Jubilee Market

Jubilee Market is a covered market trading every day from Jubilee Hall on Tavistock Street, on the southern side of the Covent Garden Piazza. The hall was built in 1904, gained Grade II listed status in 1980 and was restored from 1985 before being officially opened as a market by the Queen in August 1987. Its character changes through the week, so the stalls you find depend on the day you arrive.

The market is run by Jubilee Market Hall Ltd and the three weekly markets follow a fixed pattern. Mondays belong to antiques and collectables, with dealers presenting Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco and Art Nouveau pieces alongside fine art, jewellery, china, sterling silver and antiquarian books. Tuesday to Friday runs as a general market covering everything from plants and picnic hampers to greeting cards, souvenirs, beauty care and garden equipment. At weekends the hall turns to arts and crafts, with candles, hand-painted items, jewellery, paintings, calligraphy, clocks and even fossils made or sourced by the traders themselves.

Antiques and crafts market in Covent Garden

Tavistock Street, which the market runs along, was built in three sections and takes its name from the Duke of Bedford, Marquis of Tavistock, the landlord of the day. The novelist Thomas De Quincey lodged and wrote here, goods once arrived on ponies direct from the docks to loading bays that can still be seen, and Samuel Pepys recorded the first Punch and Judy show in Britain in the square in May 1662. Food outlets inside the hall serve an all-day English breakfast, German hot dogs, smoothies, ice cream and Italian dishes, and there are banks and a bureau de change on site.

What to expect on a visit

Look for the flags and brass Jubilee Hall Market signage at the edge of the piazza. Antiques trade from 5am to 5pm on Mondays, the general market from 10.30am to 7pm Tuesday to Friday and the weekend arts and crafts market from 10am to 6pm. The Apple Market sits a minute away inside the Market Building, and the rest of the area's stalls are covered in our guide to markets in Covent Garden.