Journal 3 September 2026
London’s covered markets, for the days it does not stop
Four markets with roofs on them, so you can spend an afternoon walking and buying without ever being rained on.
A wet Saturday does not have to mean a museum. Several of London’s markets are under cover, and they are the ones you can walk end to end without a coat.
Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall is the handsome one: Victorian ironwork painted maroon and green, cobbles, pubs under the arcade. It serves the City, so it is busy at lunchtime on a weekday and almost empty at the weekend, which is the better time to look at it.
Greenwich Market
Greenwich Market sits under a glass roof in the middle of the old town, crafts and food, open every day. Two minutes from the Cutty Sark.
Brixton Village
Brixton Village is a covered arcade off Coldharbour Lane, small kitchens packed tight, and liveliest in the evening rather than the afternoon.
Coal Drops Yard
Coal Drops Yard is not a market but works like one on a wet day: two curved arcades of shops and restaurants at King’s Cross, with cover most of the way along.
The rest of the indoor city is in where to go when it rains.
By anxiousoyster67. Updated 4 September 2026.
More on out of the rain
All 4 piecesIt rains here about a third of the year. The indoor half of London, which is also mostly the free half.
- The small museums nobody queues for South Kensington on a wet Saturday is a scrum. These are free, indoors, and never are.
- London on a Sunday, which is not the dead day people think The markets are better, the museums are the same, and the only thing that genuinely closes early is the shopping. Sunday is...
- Where to go in London when it rains It rains here about a third of the days in the year, which is not a reason to stay in. The indoor...
Where to go next
Everything above is drawn from the listings, which are dated and rebuilt as things change.