Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cluding those in the Tube) are auditioned, licensed, and assigned times and places where
they are allowed to perform.
The square's centerpiece is a covered marketplace. A market has been here since me-
dieval times, when it was the “convent” garden owned by Westminster Abbey. In the
1600s, it became a housing development with this courtyard as its center, done in the Pal-
ladian style by Inigo Jones. Today's fine iron-and-glass structure was built in 1830 (when
such buildings were all the Industrial Age rage) to house the stalls of what became Lon-
don's chief produce market.
poke around. As you enter through the brick passage, notice the posted diagram on the
right identifying shops. Inside the market, you'll hit the so-called Apple Market zone.
Picture it in full Dickensian color, lined with fruit and vegetable stalls. Covent Garden
remained a produce market until 1973, when its venerable arcades were converted to
boutiques, cafés, and antique shops.
