The Square Mile has no farm shops, so here is where City workers and residents can buy farm food within a short trip

There are no farm shops in the City of London. The Square Mile is offices, churches and one meat market. So for local food in the City of London, this guide names the five closest places to buy from farmers: Smithfield Market inside the City itself, Borough Market just over London Bridge in Southwark, Islington Farmers’ Market on Sundays, and the city farms at Spitalfields and Stepney in Tower Hamlets. Each section says which borough it is really in.

Under my Apeel post, this was the comment with the most likes on the whole thread, 1,314 of them:

I mean seriously at this point we have to start growing our on vegetables to guarantee we know what’s in and on our food.

A reader in my comments

I agree, and I grow mine now. But I am London born. I know what it is to have a desk in EC2 and no garden. You cannot grow your own on a balcony at Barbican, not enough of it anyway. What you can do is buy from people who can tell you what is in and on your food. (Here is what Apeel is and whether you can wash it off.)

Where can you buy farm food near the City of London?

If you work in the City and start early, Smithfield is the only food market inside the Square Mile. It is a wholesale meat market, so it is not producer sold, and as a plant based household it is not where I shop. I include it because it is the honest answer to “what is in the City”, and because its future is changing.

For actual farmers, walk south over London Bridge to Borough Market, where farm run stalls such as Northfield Farm sell from their own herds and fields. On a Sunday, Islington Farmers’ Market on Chapel Market is the original: it was London’s first, in 1999. East of Liverpool Street, Spitalfields City Farm is a twenty minute walk and Stepney City Farm runs a Saturday farmers’ market a few stops further out.

• Smithfield Market, The Square Mile’s wholesale meat market, open to the public before 7am on weekdays
• Borough Market, Historic food market over London Bridge with farm run butchers such as Northfield Farm
• Islington Farmers’ Market, London’s first farmers’ market, every Sunday on Chapel Market
• Spitalfields City Farm, Charity farm off Brick Lane with a small shop selling seasonal produce and eggs
• Stepney City Farm, Working 4.5 acre farm with a Saturday farmers’ market

Smithfield Market

Map and location

Central Markets, London EC1A 9PQ. Smithfield is inside the City of London. View Smithfield Market on the map.

Contact: 020 7248 3151.

The Square Mile’s wholesale meat market, before its move east

Smithfield is the City of London’s wholesale meat market, and the market says livestock has been traded on the site for more than 800 years. It trades from listed buildings on West Smithfield, and the City of London Corporation runs it. In November 2024 the Corporation dropped its plan to move Smithfield and Billingsgate to Dagenham Dock and put the City of London (Markets) Bill before Parliament to end its duty to run a market at these sites. In December 2025 it named Albert Island in the Royal Docks, Newham, as the preferred site for a combined New Smithfield Market. The Corporation says traders will stay at Smithfield until at least 2028, and the move depends on the Bill passing and on planning permission from Newham.

This is a wholesale market selling meat, poultry and provisions mainly to butchers and the restaurant trade, not a farm shop. The market’s own site says anyone can buy from any trader’s stall, and all stalls take cash, with some taking cards. Business customers can pre order from a chosen supplier for collection or delivery. Traders buy from many sources, so provenance varies from stall to stall.

Visiting and buying

The market’s website gives trading hours of midnight to 7am, Monday to Friday, closed at weekends and on bank holidays, and advises arriving well before 7am to find the full range of stalls open. The nearest stations are Farringdon, Barbican, St Paul’s and Chancery Lane. The Rotunda car park opposite offers concession rates for market customers overnight, and the Congestion Charge starts at 7am. Shoppers can walk the central Buyer’s Walk to see the full run of stalls. Ask each trader which farm or region the meat came from.

Smithfield Market: website and opening hours.

Borough Market

Map and location

8 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TL. Borough Market is in the London Borough of Southwark, at the south end of London Bridge. View Borough Market on the map.

A thousand year old food market with farm run stalls

Borough Market traces around a thousand years of trading near London Bridge and has been on its present site since 1756. It is run by a charitable trust with volunteer trustees for the benefit of the local community. The market sits just across the river from the City, and its history is tied to it: in the 1270s the City banned its citizens from buying food in Southwark. Today it describes itself as a champion of sustainable food production and short supply chains.

Among its traders are stalls run by the farms themselves. Northfield Farm, on the Rutland and Leicestershire border, has sold at the market since the late 1990s and is run by Jan McCourt with his sons Dom and Leo. Its butchers sell cuts from the farm’s own White Park and Angus cattle and Lleyn and Border Leicester sheep, alongside meat from other producers it trusts. The stall is at 5 Bedale Street and keeps its own hours of 8am to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.

Visiting and buying

The website gives opening hours of 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday; the market is closed on Mondays. London Bridge station is next to the market, and from the City it is a walk across London Bridge. There are bike racks inside the market but no parking of its own. Hours change over Christmas and on bank holidays. Not every stall is farm run, so ask at each one whether it grows or rears what it sells.

Borough Market: website and opening hours.

Islington Farmers’ Market

Map and location

Chapel Market, between Penton Street and Baron Street, London N1 9PZ. The market is in the London Borough of Islington, north of the City near Angel. View Islington Farmers’ Market on the map.

London’s first farmers’ market, every Sunday since 1999

London Farmers’ Markets opened its first market in Islington in 1999, and the organisation calls it its oldest established market. It now runs more than twenty weekly markets where around 200 farmers and food producers sell direct, and it carries out farm inspections. The Islington market trades on the historic Chapel Market street. It opens every week, rain or shine.

The stall list covers most of a weekly shop. Fruit and vegetables come from growers including Brambletye Fruit Farms, Chegworth Valley, Fiveways Fruit Farm, Isle of Wight Tomatoes and Wild Country Organics. Galileo Farm and Parsons Ridge sell beef, lamb and pork, Castlemead Poultry sells eggs and poultry, and Chalk Stream Foods sells fish. Cheese comes from makers such as Bath Soft Cheese Company, Cornish Gouda Co and Trethowan’s Dairy, with bread, honey and preserves alongside.

Visiting and buying

London Farmers’ Markets gives opening hours of 10am to 2pm every Sunday. The farmers’ market is at the Penton Street end of Chapel Market, past Baron Street, and Angel is the nearest Tube station. Not every stall attends every week, so check the producer list online if you are after something specific. Arrive early for meat and eggs, and ask each stallholder whether what they are selling comes from their own farm.

Islington Farmers’ Market: website and opening hours.

Spitalfields City Farm

Map and location

Buxton Street, London E1 5AR. The farm is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, north east of the City. View Spitalfields City Farm on the map.

Contact: 0207 247 8762.

Allotments on an old railway goods depot off Brick Lane

Spitalfields City Farm was started in 1978 on a former railway goods depot, after local people who had lost their allotments to developers asked to turn the wasteland into new plots. It began as allotments, later took on animals, and became a charity in 1980. The site covers about 1.3 acres beside Thomas Buxton Primary School.

The farm shop sells organic fruit and vegetables, gifts and garden supplies, and the farm says produce on sale depends on the season. Visitor guides report that eggs from the farm sell in small numbers and go quickly, and that spare vegetables from the growing areas sometimes reach the shop. The Tea Hut serves tea, coffee and food the farm describes as locally and ethically sourced. This is a small charity farm, so expect a modest shop rather than a full grocery.

Visiting and buying

The website gives opening hours of 10am to 4.30pm in summer and 10am to 4pm in winter, Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays. Its winter break runs from Sunday 20 December 2026 to Tuesday 5 January 2027. The farm says Liverpool Street is a 20 minute walk and Shoreditch High Street an 8 minute walk. There is no parking on site, and only registered assistance dogs are allowed. Ring before you go if you want eggs, and ask which vegetables in the shop were grown on the farm.

Spitalfields City Farm: website and opening hours.

Stepney City Farm

Map and location

Stepney Way, London E1 3DG. The farm is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, east of the City in Stepney. View Stepney City Farm on the map.

Contact: 020 7790 8204.

A rescued bomb site farm with a Saturday farmers’ market

Stepney City Farm stands on land hit by a V2 rocket in the Second World War, which lay derelict until local residents set up a farm there in 1979. It came close to closing by 2009, when a new charity, Stepney City Farm, restored and reopened it. It is now a 4.5 acre working farm, free to visit, with an education programme that reaches more than 6,000 children and young people a year. Animals include Soay sheep, and Wikipedia lists sheep, geese and cattle among the livestock.

Every Saturday the farm hosts the Stepney Farmers’ Market, run by City and Country Farmers’ Markets. Stalls sell fruit and vegetables, meat, bread, cakes, pressed juices and ready to eat food, and the market’s photographs feature traders such as Heritage Cheese. Time Out has reported that the farm sells its own eggs, honey and teas made from plants it grows on Saturdays. The farm also runs a café and an online shop.

Visiting and buying

The website gives opening hours for the farm and café of 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday and on bank holiday Mondays, with the farmers’ market from 10am to 3pm on Saturdays. Stepney Green station on the District and Hammersmith and City lines is the nearest Tube, a short ride from Aldgate East and Tower Hill. Entry is free, though donations are welcome. Saturday is the day to come for produce, and it is worth asking which stall is selling the farm’s own eggs and honey.

Stepney City Farm: website and opening hours.

Is market food in London better than the supermarket?

Not automatically. A stall at a famous market can be a reseller with a good sign. The difference at a farmers’ market run by London Farmers’ Markets is that the people selling grew, reared or made what is on the table, and you can ask them.

Ask what was sprayed, what is in season and what was bought in. If you want organic, look for the certificate, not the chalkboard: the Soil Association is the UK’s best known certifier.

Why City workers should know where the food is

The UK Government’s Be Ready campaign asks every household to be able to manage for three days if services are disrupted. In central London, that disruption hits fast: transport stops, shelves empty, and there are no farms in EC1. Knowing a market and a farm you can reach on foot is part of the plan.

Read The Be Ready Campaign: a UK guide to stocking your home with healthy, local food, and our UK prepping guide for supplies that do not cost the earth.

Plan your visit, what to buy and how much

Choose one or two stops that fit your route. Write down what you want, how much you need and what you will cook with it when you get home. If one crop is not in, change the meal, not the plan.

• Confirm opening days and any booking for the café or events.
• Ask what was grown or reared on the farm, and what was bought in.
• Check payment methods, and bring your own bags and boxes.
• Ask about parking and the right entrance for visitors.

Plan your farm shopping with My Shopping List and Harvest Checker

Open My Shopping List to record produce, quantities and estimated costs. Mark items as bought when you collect them and keep the plan for your next trip.

Use Harvest Checker once a grower gives you a picking window. Enter those dates and compare them with your visit. The tool uses your entries; it does not fetch live availability from farms.

My Shopping List

Keep the produce you actually need in one place before you set off.

Use My Shopping List

Harvest Checker

Compare your visit with dates confirmed by the grower. This does not check live stock.

Use Harvest Checker

Use the tools with your My Ideal World account. Guest and free-account limits apply; paid members have unlimited tool access.

For real farm shops, go out of town: see Greater London, Hertfordshire and Surrey, or browse every region on the Be Ready Map. Also new in the Be Ready Map: the guides to Bristol.

Sources

• Smithfield Market, home page
• Smithfield Market, visiting and buying
• City of London Corporation, the future of Smithfield and Billingsgate markets
• City of London Corporation, how to find Smithfield Market
• Farmers Weekly, Smithfield Market to close as relocation plan ditched
• Borough Market, visit us
• Borough Market, our story
• Borough Market, Northfield Farm
• London Farmers’ Markets, Islington Farmers’ Market
• London Farmers’ Markets, about us
• London Farmers’ Markets, the markets
• Spitalfields City Farm, visit us
• Spitalfields City Farm, our history
• Wikipedia, Spitalfields City Farm
• Stepney City Farm, home page
• City and Country Farmers’ Markets, Stepney
• Charity Commission, Stepney City Farm contact information
• Time Out, Stepney City Farm
• Wikipedia, Stepney City Farm
• Be Ready , UK Government emergency preparedness campaign
• Soil Association , organic certification

Research reviewed 28 October 2026. Farm websites, council listings and official sources support the descriptions above. No firsthand visit, current stock check or certification is claimed.

The richest square mile in the country has no farm and no farmers’ market. That tells you everything about where our food system put its priorities. Walk to the farmers anyway. Tell me in the comments which market you use near the City, and whether I have missed a stall worth naming.