Where: Leadenhall Street, EC3

What: In the heart of the City (financial district of London), Leadenhall Market is a retail centre set within a victorian market place with bags of history. Its cobbled walkways and glass roof make it an attractive place to shop, eat and drink or simply to relax.

The Leadenhall Market was established around a manor house with a lead roof in the early 14th century. Leadenhall market was an established meeting place of the poulterers as early as 1321, whilst cheesemongers from the countryside were bound in 1397 to take their produce into the market of Leadenhall.

It quickly became one of the best places in London to buy meat, game, poultry and fish. The meat and fish market occupied a series of courts behind the grand lead-roofed mansion of Leadenhall Market on Leadenhall street.

In 1408 the occupational leasehold title of the Manor of Leadenhall was assigned to Richard (Dick) Whittington (the Lord Mayor at the time) and citizens of London, and the freehold was conveyed in 1411 to the Corporation. The market continued to be used for the sale of fish, meat, poultry and corn, although in 1666 portions of the market were destroyed by the Great Fire.

In 1881 the City's architect, Horace Jones, designed the present wrought iron and glass-roofed buildings. More recently it has become a place to meet and a place to eat, but with the roof, cobbles and buildings preserved.

Nearest underground station: Monument or Bank

Opening times: normal shopping hours