Ridley Road Market

This market is so supreme. I came for Poundland and decided to walk a few blocks to see the area. Walked half a block and ended up here. Fruit for a quid, polish for a quid, lipstick for two quid. It was so many stalls and it was on the brink of closing for the day. I think this was definitely my favorite market because it’s everything here. Spices, fruit, cosmetics, food. Can’t beat that with a stick.

Thank u 4 a million cherry toms for a quid. And the baddest samosa’s from the Afghan curry van, mmmmmm!!! This is a good market if yr having a dinner party and need hella avocado’s. It’s also nice for a stroll on yr lunch break if yr in the area.

Great deal on produce, usually a bucket of anything for £1.

I went here expecting a lot after reading other Unilocalers. It was bit of a letdown though.
I was anticipating a vibrant African Carribean experience with a chance to collect interesting ingredients. What I found when I got there were one pound bowls with East London/​Essex stallkeepers.
I still ended up buying a lot of stuff though as prices were good for the fruit and veg. They seem to have the same batch of really sweet peru mangoes that Whole Foods has at the moment, for a fraction of the price.
However, I didn’t find any one pound jewellery. They seem to have hiked up their prices from 6 – 12 since the last reviewer.

I like the Ridley Market, but I like to make my shopping quick there. Everyone here seems to enjoy the rowdiness of this market, but I rather not have to deal with the crowd sometimes. Everything here is really cheap and the stalls sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables. You can practically find anything here, and the shops along Ridley road are also full of surprises.

Kabum! Walking around the streets of Berlin on New Year’s Eve is like walking through a warzone with fireworks exploding left right and center. This is a closest experience I can think of to Ridley Market. Fantastic! You are assaulted immediately by a riot of colors, smells and noises. The predominant themes come from Nigerian/​Jamacians selling everything from fruit, herbs, fish to Nigerian bootlegged DVDs, but with lots of other groups mixed in. Prices are very cheap. This is my favorite market in London, and really gives you a sense of one of the great strengths of this city. I just hope the increasing development in the area doesn’t spoil this gem too soon. Come and see it while you can!

«do you like my music?» boomed the stall holder (from the stall selling dodgy Caribbean ragga rave carnival CDs as he blasted out his tunes for for us all to hear) to another stall holder near by.
«no. It’s sh*t» was the other mans reply.
This to me sums up Ridley Road Market perfectly. It’s brutally honest and noisy and totally unpretentious. It’s busy and super packed out with stalls selling everything you never knew that you always needed.
Big fish? Tick
Knock off CDs? Tick
Jewellery for £1? Tick
Whole cows hoof and stomach lining? Tick tick tick!
And my favourite… the little lock up fabric stall half way down on the left side. Hamid’s it may be called. (no not Dalston Fabric Mill. That’s far to posh. It’s a shop. This is a review for Market stalls. You go to The Mill if you can’t get what you want at Hamid’s first as they charge you so God damn much). You can’t go wrong with fabric for a £1 a metre. Even the bits costing £2 or £3 a metre are great bargains. The stall holder is the nicest friendliest guy. And there are cats that live at the stall. Buy fabric and play with cats, now that’s a great shopping experience if you ask me. Big cats name is TomTom. Other cat is «TomToms Mum». Brother of TomTom lives in a stall opposite, but we have yet to meet.

Want to buy a pigs trotter? Fancy a dozen quail eggs? Fake DVDs? Exotic fruit and veg? It’s all here at Ridley Road Market. What I thought was a few stall on the opposite side of the road to Dalston Kingsland station turned out to be a whole road of gems.
They even have a haberdashery stall that sells wool and knitting needles, a African fabric stall, granny nighties galore and enough toys to put Matel out of business and all 3 for a £1 — well almost! This isn’t a pretty market, it’s a real slice of east London, warts and all. Great for a spot of bargain hunting, finding that unusual ingredient for a special recipe or just having a mooch over the weekend.

Hmmm What to say about Ridley Road Market.
It has gone down over the years gone are the days you pick up a bowl of limes for 50p. There used to be a vast amount of clothing stalls but that seems to have disappeared to. Very good for ethnic foods and traditional «Market» fodder. It isnt one of the cleanest markets if you compare it to others but it certainly does have its character and you cant expect supermarket quality in a market can you?!!
Best to visit on saturday when most of the stalls are out and your more likely to get a bargain.

An exciting mix of noise, africa and anywhere in the world that you care to name!
I avoid the meat and fish stalls as the Market looks rather dirty in places. I’m used to clean sterile packed fish and meat but I guess it must be ok as if people got sick then the environmental health would ban the stalls.
Fruit and vegetables are always worth buying as some of the stock is stuff that has to be sold. I once bought a bowl of passion fruit for just £1 far cheaper than it would have cost in the nearby sainsburys store.

I’m a fan!
Whatever you want you can usually find (2 or 3 times cheaper) in this market. It’s not my usual place to shop but good when you wanna buy stuff for a party.
Grimey as hell but more personality than Tesco!

A friend of a friend once left our flat to buy some fruit for breakfast and came back wide eyed and open mouthed having stumbled across Ridley Road Market and said of her travels, «It was just like the third world!» Poor love, she does live in Primrose Hill after all. A less offensive way to put it might be that the market is run by and caters for the diverse mix of people living in the area. My Nigerian uncle calls it ‘Little Lagos’ and goes there when he visits because he hates England and I think it helps with his home sickness.
On top of being the best place to buy herbs, spices, fruit, veg, fabric and electronics from all over the world, the atmosphere is like carnival crossed with Eastenders. Last time I popped down with a friend to pick up some £1 nail varnish from the £1 nail varnish man and he took such a fancy to her that we got it for free.
I would advise anyone who hasn’t been to this market (or the ‘third world’) to get down there sharpish because with all this ‘development’ and bloody Olympic nonsense there is no telling how long this incredible place of colours, smells, music and culture will be around.

I love this market, it’s hilarious. Anytime I go there I always experience drama. The last time I was here there was a woman with a suitcase (to carry her shopping) who was stopped at a stall and there was about 3 people shouting at her to get out of the way, she seemed oblivious to everything. As I walked further on down past the stalls of vegetables with bowls of ginger and garlic for a pound there is more drama going on in one of the many African stalls.
I usually come here for the fish, it’s so fresh and there is so much variety.
I usually go for the sea bass or red snapper. There are so many fish stalls but I would recommend the ones towards then end of the road as they have more of a selection. An entertaining day out is guaranteed here.

Wow! Now this is what I call a market…
Straight up, really cheap fruit and veg. Like, I paid £1 for two big avocadoes in Whitechapel market yesterday, and you can get 6 for £1 at a stall in Dalston market. Them plus loads of other wacky and wonderful items and get ups. The further into this market you get, the further away you’re getting from your cosy little white English middle class idyll. So, butchers selling bits of animals you just won’t find in a ‘British’ restaurant. Nigerian food stalls selling dried catfish and strange ground up fish. Stalls selling beautiful waxed African fabrics. And just strangeness and rarities. There’s a lot of stalls. And a lot of culture, real culture.
So, it’s just nice to take a stroll down. I didn’t buy anything, but there was a lot I could have bought. And in the ‘countdown to Christmas’, you can probably find something for all the family along the length of the market. Loose yourself in Dalston, and find yourself somewhere in the stalls of Dalston market.

A market which really does sell anything and everything you could possibly want. The competition is fierce, countless fruit & veg stalls all competing for the customers strolling by, so you can pick up bowls filled with bananas or tomatoes for a pound. The quality might not be as good as the organic produce from Broadway or Borough market, but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper, perfect for us poorer folk who can’t always afford the inflated prices in the more gentrified areas of London.
You really can get anything you want here, cheap suitcases, trainers, kettles, DVD’s, dolls, meat & fish… also a great place to get African, Caribbean, Asian & Mediterranean food stuffs.
Best avoided on busy Saturday’s and closed on a Sunday, Ridley road market really is top of my list. Lets just hope it keeps hold of its traditional, bustling vibe.

Its difficult to fully describe the riot of colour and noise that is Ridley Road market for anyone who hasn’t been there. Places it reminds me of are the medina in Marrakesh, Electric Avenue in Brixton, and the old Moore Street market in Dublin — not sure if thats any use. Its basically a market where you can get your hands on mostly anything, with the likelihood being you’ll pay significantly less for it than in a regular shop.
The central ‘avenue’ of stalls are mostly fruit and veg at the top but then turn into other types as the market thins out towards Dalston Lane. These other types include homeware, a chap selling Nollywoods (Nigerian movies), a hot dog stand, a smelly incense stall, a plethora of dodgy jewellry stands (£5 any box), lots of vests, cheap t-​shirts, and knock-​off football tops.
In the real shops behind the stalls, there is an even wider variety of goods on offer. These include: hairdressers, Indian food, a 24 hour bagel shop (a reminder of the street’s Jewish history), the grimiest greasy spoon caff I’ve ever witnessed, lots of Halal butchers and fishmongers with boiler chickens hanging by the neck and bowls of spotty Tilapia for £5, fabric rolls, electrical kitchenware, and heaps of west African suppliers, including crates of live giant land snails.
I generally do more staring than shopping here. But when I do buy things I go for the fresh herbs, the egg stall, the £1 bowls of cherry tomatoes or sweet peppers and the avocado and mango stall at the very top. I also shop for fresh bread in the Turkish supermarket TFC down towards the east end.
The ‘singers’ compete with each other to get your attention. Cries of ‘pound a bowl’, and ‘50p-​have-​a-​look’ ring out against reggae from the rastafarian suppliers in the middle.
They say Dalston is coming up in the world. I really hope Ridley Road doesn’t fall victim to gentrification as developers and yuppies move in.