On the hour when London's oldest food market belongs to the people who work in it
Borough Market opens to the public at 10am on weekdays. Before that, the market belongs to the traders, the delivery drivers, and the people who understand that the Monmouth Coffee queue at 8am is fifteen minutes and at 10am is forty-five.
Borough Market opens to the public at 10am on weekdays. Before that, the market belongs to the traders, the delivery drivers, and the people who understand that the Monmouth Coffee queue at 8am is fifteen minutes and at 10am is forty-five. This is not insider knowledge. It is simply the application of attention to a well-documented situation.
Monmouth has been on the corner of Borough Market since 1978, when the site was a railway arch and specialty coffee in London was not yet a phrase that existed. The current building — a low brick and glass structure that faces the market's Park Street entrance — operates a standing counter that serves espresso and filter coffee made with beans roasted in the company's facility in Bermondsey. The coffee is serious. The queue at 8am is composed of people who work in or near the market and who have established a routine. The conversation, if any, is about the coffee.
The market itself at this hour is a logistics operation. The produce stalls are being set up. The bread from the bakeries is arriving in trays. The cheese from the farmhouse producers is being arranged in the cold display. The restaurant buyers from the Southwark kitchens are selecting. The Borough Market of magazine features — the cheese samples and the coffee tastings and the artisan charcuterie — does not exist before 10am.
Walk through the covered market toward the Thames after your coffee. The Southwark Cathedral on the north side of the market dates from the 12th century, though the current building is substantially medieval from the 13th and 15th centuries. The interior is open from 8am. The nave in the morning, when the tourist economy of the day has not yet started, operates at the tempo of a working church. Sit for twenty minutes. The market will be there when you return.