London's markets do not behave like shops. They open when the dealers feel like it, they close once the best stock has gone, and the good things are rarely sitting on the front of the table. That is precisely why they are worth the effort. One Saturday can turn up a brass apothecary's weight, a 1930s cigarette case with a stranger's initials engraved on it, or a Victorian jelly mould in the shape of a rabbit. The trick is knowing which market to visit on which day, and how to buy once you are standing in front of the stall.

Where to Start: The Weekend Markets

Portobello Road is the one everybody knows, and it earns the reputation. The antiques stretch runs north from the Westway, where pitches give way to lock-ups and the lock-ups give way to proper shops. Saturdays are busy to the point of being unpleasant, so go before nine if you want to look rather than shuffle. Fridays are quieter and more trade-facing, which usually means better conversation and fewer people photographing everything.

Camden Passage, Greenwich and Spitalfields

Camden Passage in Islington is smaller, smarter and kinder on the feet. Its antique days have traditionally been Wednesday and Saturday, though traders come and go, so check before making a journey. Greenwich Market sets aside a day for antiques and collectables while the rest of the week is given over to crafts. Old Spitalfields runs a weekly antiques market that mixes genuine old stock with reproduction furniture sold as "vintage style" — read the labels and ask direct questions.

The Indoor Arcades

For rain-proof hunting, Alfies Antique Market on Church Street is the best single building in London: several floors of cabinets, jewellery, odd ceramics and exactly the sort of small, peculiar objects that make a shelf worth looking at. Grays Antique Centre off Bond Street is the polished, pricier cousin. Go there to train your eye even if you buy nothing; handling well-described stock teaches you more than any guidebook.

Alexandra Palace also hosts large antiques and collectors' fairs a few times a year. They are worth the trip north, but dates shift, so confirm before you set out.

The Trade Markets: Bermondsey and the Racecourse Fairs

If you want oddities rather than ornaments, get up early. Bermondsey Antiques Market on a Friday morning is the closest thing London has to a proper dealers' market: silver, tools, militaria, glass and boxes of unsorted everything. It opens at first light, hours before most of the city is awake, and the best pieces go in the first hour. Take a torch. Take cash.

The big racecourse fairs on the edge of London reward the same discipline. Kempton Park's Tuesday antiques market is the best known — hundreds of stalls, furniture, garden statuary, crates of old tools and forgotten kitchenware. Arrive as the gates open, wear boots, and accept that you will carry whatever you buy across a car park. Car boot sales on the city's fringes work on the same principle: earlier is better, and the seller who is still unpacking is the one to talk to.

How to Haggle on a British Market

There is a way to do this that leaves both parties content and a way that gets you remembered for the wrong reasons. Dealers expect negotiation. They do not expect theatre. What actually works:

  • Ask about the object before you ask about the price. What it is, where it came from, how long they have had it. You learn something, and their answer often tells you how firm the price is.
  • Bundle. Two or three items together give the seller a reason to move without feeling picked apart.
  • Offer a round figure, politely. "Would you take forty for the pair?" Then stop talking and let them answer.
  • Never open with an insult. "That's a bit steep" is fine between equals. "You're joking" is not.
  • Cash still talks, particularly at the end of a long morning when a dealer is packing up.
  • Walk away slowly. If it is right, you will be back. If it is not, you have saved yourself the money.

Ten-Second Authenticity Checks

Most fakes and misdescriptions fall apart under a hard glance. Build these into a habit:

  • Turn it over. Marks, stamps and signatures live underneath. British silver carries hallmarks: assay office, date letter, maker's mark. Silver plate usually says so. Something sold as silver with no marks at all is a warning, not a bargain.
  • Look at the screws. Slotted screws suggest older work. Phillips screws point to the twentieth century, often post-war.
  • Feel the weight. Brass should be heavy and cold. Suspiciously light metal is often plated steel or pot metal. A small magnet will settle the question quickly.
  • Check the joints. On furniture, look for hand-cut dovetails, pinned hinges and uneven tool marks. Machine-cut dovetails that are perfectly regular are perfectly modern.
  • Run a finger along glass. A seam up the body usually means a mould; a rough pontil scar underneath suggests hand-blowing.
  • Distrust uniform wear. Real age wears unevenly — a handle rubbed smooth, a base scuffed, a rim chipped. Reproduction distressing is often sanded everywhere at once.
  • Be sceptical of stories. Provenance without paperwork is a story, not provenance.

If you are spending serious money on something you believe to be antique silver, a signed piece or a valuable collectable, get an independent second opinion before committing. A market seller's word is a courtesy, not a guarantee.

What to Carry

  1. Cash in small notes, plus a card for the larger arcades.
  2. A sturdy tote or two, because you will buy something awkward.
  3. A small torch for peering inside boxes and under bases.
  4. A magnet in your pocket for instant metal testing.
  5. A tape measure, if furniture or frames might be involved.
  6. Your phone, to photograph marks and search them later.
  7. Comfortable shoes, a layer you can remove, and water.

Before You Set Your Alarm

Plan your week around the markets rather than the other way about. Bermondsey and the racecourse fairs are early-morning, trade-led affairs. Portobello and Camden Passage suit a slower weekend wander. Alfies and Grays are for the days when the weather has other ideas.

Two practical things worth remembering: confirm opening days before travelling, because market schedules shift with seasons and landlords, and think about how you are getting a heavy purchase home before you hand over the money. A cast-iron doorstop is delightful on a stall and considerably less so on a crowded Tube at six o'clock.

And the oldest rule still holds. Buy the thing you keep thinking about. If it is still in your head the next morning, it was probably worth the price. If you have already forgotten it, you have saved yourself a shelf, a tenner and the slow business of pretending to like it.

Photo: chriswanders / Pixabay