Four markets, one flower street, and a canal towpath that makes the whole thing hang together properly. This is one of our longer loops, and it only really works on one day of the week: Sunday. Columbia Road’s flower sellers show up once a week and once a week only, and Brick Lane is at its Sunday best too — so that’s the day this route is built around.

Fair warning before you commit: this is a proper full day out, closer to 18–20km there and back. If that’s too much for smaller legs, it splits cleanly into two shorter outings — Spitalfields and Brick Lane one weekend, Columbia Road and Broadway Market the next.

Before you roll

• Distance: roughly 18–20km round trip, flat throughout, via City streets, Shoreditch and the Regent’s Canal towpath.
• Day: this loop is built for Sunday. Columbia Road Flower Market trades Sundays only, 8am–3pm. Brick Lane is also at its biggest and best on Sundays.
• Timing: start early. Aim to reach Columbia Road by mid-morning — the best blooms go first, though genuine bargains often turn up right before the 3pm close as sellers clear their stock.
• Crowds: Columbia Road’s pavements are narrow and rammed by late morning. Walk the bike the length of the street rather than trying to ride it.
• Alternative day: if Broadway Market is the priority, know that Saturday is its main day (9am–5pm, full stalls) and Sunday is a smaller, quieter edition. You can’t have both markets at their absolute peak on the same day — Sunday just gets you the most stops in total.

Old Spitalfields Market: under the Victorian roof

~30 minutes from Mayfair

Start east, through Holborn and the City, and arrive at Old Spitalfields — a grand Victorian market hall with a genuinely good mix of independent traders: food stalls, vintage clothing, prints, homeware. Sunday is one of its busiest and best-stocked days, with the widest spread of traders of the week. If you’re ever tempted back on a Thursday instead, that’s the dedicated antiques and vintage day, from 8am.

Brick Lane: curry houses, vintage and Sunday Upmarket

~5 minutes from Spitalfields

Brick Lane is practically next door. On Sundays the whole street comes alive — market stalls down the road itself, plus the Sunday Upmarket inside the old Truman Brewery for vintage clothing, records and street food. The curry houses along Banglatown are there if lunch calls early; the street art around Shoreditch is worth a slow ride even without a market reason.

Columbia Road: the flower sellers

~15 minutes from Brick Lane

This is the one to build the whole day around. Columbia Road is a single Victorian terrace street that transforms, every Sunday morning, into a wall of colour — cockney flower sellers calling out deals over buckets of blooms, with independent shops either side staying open to catch the crowds. It’s loud, it’s narrow, and it’s one of the most genuinely lovely things London does on a weekend.

Go early for the best choice of stock. Go right before the 3pm close if you’re after a bargain — sellers would rather discount a bunch than carry it home.

The canal down to London Fields

From Columbia Road, cut through Hackney Road onto the Regent’s Canal towpath — flat, mostly car-free, and one of the nicest stretches of family cycling in East London. Follow it south past Whitmore Road and the Kingsland Basin down towards London Fields, where the path spits you out a couple of minutes from Broadway Market.

Broadway Market: the Sunday edition

~15 minutes from Columbia Road

Broadway Market’s big day is technically Saturday, when the full run of food and produce stalls fills the street. The Sunday version is smaller and quieter — but still worth the stop, with London Fields itself right alongside for the kids to burn off the last of their energy before the ride home.

Home the long way

The return leg retraces the route back through Shoreditch and the City. It’s the same distance again, so treat the whole day as exactly that — a day, not an afternoon.

The loop at a glance

Stop	Highlight	Best day
Old Spitalfields Market	Victorian market hall, wide trader mix	Sunday (best); Thursday for antiques
Brick Lane Market	Sunday Upmarket, curry houses, street art	Sunday
Columbia Road Flower Market	Weekly flower sellers	Sunday only, 8am–3pm
Regent’s Canal towpath	Flat, mostly car-free connector	Any day
Broadway Market	Food and produce stalls, London Fields	Saturday (full market); Sunday (smaller)

Total distance: 18–20km round trip. Flat throughout. One of our longer loops — plan for a full day, or split it in two.

Photos: Old Spitalfields Market by Andy Li (CC0), Columbia Road Flower Market by Jim Osley (CC BY-SA 2.0) — both via Wikimedia Commons.

Fancy trying it yourself?

We hire electric family cargo bikes from Mayfair — plenty of room in the box for a flower bunch or two on the way home. Book your ride on gozoom.uk and we’ll get you rolling.

If you split the loop in two, let us know which half you did first.