Camden Town

Stables Market, a smaller market within the greater Camden Street Market area.

Today we went to Camden to take a look at the markets and to just look around. I had walked down the main street in Camden before, but I hadn't been into the depths of the markets. The markets were plenty, selling clothes, food, books, antiques and other bizarre odds and ends. The whole area had a different feeling from the Portobello markets though. Camden was darker and seemed to cater to a slightly different crowd. The fashion, not just what was being sold in the stalls but what a lot of young people were wearing, can perhaps be quickly described as 'alternative.' Punk and Goth subcultures were very common here. The place had a real organic feel to it, as the markets and stalls seemed to be built randomly into the walls, as if no real planning went into the placing of these stalls, but sort of just grew out from a central location. It kind of seemed like an underground city as sunlight wasn't too common in the narrow and crowded corridors. The expansive and unorderly area was dark, but inconsistent strings of colorful accent lights from within the market stalls produced some fantastic and peculiar light. Different varieties of music, but mostly trance and electronic could be heard throughout the market area. I bought a sweet black and green Chinese paper lamp at one stall and a nice messenger bag at another. I also enjoyed some Indian food. As for clothes, most of what was being sold wasn't for me.