Petticoat Lane Market, London

The only possible reason for calling this market Petticoat Lane is that this location was primarily used for selling this attire that Anglo-Saxon and Latin women considered essential in earlier centuries. The first group of shops was set up by French traders in 1750s who also sold lace. Prudish Victorian London didn’t approve of this open reference to an inner garment that women wore, as the name for a popular street market. During the reign of the formidable puritan Queen the name was officially changed to Middlesex Street where the market is located since the mid-18th century. But the puritans didn’t succeed. People still call it Petticoat Lane.

Petticoat Lane is one of the most famous – and immensely popular – street market in the city of London, selling clothes and household goods. Both genders go there to shop on Sundays – the only day the market is open. With the efflux of time, the market expanded considerably and spread into narrow streets surrounding the original Middlesex. Some 1000 shops are set up on Sundays between 9 am and 2.30 pm.

The great fun of shopping at this Sunday market is that the shopper can – or rather expected to – bargain for settling the price. Price tags seldom accompany the items on sale, giving the potential buyer an opportunity to indulge in haggling.

There were some attempts in the past to close down the market but it, too, like changing the name, didn’t work. This street market has continued to flourish and it is usually jam packed with shoppers and inquisitive onlookers.

Going to Petticoat Lane Market on a late Sunday morning – whether for shopping or sightseeing – is absolute fun. There are lots of fast-food shops around the market that blend harmoniously with its working-class ambience. It feels even better – albeit the inconvenience – if it drizzles a bit. A mild drizzle also goes very well with fish-and-chips that the locals sell from their push-carts. And when it drizzles, nobody complains. They gently unfold their raincoats and open their umbrellas that they normally carry with them.

This remarkably fascinating street market is the right place for buying bargain clothing and leather jackets. Varieties of hand-made leather jackets are displayed in an easily identifiable area because crowds of young people gather at the end of Middlesex Street and haggle with the sellers for lowering the price. The youngsters usually succeed in reducing the price by half. Sellers don’t complain as they still make profits because they buy the staff in bulk at a heavily discounted price.

After the French who first set up the market some 350 years ago, came the Jews from the Eastern Europe and opened shops for selling clothes and food. As the market is open only on Sundays, they probably had to take special permission from their Rabbis for sacrificing their Sabbath.

Have some crisp Jewish food from their little shops and skip your lunch either at home or at a restaurant. There are plenty of cozy pubs in the vicinity for quenching your thirst. Let the memory of a delightful Sunday linger for a long time.