London: Covent Garden
Operating Hours:Market shops: Daily 10:00 - 20:00. Street performers: Daily 10:00 - 21:00. Apple Market: Daily, extended on weekends
The Vibe:London's open-air theatre and historic market square.
London's oldest wholesale fruit and vegetable market turned entertainment and shopping destination, Covent Garden Piazza centres on Inigo Jones's St Paul's Church (1633) and the grand Victorian Market Building. Street performers, buskers, restaurants and 100+ shops fill the square year-round.
Opera singers busk at the central atrium; jugglers draw crowds in front of the church portico. Coffee and street food scent the air; Victorian iron and glass protects the whole piazza from rain.
- • London's oldest wholesale market square, laid out in 1631 by Inigo Jones
- • One of London's most photographed piazzas with dedicated street performance areas
- • The Royal Opera House defines the square's eastern edge
- • Market Building (1830) is Grade I listed as one of Britain's finest iron-and-glass structures
Persona Fit
- 👨👩👧 Families: Street performers and open space; mostly kid-friendly
- 💕 Couples: Opera house tours followed by covent garden restaurants
- 👵 Seniors: Flat paved piazza; plentiful benches
- 📸 Photographers: Market Building architecture and street performers
Highlights
- Apple Market — antiques, crafts and vintage inside the main market building
- Street performers — daily buskers at set pitches around the piazza
- Royal Opera House — UK's leading opera and ballet venue, public tours
- Jubilee Market — multi-day market specialising in antiques (Monday) and crafts (Tues-Sat)
- London Transport Museum — at the piazza's east side
- St Paul's Covent Garden (Actors' Church) — Inigo Jones's 1633 church, actor memorials — Hidden Gem
Sarah Riches
Our London Local Expert
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