Covent Garden Market

A scholarly study by Gouglas in Urban History Review notes the right to develop the market was granted in 1835. The market's stated purpose was to link urban and rural life and give a safe and fair place to trade. The City of London's museum records give the first opening as November 1, 1845, and describe it as bordered by King, Talbot, Dundas and Richmond streets. Early on, shoppers and farmers met on sawdust-covered floors, and nearly anything could be sold, from meat to wild raspberries. A Museum London record credits city architect Samuel Peters with the original market hall, but sources differ on the date of the first hall, and one museum label dates a building by Peters to 1853.

The same study found that merchants trading around the market lasted longer, held higher property values and obtained credit more easily than businesses elsewhere. Pedestrian traffic and nearby banks serving farmers helped, and properties on Market Square did best, though shops nearby or visible from the market also did well. The market was also a social hub, a place for exchanging news and farming knowledge, for voting and for weekend concerts.

A London Public Library photo caption records the 103-year-old original market's last day of trading as Saturday, August 25, 1956, and a second photograph shows its demolition in September of that year. A Museum London account says downtown decline and a shortage of parking led local businesspeople to fund a new structure, with the City contributing land and underwriting the debt. A modern market opened on the ground floor of a parking building, and by the early 1990s that building was at the end of its useful life, with extra parking levels having been added. In 1998 a planning journal noted that the market sat on the lower floor of a four-storey parking structure and that demolition was under way to make room for a new public market. The current building went up on the same site in the late 1990s; one listing gives 1998 and a search summary of another gives 1999, and a Doors Open listing describes its style as Neoclassical. Museum London also notes that in 1991 the buildings along King and Talbot streets across from the market site were demolished, and an arena now stands there.

According to London's tourism office, vendors sell organic food, award-winning meats, ethnic foods, sweets and flowers, and the market describes the biggest cheese selection in Southwestern Ontario; treat that as the market's own claim. A Saturday farmers' market brings in producers from across Southwestern Ontario selling produce, meats and baked goods. The mezzanine houses cultural organizations and artists and includes a theatre, and spaces such as the Market Lounge, the Market Kitchen, Rotary Square at the west end of the property and a seasonal Rotary Rink host community events and festivals.

• Vendors, hours and events change, so check the market's own site before you go.
• The market is in the middle of downtown, close to other sights such as Museum London and Eldon House.
• It is not related to Covent Garden in London, England, apart from sharing the name.
• On a Voyzo private tour you travel with a private vehicle and driver with door-to-door pickup, which makes a market stop easy to slot into a wider day.