To market

Golborne Road

North Kensington London, W10 | Market website | Fridays and Saturdays 8am–7pm, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 8am–7pm and Thursday 8am–1pm
Moroccan Fresh Fish

This vibrant market is the quirky little sister to famous Portobello in Notting Hill. Here, fresh fruit and vegetable stalls rub shoulders with street food like Moroccan-style fish, kebabs, vegetarian falafel and fresh smoothies and juices up one side of the street, while antique furniture, retro art and all kinds of bric-a-brac line the other.

The market, run by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, dates back to 1870, when the original traders kept it simple by selling just fruit and vegetables. These days, a variety of stalls stretch between Portobello Road and St Ervans Road.

Moroccan Fresh Fish is a well-known attraction, serving up fish delivered daily from Billingsgate. The fish is lightly fried in olive oil, garlic and coriander, and presented with a mixed salad and a handful of chips. Now something of an institution after four years on the market, the format has been imitated by a couple of traders at the other end of the street.

A few pitches down, two corporate finance guys have been running Saturday stall junglefowl for five months, selling freshly grilled halal chicken burgers and wraps with home-made chilli sauce, at £4 each. Roselind Craig sells fresh juices and smoothies on Saturdays. Further on, I’m impressed when a couple standing in line at a weekday vegetarian stall recommend falafel “to die for”.

Together, the traders make the market and a few local businesses have banded together to think about getting a global food market up and running on the stretch of Portobello Road north of Golborne Road.

In October, the traders celebrate English apples, with a two-day promotional event crossing both Golborne and Portobello markets, from 22 October. This is the latest in a series of activities held to mark the start of new seasons, following Taste of Spring and Taste of Summer festivals.

Featured stallholder

Mostafa Reguibi’s fruit and veg stall

Mostafa Reguibi has sold fresh fruit and vegetables on Golborne Road for 18 years, come rain or shine. The sizeable stall, next to his distinctive customised van, is piled high with a mix of seasonal fresh produce and more exotic lines sourced from New Spitalfields Market in east London. British fruit and vegetables are marked out with Union Jacks, while the organic offering (when available) includes everything from apples and pears to broad beans. “If people ask for British produce, I will get British,” says Reguibi. “British apples have the best taste, even if they don’t always look as good as other apples – but to me, taste is the most important thing and English apples taste better than apples from anywhere else.”

Anna Sbuttoni

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