A Saturday afternoon at Camden Market becomes a compact record of London street food in 2016: Darjeeling Earl Grey, a Philly cheesesteak beside the Regent’s Canal, a pint at the Hawley Arms and a final craft beer on Greenland Street.

Archive note, updated August 2026: This Roberts London film was published on 24 April 2016. It records traders, venues and travel conditions as they appeared on that visit. Camden Market has changed considerably, individual traders may no longer be present and BrewDog Camden closed in July 2025. Current visitor information checked in August 2026 appears near the end of this article.

A Saturday afternoon in Camden

The film begins on Camden High Street on a busy Saturday afternoon. Barry Roberts has come for lunch, coffee and perhaps a drink afterwards, but the route immediately becomes a study of the neighbourhood itself.

Camden was already famous for clothing connected to music and subculture: punk, goth, vintage, handmade leather, records, collectables and the improbable things that appear when hundreds of independent traders occupy the same few streets. The market was not one building or one neat circuit. It spread through courtyards, railway arches, stables and passages beside the Regent’s Canal.

The market’s official history helps explain the density. Camden Market began on 30 March 1974 with only 16 stalls in the former T. E. Dingwall timber yard. It grew from a weekend arts-and-crafts market into a permanent London destination shaped by music, fashion, food and the industrial buildings beside the canal.

The Global Kitchen before West Yard

Barry’s destination in the film is an area then promoted as the Global Kitchen. It sat beside Camden Lock and concentrated food traders from many different culinary traditions into one open-air yard. The easiest approach in the film is across the bridge by the canal, where the smell arrives before any decision has been made.

The choice is deliberately overwhelming. Rather than pretending to survey everything, the film follows one appetite through the market. That is still the sensible way to approach Camden: look carefully, choose one or two things that smell good and accept that a single visit cannot cover the whole place.

Darjeeling Earl Grey instead of coffee

The first plan is Ethiopian coffee, but the queue feels too chaotic. A nearby tea trader provides the better discovery. Barry explains that he normally drinks black coffee, so the trader recommends a black Darjeeling Earl Grey blended with bergamot and cornflower.

It is served without milk or sugar and tastes naturally sweet. The moment is small, but it shows what a good market does: it interrupts a fixed plan and lets a specialist seller explain something unfamiliar. Barry leaves wondering why London did not have more serious tea rooms capable of competing with the city’s growing coffee culture.

A Philly cheesesteak beside the canal

Lunch comes from a trader called Philly Boyz American Grill. The order is described as “Wiz Wit”: chopped beef, onions and cheese in a soft roll. It is not subtle food. The beef is finely chopped and well cooked, the caramelised onions add sweetness and the cheese sauce binds everything into the kind of hot, substantial sandwich that makes sense on the edge of a busy market.

The film gives the food time on camera. We see the sandwich before the first bite and then hear what each part contributes: soft bread, savoury beef, sweet onions and gooey cheese. That detail matters. A street-food article should show the thing that was actually eaten, not merely the stall sign or menu.

Philly Boyz and the Global Kitchen name belong to the film’s 2016 moment. They should not be read as a promise that the same trader or layout can be found today. The current Camden Market directory describes Lock, Stables and Hawley Wharf, with West Yard continuing the waterside street-food tradition.

The Hawley Arms: an oasis across the road

After lunch, Barry leaves the packed market and walks across to the Hawley Arms on Castlehaven Road. The pub is busy, but compared with the crowds around the lock it feels like a small oasis. A pint of Meantime London Lager provides the pause between the market and the rest of Camden.

The Hawley Arms remains open. The pub says its present custodians have run it since 2004, expanded it to a second floor for live music and later fought to buy the building when it risked being sold to developers. It also survived the 2008 market fire. That continuity makes the 2016 sequence more than a nostalgic pub visit: it connects the current business to a recognisable Camden social world.

BrewDog Camden and a piece of lost pub history

The final stop is BrewDog Camden on Greenland Street. In 2016, the attraction was a craft-beer bar trying to bring small-batch and strongly flavoured beer to a younger audience. Barry orders Elvis Juice at 6.5 per cent, served as two-thirds of a pint, and prefers it to the lager at the previous pub.

This part of the route can no longer be repeated. BrewDog Camden, the company’s first London bar, closed in July 2025 as part of a wider group of closures. The film therefore preserves a venue that once represented a particular stage in London’s craft-beer expansion.

What the 2016 route reveals

The lasting subject is not a single cheesesteak or pint. It is Camden’s ability to compress several versions of London into a short walk: international street food beside an industrial canal, independent traders, subculture clothing, a music pub with deep local loyalty and a then-newer craft-beer chain.

Some elements survived and others did not. The Hawley Arms remains. Camden Market is larger and now presents itself through the Lock, Stables and Hawley Wharf quarters. The Global Kitchen name has receded, the trader mix has changed and BrewDog Camden has closed. That is precisely why the original film deserves to be kept as an archive rather than rewritten as if it were filmed yesterday.

Visiting Camden Market now

• Main address: Camden Market, Camden Lock Place, London NW1 8AF
• Main market hours checked 19 August 2026: Monday–Sunday, 10am–7pm, including bank holidays
• Hawley Wharf food halls: Monday–Sunday, 11.30am–11pm
• Nearest stations listed by the market: Camden Town, Chalk Farm and Camden Road
• Hawley Arms: 2 Castlehaven Road, London NW1 8QU; 12pm–midnight Sunday–Thursday and 12pm–1am Friday–Saturday

Individual trader hours vary. Check the official Camden Market visitor page and current market map before making a special journey. The Hawley Arms visitor page has current pub details. Weekend station arrangements can change, so use current Transport for London information rather than relying on the 2016 conditions shown in the film.

Watch the original Roberts London film

The 25-minute film follows the complete April 2016 route from Camden High Street to the Global Kitchen, the Regent’s Canal, the Hawley Arms and BrewDog Camden.

For another London market meal, read the Borough Market full English breakfast. The Poppies Spitalfields archive visit and Prospect of Whitby in Wapping continue the record of food and pubs across London. More stories are collected in Hospitality.

Frequently asked questions

What did Barry Roberts eat at Camden Market?

Barry ordered a Philly Boyz “Wiz Wit” cheesesteak with chopped beef, onions and cheese in a soft roll. He also drank a black Darjeeling Earl Grey blended with bergamot and cornflower.

Does Camden Market still have the Global Kitchen?

The Global Kitchen is the name used in the 2016 film for the waterside concentration of street-food stalls. Camden Market now describes its principal quarters as Lock, Stables and Hawley Wharf, with food traders in areas including West Yard. Use the current official map rather than the old name when planning a visit.

Is the Hawley Arms still open?

Yes. The Hawley Arms remains at 2 Castlehaven Road. Its official website currently lists opening from noon to midnight Sunday–Thursday and noon to 1am Friday–Saturday.

Is BrewDog Camden still open?

No. BrewDog Camden on Greenland Street closed in July 2025. Its appearance in the film is now part of the neighbourhood’s hospitality history.

When was the Camden Market film made?

The Roberts London film was published on 24 April 2016. The article retains that original archive date while adding current context checked in August 2026.