A walk through Covent Garden in London

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site.

It was our first visit to a ‘market’ in London.

Laid out in 1630, it was the first modern square in London, and was originally a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. A casual market started on the south side, and by 1830 the present market hall was built.

The space is popular with street performers, who audition with the site's owners for an allocated slot

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion was causing problems for the market, which required increasingly large trucks for deliveries and distribution. The following year the market relocated to its new site, New Covent Garden Market, about 5 km south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, with cafes, pubs, small shops and a craft market called the Apple Market.

Another market, the Jubilee Market, is held in the Jubilee Hall on the south side of the square.

Contrary to its name The Apple Market does not sell apples. It has stalls selling all sorts of handcrafted 

goods. A place where one is bound to pick up something!

The London Transport Museum is in a Victorian iron and glass building on the east side of the market square. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers of William Cubitt and Company in 1871, and was first occupied by the museum in 1980.

The current Theatre Royal on Drury Lane is the most recent of four incarnations, the first of which opened in 1663, making it the oldest continuously used theatre in London. Since November 2008 the theatre has been owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and generally stages popular musical theatre.

Overall it is a fun place to spend a day at. If you get tired walking around you can rest in any one of the

food courts there, have a drink and gorge on paella or pie to reenergize!

A must visit market in London!

All history gleaned from Wikipedia.