Surprising facts learnt on a Camden Market Secret Food Tour

Already Secret Food Tours take people around London Bridge and Borough Market and on an Indian food tour around east London.

While it is almost impossible to talk about British food culture with out touching on colonialism, the tour around Camden Market tour steps away from the Empire to delve into the neighbourhood’s many colourful and era-defining chapters of cultural activity.

The Secret Food Tour around Camden Markets takes you through the sprawling 16 acre market (Image: Zita Whalley)

These chapters are layered on top of each other and entombed in the neighbourhood’s pubs, shops, streets and of course, market. 

Sprawling across 16 acres, Camden Market is London’s largest and the tour takes punters through some of the market’s most popular food outlets (Tip: the que at Meathead Mexican is always shorter at Camden Market Buck Street). 

The tour is also an opportunity to try something new, from a stall that is perhaps not already on your radar, so you can munch on the likes of Yorkshire Burritos and Hong Kong-style char sui pies, and also try Stilton ice-cream with a port pour-over (Tip: don’t knock it until you try it. It works).

Unearth gastronomic gems across Camden Market’s Buck Street, Loch, Hawley Wharf and Stables locations (Image: Zita Whalley)

These pitstops are interspersed with ambles along Camden’s backstreets, gawking at places such as the above-shop-flat once home to members of The Madness, the pub where Blur and Oasis used to play pool, and a doss house that Stalin once stayed at.

Of course, the focus is on the eating; across Camden Market’s Buck Street, Loch, Hawley Wharf and Stables locations, the food options appear to be endless and the international offering covers traditional British cuisine, modern fusions and delicacies and comfort foods from abroad, but the Secret Food Tour explores more than just what you eat on the jaunt.

Every mouthful, morsel and pitstop weaves in Camden’s vibrant history, with juicy tidbits about London, the neighbourhood and its famous locals which you can’t wait to bust out at the next pub quiz, such as these.

The Cheese Bar’s stilton ice cream with a port pour-over (Image: Sarah Taylor)

Surprising facts I learnt on a Camden Market Secret Food Tour

Amy Winehouse was known to go behind the bar at The Hawley Arms, the watering hole of choice by The Libertines and Kate Moss on Castlehaven Road, an make her own drink – a concoction made up of banana liqueur, Southern Comfort, vodka and Baileys.

The World’s End pub got its name as it once stood at the end of London, facing fields. The area was considered a bit lawless so travellers who reached The World’s End after dark would stay overnights and continue their journey onwards the following day.

Also at The Cheese Bar, try goats cheese paired with Turkish delight (Image: Sarah Taylor)

Camden High Street’s iconic over-the-top street art harks back to days where shop and venue signage had to be understood by the illiterate population and therefore symbols used were obvious and clearly related.

Lenin spoke English with an Irish accent because he was taught the language by and Irishman he met at a doss house when in London. Another Lenin fact, he also met Stalin for the first time in London at the turn of the 20th century.

IPA beer got its name from beer exporters transporting beer from England to India who had to add more hops to the brew to make it last the long, hot journey. Another beer fact: Truman Brewery invented porter-style beers and IPA-style.

Try a char sui pie at Hong Kong outfit Three Uncles, one of the pit stops on the tour (Image: Zita Whalley)

Camden’s Edinburgh Castle, The Pembroke, The Dublin Castle and The Oxford Arms all came into existence in the 19th century to stop drunken brawls between the Welsh, English, Irish and Scottish labourers working on digging out Camden’s Regent’s Canal.

In the 70s, Sex Pistol’s Sid Vicious and Keith Levene of The Clash got into a fight at Dingwalls, hitting each other with their guitars.

Camden Market’s stables housed many of Camden’s horses in the early 1800s, when the canal was under construction. Up to 500 horses stayed in the stables, which is a massive amount, considering the world’s largest horse ranch currently, in Florida, has 160 horses.

St Paul’s Cathedral has been rebuilt four times. 

For more information on Secret Food Tours visit  secretfoodtours.com