Today, London's open-air markets draw visitors from around the world - and the same was true in Victorian days! As far back as 1893, people gathered in the old Cattle Market for what we'd probably call a rummage sale today. You could buy meat for the table or a puppy for the kennel at Leadenhall Market; go to the rag fair for cheap clothing; jostle through Covent Garden for fruit, vegetables and flowers; or visit Billingsgate for fresh fish. Barrow-men and street vendors sold just about anything you could imagine from hand-carts and corner stalls - and just as today, these markets brought together sellers from London's many ethnic groups.

Newgate Market (Leisure Hour, 1860)

Rag Fair (Leisure Hour, 1860)

Fish and Flesh in Leather Lane (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1875)

London's street of fish and butchers' shops.

A Peep at Billingsgate, by Edward Oxenford (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

The great fish market of London.

Concerning Covent Garden (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1887)

A look at "busy, crowded, jostling, dirty Covent Garden," London's primary market-place for fruit, vegetables and flowers.

How London Gets Its Fish, by F.M. Holmes (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1891)

Another look at the Billingsgate fish market.

In Leadenhall Market, by Arthur Morrison (The Strand, 1892A)

If you wanted to buy an animal or a bird (alive or dead), this was the spot in London to find it - from a man with pockets full of puppies to butchers with rows of plucked turkeys and geese for the table.

The People's Fair, by F.M. Holmes (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1893)

Today we'd probably call this fair, held in the old Cattle Market at Islington, a "community yard sale" or tailgate sale.

The London Flower Market (Girl's Own Paper, 1902)

• See also Business on the London Streets