In our amazing odyssey around Northern Europe, we took a little trip to Camden Town, to explore the markets.

Arrival

Camden Town is renowned for the markets, and it pretty much dominates the entire area. Get off the Northern Line on the London Underground at Camden Town. The exit from the Tube will take you straight into the start of the market on Camden High Street.

Our senses were immediately bombarded with the market, with street sellers and stalls accosting our eyes and ears with their wares. Stalls laden with tourist wares, and everything that you could expect in a market – clothes, leather goods, Chinese technology, tourist trinkets, mass-produced jewelry, knock-off perfumes, the list goes on!

On Camden High Street, many shop fronts have large sculptures on their first floor that shows what they sell. It is common for shops to have dramatic decorations.

Once we crossed the Regent’s Canal and the Camden Lock, we approached the market proper. The older part of the market has an under-cover hall that has spices and ethnic wares, and even cheese and alcohol stores. We traversed the market, found some stairs, and then were into the open air section of the market.

The market just seems to go on forever. A warren of tunnels and rooms lead to yet more and more stalls, a journey that seems unending at times. We went past what seemed like a hundred stalls, custom T-Shirt printers, furniture, posters, entire shops for socks even.

Cyberdog store and basements

There are not many full-time shops in Camden Market, but a significant store is ‘Cyberdog’. It’s a rave clothing store, with amazing sculptures and a cool vibe.

Most of the shop is actually in the basement, where the cool and extravagant clothes are branded as Cyberdog, and lit with neon and ultraviolet lighting, and a thumping rave track. The clothes and trinkets are aimed at nightclub dancers, but is a stimulating place to go for all.

However, weaving down to a sub-basement, you can find another department of the store. The sex shop sells toys and clothes, everthing from whips and restraints to leather and rubberwear. It’s a hoot to have a look around at what is available!

Returning to the Tube

It is an assault on the senses to visit Camden Market, where you can get almost anything, next to a store that sells something weird and wonderful.

Returning down Camden High Street, we enjoyed some other stalls, and then had to navigate to Kentish Town Road to get back down to the Tube.