Columbia Road & the streets around it
Sunday flowers, a pub crawl in the right direction, and the quietest alley in East London. Walked and written by the editor. https://walkwalk.org/london/walks/columbia-road-flowers

1. Columbia Road flower market
Go before ten or after two. In between it is the most crowded 200m of street in Zone 1. The shops behind the stalls are the secret.

2. Ezra Street
The one-block diversion north off Columbia Road. Coffee, gospel brunch, a second-hand bookseller on the corner. Less photographed, much quieter.

3. Hackney Road
Cross it east. You're out of the market throng and into a genuine neighbourhood of pie-and-mash shops and vintage furniture stores.

4. Haggerston Park
A sudden flat green space with a small city farm attached. The farm is the best small zoo in central London, full stop.

5. The Royal Oak, Columbia Road
End back at the bottom of Columbia Road at the pub. By eleven on a Sunday it's spilling onto the pavement; make your peace with that.

Columbia Road & the streets around it