Small specialist shops can be found all over the country. The Lanes in Brighton are made up of a fabulous web of small streets with lots of quirky shops and boutiques. They’re a great place to discover original fashion, furniture and accessories…
But a shopping spree doesn’t have to involve visiting shops! British markets are really popular and sometimes in surprising places. This is Piccadilly Market at St James’ Church in central London, and not many people know it’s here.
Photographer Simon Weinstock runs a stall here.
Richard: Hi Simon. Tell me about your stall.
Simon: Well, I’ve been here 15 years on St James’ Market. This is my most popular image, I do lots of other images. This is a London bus going round Piccadilly circus with the old Underground sign, very iconic. I do the London Eye, I do the Houses of Parliament, terribly popular of course.
Richard: So who are your customers?
Simon: My customers come here from all over the world. I have Russians, lots of Americans, Chinese these days, Australians – you name it, they come here! Some of my work’s gone to Outer Mongolia, believe it or not.
Richard: And in your opinion, what makes Piccadilly Market so special?
Simon: It’s a very unique, small market. There’s only about 40 stalls here. It’s a very friendly market. Not that many people know about it – it’s a hidden gem! And there are lots of stalls that you can only buy the product here, they’re not available anywhere else in London, so that makes it very unusual.
Richard: What do you like about shopping in London?
Girl: I think, like, the variety of stuff and there’s always something different, there’s always something on the street, there’s always something new to buy.
Man: I like about shopping in London the old shop, like in Covent Gardens, the old shop.
Woman 1: I like the mixture of some expensive and some cheaper ones. I like.
Woman 2: Well, I think it’s just the variety of shops and places where you can go for shops.
Richard: Britain is great for shopping. There’s such variety, and there’s something for everyone. The only trouble is – there’s too much choice!
Comments
Hello Arthurum,
I'm afraid that neither the video or audio in the video on this page are available for download for legal reasons. The good news is that we have lots of freely downloadable audio content in Elementary Podcasts, Big City Small World and the Magazine – all of these are in our Listen & Watch section.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
If I had a market stall in London, I would sell office stationary or coffee. I mean a coffee shop having many books and space for kids
Opposite to London, in my country (Vietnam) small stores and markets are very popular. you can find everything in there. From tiny things: needle, button,etc to the "big" things like vehicle. We also have supermarket. But i think small market is more interesting because we can bargain.
It s best way to improve my skills in english
"The choice is a pain" (German proverb)
In my country there are many stall markets trough small streets, people like buying there. We can find local and imported products at reasonable prices.
excuse me how to download this video?thanks
Hello m_pradiepta,
I'm afraid that most of our videos, including this one, are not available for download for legal reasons. All of our audio resources, however (e.g. Elementary Podcasts and Big City Small World), are available for free download. We also have several apps that you might find interesting.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello everyone! There're many markets in Ukraine. Through globalization you can buy almost everything here.
What would I sell If I had a market stall? Difficult to say. Handmade products, needleworks, maybe clothers for babies.
thanks a lot for your efforts ,but I have no one with whom I can practice my language ,so what should I do ?
thanks a lot
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