Are you heading to London but want to do something other than Big Ben, Tate Modern, London Bridget, etc? Well, let me tell you the story of how I stumbled upon the cutest, edgiest, hippest neighborhood called Camden Market.

It All Started When…

It’s funny how things happen. Sometimes all you really want to do is eat some cereal at a cleverly named cafe. A place called the Cereal Killer Cafe in an area you’ve never heard of, like the Camden Market, and suddenly it’s the best discovery you’ve ever made. This is what happened today.

Honestly, I wasn’t looking for the Cereal Killer Cafe today. This is supposed to be an adventure for another day. Today is about Amy Winehouse’s statue that’s been erected in her name in London.

I’m a huge Amy Winehouse fan, and it would be an honor to pay respect to this monument. Her statue is in a place called the Stables Market, near an area called Camden Market. 

Now, this doesn’t exactly make any sense to me. So, it’s a market near the market? Is Camden Market a district? Perhaps there’s two markets next to each other, the Stables Market and Camden Market? Whatever the case is, I’ll discover it today. That’s for sure!

Getting to Camden Market

I finished up eating my pita sandwich in a delicious restaurant in Soho. Eating is essential because I’m from LA. If London is a big city like LA, everything’s going to be difficult.

If you’re going to venture into some unknown area to find a random statue of a person, it might be in the middle of nowhere or in a downright sketchy area. Perhaps even entirely residential. Therefore, I didn’t want to take a risk and get to the middle of nowhere hungry. So I ate in Soho.

After I eat, I walk to Oxford Circus station, which is very close. I transfer once and get off at Camden Town.

If you’re trying to figure out the London Underground check out the post I made on getting around London. It’s easy and convenient. The Tube goes everywhere.

There are hordes of people trying to get out of the tube station. It’s crazy. Why are there so many people out!? It must be because it’s Saturday, I think to myself. The tube hallways are full. People are lining up to scan their train ticket to exit. It actually took me about 10 minutes to get out of the station. But, I’m out, and I map out which direction the Amy Winehouse statue is. 

So, I walk… I walk in the wrong direction because if there is anything you should know about me is that I am directionally challenged even when I have GPS. Just check out how I managed to get lost looking for my hotel using my GPS.

Where the Hell Am I?

The first thing I notice as I’m walking around is the live music playing. Someone’s singing in the corner of the street. Although it sounds more professional than a panhandler asking for money. The singing is good. The music is melodic, and it’s a live band. I’m loving it.

The streets seem a little run down. Where am I? Is this the London ghetto? Regardless, it looks safe with the many people out and about.

I walk across the street and stumble upon a flea market. The booths are filled with edgy punk and goth attire. You have tie-dye shirts and hippy rasta hats. I see cleverly made t-shirts and fun beaded bracelets. You also have many tourist booths as well as fun novelty items you may want to buy for cheap.

My GPS tells me I’m going in the wrong direction, so I get back on the main road and start to walk.

It turns out I’m in an area called Camden Market, also known as Camden Town and/or Camden Lock. But it took me a while to figure that out.

The Cute and Beautiful Streets of Camden Market

Basically, all I had to do is walk in a straight line to get to the Amy Winehouse statue. Now that I’m on the right path, this shouldn’t be so hard.

I walk down Camden High street and notice the abundance of beautiful restaurants.

Camden Market is filled with eclectic restaurants competing for your attention. Each restaurant, painted brightly with big signs.

Other restaurants have giant sculptures that protrude from the walls. For example, I see an Indian Restaurant called Namaste. It’s painted in bright yellow and pinks. There’s a giant sculpture of an elephant’s head sticking out of the middle of the building. It’s beautiful.

I stumble upon a death metal store called Dark Angel. It’s painted black. You have piercing and tattoo parlors with giant boots on the walls.

The music plays loudly throughout the street, but it makes the ambient electric. The streets vibrate with youthful energy, party energy.

I get hassled by barkers giving me flyers for their piercing shop. I grab the flyer and proceed to each piercing shop I find on the streets of Camden Market. After all, I have piercings, and I need new earrings.

As I go from piercing shop to piercing shop I see gutter punks (or homeless punks) on the streets begging for money, holding up signs that say “help this punk to get drunk.” Some punks with spiked jackets, tall crazy hair, and leather boots ask for money for pictures. It’s wild and fun.

I don’t find any earrings I want, so I continue my quest down the streets of Camden Market.

The Camden Lock Sign

I continue my journey and ultimately come across a giant sign that says, Camden Lock. As I cross the river near this sign, I see what looks like an open space with many stores. It’s beautiful.

Cobblestone adorn the streets. Some stores have giant knights standing on both sides of the doors.

I take pictures, but at this point, I don’t know how long my journey will be if I keep stopping every few steps.

Camden Market is so cute. It’s unbelievable. The crazy stores. The wild energy and all the tourism is making me wonder why I’ve never heard of this place.

The Amy Winehouse Statue in Camden Market 

I continue walking until my GPS says I need to turn left into a place called the Stables Market.

It turns out Camden Market is the district or area, and Stables Market is the name of the shopping center I’m in. Technically, in The States, this might be a mall.

But it’s too cute to be a mall. There are basically two floors of shopping. One level is underground and one on ground level. Stores and restaurants are edgy, trendy, cute, and filled with people. 

I see sports stores, a cheese restaurant, and across the plaza, I see her. It’s Amy Winehouse in bronze. I finally made it.

If I wasn’t so shy about taking selfies, I would have taken one. So I snap a few pictures and videos of Amy herself and pay my respects to someone who died too young. She was someone very special to me.

After a few brief moments with the statue. I decide I need to look for this Cereal Killer Cafe. There’s a giant cereal box, but I don’t see the cafe.

I walk down the stairs to look for it but enter a big open space with vendors playing music and selling vintage attire. 

People are having fun playing polo and hackie sack.

The fun, edgy clothes are unique. Some shirts are purposely torn and shredded. If I were younger, I would’ve bought many things.

I make my way to the second floor and continue looking around.

Near the back, there’s a long hallway filled with stores. Bohemian stores, Moroccan lanterns, rugs of the world, and Banksy style graffiti works of art for sale, to name a few.

Inside I’m dying with amazement. I’m glad I’m here. Camden Market is something I would never have found. Thank you, Amy Winehouse statue.

As I continue my exploration of this market, I come across a fun t-shirt of Quentin Tarantino, the director of many incredible Hollywood movies. It’s colorful and fun. I decided to walk in and try on several T-shirts.

It was not my intention to buy anything, but I did find a shirt that spoke to me. Now that I have a new shirt, I can leave. I need to go home and think about my life choices!

This Discovery is Worth Every Penny

I walk back to the front, and I stand near Amy Winehouse’s statue. I contemplate this fantastic discovery. I’m so glad I’m here. If you ever get a chance to go to Camden Market, definitely do so. I think it’s worth it. It’s unique, it’s beautiful, but most importantly you will create memories that don’t involve big sites like Big Ben that everyone knows about.

As I stood and watched people come and go, I notice a group of people walking into a cafe. Then I see it… It’s the cafe I came here for! The Cereal Killer Cafe!

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Let me break it down for you:

Put Camden Market on your list of sites to see.

Take the London Underground to Camden Town and get lost… No really. This part of London is so unique. It’s filled with edgy tattoo parlors, piercing stores and gorgeous restaurants and bars. It’s a bar-hopping, restaurant-eating fun-filled destination.

If you hit the Stables Market, don’t forget to take a picture with legendary Amy Winehouse and her statue.

Make sure to explore the many stores and restaurants near the statue. They have something for everyone. You’ll find something for that rebellious teenager, and you’ll even find something clever and fun for yourself.

Do I recommend Camden Market? I wouldn’t miss it! You definitely need to make an effort to see this part of town!

Things always change so if you need current info on Camden Market stores, check out their website: https://www.camdenmarket.com/

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