Starting out in 1974 as as a few craft stalls beside the Regent's Canal, Camden Market now spans 16 acres and is home to 1,000 food and fashion outlets, bars, music venues, and independent traders.
The original Camden Lock market next to legendary venue Dingwalls is still there, but its sprawl includes the former stables and Grade II-listed horse hospital, which once nursed the beasts of burden who pulled the barges.
Alongside Stables Market there is Buck Street, which hosts sustainable up and coming businesses, and the waterside redevelopment of Hawley Wharf - all owned by Israeli billionnaire Tedi Sagi.
It's home to a range of covered food courts, independent shops, a brewery, coffee roastery, a Curzon cinema and subterranean theme park Babylon. where you can ride on an indoor roller coaster, experience a VR thrill ride, and play the grabber machines.
It will also soon be the headquarters of bakery chain Gail's, complete with a cafe offering baking classes.
Nine things to try at Hawley Wharf.
Order a pint of the hoppy West Coast IPA, or light and vibrant pink-hued Strawberry Lace Sour in the Beer Hall or canalside taproom of the Three Locks Brewing Company, a micro-brewery founded by Paddington-based Marinos Alexandrou and named after Camden's trio of locks.
Try a Hungarian chinmey cake spun from coils of sweet dough, cooked on a pole, basted with butter and dipped in sugar. At Hawley Wharf you can enjoy yours rolled in cinnamon, coconut or chocolate nibs and filled with a delicous vanilla custard, courtesy of The Chimney Cake Lady.
Take burgers to the next level with a meltingly soft wagyu beef patty topped with fried onions, house sauce and melting cheese at Flip and Sear. It's founded by two cousins from North West London, Munib and Abu, who wanted to create an affordable top quality burger - and they've aced it.
Karachi street food deserves to be better known if the offering at Khaao Karachi is anything to go by. Think of a soft, folded nan flatbread, stuffed with paneer in a spiced tomato sauce,melted cheddar and spiced lamb, or Malai chicken. Accompanied with fries, dips and a mango lassi, it's a flavour of Pakistan with an English twist. On the same theme, serving Pakistani street eats with delicious pakoras and chargrilled meat is Baba Dhaba.
Try a punchy flat white made from beans roasted on site at Camden's new cafe and roastery in Castlehaven Road. At Camden Coffee Roastery you can enjoy your freshly brewed cup while watching the latest batches being tested and roasted in their gleaming machine.
There are also pretty good cakes and pastries, and bags of beans to take away.
Watch them set fire to your steak at The Black Cow, a middle-eastern steakhouse where it's actually the herbs on your plate that get torched. Dip the ashes into the oils and enjoy with a perfectly seared onglet steak. Enjoy with home fries and sweet harissa, a roasted cauliflower with dukkah and gruyere, or the Casbah pulled steak with melted cheese, soft egg and brik pastry. Excitingly, co-founders Shiri and Amir are just about to open new diner Epicurus in Camden's North Yard.
Whether you like your chicken as wings or tenders, coated with smokey, bbq, parmesan and garlic, or Thai hot then Wing Lab has something for you.
And you can cool down afterwards with a refreshing, freshly made cocktail in a hollowed out watermelon, pineapple or dragon fruit at Juice Junkiez.
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