Week 7: Covent Garden vs The Grove

This past week I had to go to London for some personal reasons.

While I was there I went to Covent Gardens. Although it was my first it reminded me of The Grove where I had just been, buying some gifts for relatives back home. 

Covent Garden

Covent Garden- Seven Dials

Covent Garden was a large area, which had shops, restaurants, stalls and a ridiculous amount of people. It was a weekday, but there were still thralls of people. In a city with so many people and different cultures, even more than Los Angeles it can be difficult to discern from a local to a tourist. The make up of the people were all types of europeans, although eastern european languages weren't heard as much, considering of the influx of eastern europeans in London. I saw South Asians, East Asians, Arabs, Black, Whites, really everything.

Covent Garden

Covent Garden

There were people dressed in mostly western clothing, some looking like they came from work and other people just roaming around. It was heavily crowded, so most people seem like a blur. There were people performing in a few places. They had some locally owned places, but also big chains, like Apple, Forever 21 (which is much fancier over there, because it isn't at every mall) and few other American/international chains. There was also a farmer's market area, where people were selling all types of things, a lot of art, handmade goods, confectionary and so on.

It had cobblestone roads and was open ended. There was no exact "openings" or "exits" to Covent Garden. It has also been here for over a hundred years and was always know for its commercial history. It used to be a traditional farmers market, where actual farmers would come to sell their vegetables and fruits.

Covent Garden

The Grove

The Grove opened in the early 2000s. Here they also have a farmer's market, that was present before. However the rest of the buildings and cobblestone pavement has been built recently. This area is closed somewhat closed, centralized and orderly, because it was built with the purpose as serving as a commercial area, whereas Covent Garden slowly expanded. Also, here, they have an actual parking lot, which is a stark contrast to the over crowded tube station. 

The Grove

Because this area is more controlled, and an open air mall, they do not allow loitering or any street performers. They have carts there, but they are somewhat permanen the Farmer's Market is also more established and they even have a Starbucks there. 

They both had holiday season lighting up. They also had large amounts of people, however the people here seemed more affluent, not rich, just generally well off at the Grove. The Grove also has higher end shopping.