitan sophisticates as well as seekers of bargain cauliflowers. The main market trades six days a week and is the largest collection of independent retailers in the city. Every Wednesday it’s joined by a farmers’ market, at which you can buy local produce, from honey and cheese to fruit and vegetables, direct from the producers. Then, on Fridays and Saturdays, the Nails market adds arts and crafts to the mix. A slow food market opens on the first Sunday of the month.
Corn Street, Bristol. Mon to Sat 9.30am to 5pm.
stnicholasmarketbristol.co.uk
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There’s a fairground ambience to this, the largest Sunday market in the north of England. This has as much to do with its location on the town race course as with the festivity of its merchandise – it sells everything from cheeses to toasters and you can snack on venison sausages and other calorie crimes. Moreover, you don’t have to lug your purchases far as there are three free on-site car parks. Live music, standup comedy, circus acts, beer festivals and other entertainments provide all-day respite in the resident big top.
Catterick Racecourse, Catterick Bridge, North Yorkshire. Sun 9am to 4pm.
www.cattericksundaymarket.co.uk
Photograph: Guardian
It has dominated local shopping for five centuries. Most of the 370 stalls are under cover next to the town’s main shopping mall and supply just about every domestic need from sports gear to Bury’s famed black pudding. There’s more of a car boot atmosphere in Market Parade where casual traders can set up stalls daily except Sundays; there are 60 miscellaneous stalls in the Market Hall and fish and meat specialists congregate six days a week in a designated hall.
Bury town centre. Open market Weds and Fri 9am to 4.30pm, Sat 9am to 5pm. Market Hall daily except Sun.
burymarket.com
Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian
It’s the biggest covered market in Europe with a striking multicultural flavour. There are traders from 25 countries selling exotic vegetables and spices, and many dispense recipes. The main section, housing 300 stalls, was recently revamped and now has a continental coffee bar. In the next-door market hall are 79 stalls and a restaurant. Here you can buy shark from one of the finest fish markets in the land. The upper floors are a haberdasher’s fantasy – all wools, fabrics and clothing at discount prices.
Market Place, Leicester. Outdoor market Mon to Sat (times vary). Indoor market Tues to Sat.
leicestermarket.co.uk
Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Alamy
This is the millennial take on the traditional market. It was launched in 2006 when the Arndale shopping centre was reopened following the IRA bomb attack and the stalls are strung around familiar high street names within the mall. You’ll find polyester nighties and other traditional market fare, but this is designed to enrapture urban youth as well, hence the sushi takeaways, nail bars and designer clothing. A food hall allows you to lunch on Brazilian, Chinese, Greek or Indian food and there are speciality breads, cheeses and ales.
Arndale Centre, High St, Manchester. Mon to Sat 9am to 6pm; Sun 11am to 5pm.
manchesterarndale.com
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This is as much for entertainment as your five-a-day. Musicians serenade you around the Victorian market hall and you may catch a fashion show or food festival. Fridays are for those who want familiar veg, a nice bit of fish and the odd antique. Saturdays are for thrills. That’s when American cookie-makers and chocolatiers move in along with purveyors of fancy local meats and cheeses, continental pastries, speciality teas and pasta and Caribbean snacks. There are also plant and flower stalls and an abundance of arts and crafts.
East Bridge St, Belfast. Fri 6am to 2pm; Sat 9am to 3pm.
belfastcity.gov.uk/stgeorgesmarket/citymarket.asp
Photograph: Eye Ubiquitous/Alamy
It’s the market that helped the town win the Academy in Urbanism’s greatest British street contest in 2008. The stalls line the cobbles on the pretty high street, basket-laden shoppers sniff local meats and cheeses and parking wardens eyeing errant trade vehicles are a rare reminder that this is 21st- century Britain. For here you have shopping as Great Grandma would have known it; friendly, leisurely, wholesome and cheap. Not much in the way of exotica, but if affordable clothes and a decent head of broccoli is what you’re after, it’s a pleasant way to indulge.
High St, Skipton. Mon, Weds, Fri, Sat 9am to 5pm.
skiptonmarket.net
Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian
A fantasy land for gourmets and gourmands. There was a food market here on the river bank when the Romans built London Bridge and it has traded almost continuously since. Now, urban sophisticates are lured here by luxury olive oils, rare ales, spices, seafood and vegetable exotica as well as cheaper staples. There is a crowded aromatic maze of stalls, though you could come to the wholesalers’ market at 2am. Cafes, bars and restaurants surround it and traders will eagerly discuss recipe ideas for adventurous purchases. Off Southwark St, Borough, SE1. Thurs 11am to 5pm, Fri 12 noon to 6pm, Sat 8am to 5pm.
boroughmarket.org.uk
Photograph: Gregory Wrona/Alamy
Asian brides travel from across Europe to browse fabrics, saris and trimmings from the rag market where many of the 350 stalls sell haberdashery (you can also buy stamps, sci-fi toys and smoking accessories from specialists). Close by is the open market, where meat and veg sit beside fashions and fancy goods. Then there’s the indoor alternative from where you can affordably fill house, garden and stomach (the fish is renowned). All three are in the revamped Bull Ring shopping centre. On Sundays a car boot sale occupies the wholesale market site.
Rag market and open market Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat 9am-5pm; indoor market Mon to Sat 9am to 5.30pm.
ragmarket.com
Photograph: LH Images/Alamy
Supermarkets are superfluous on Wednesdays and Saturdays when comestibles, both fancy and traditional, are flogged from more than 80 stalls in the medieval centre of Bury St Edmunds. You can refuel on Caribbean and Jamaican snacks, invest in crafts, clothes and hardware and rejoice in your bit role in the market’s history, which dates back to 630AD. Over in the Corn Exchange, also on a Wednesday, is a craft and antiques market. An indoor market is held at the Atheneaum on the first Sunday each month for antiques, books, crafts and more.
Cornhill, Bury St Edmunds. Dawn to 4pm-ish.
www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk
Photograph: Andy Marshall/Alamy
