London's Italian street-food market brand Mercato Metropolitano has a presence at Battersea Power Station, adding another food destination to one of the city's biggest regeneration projects. For anyone planning a visit to the revived Grade II-listed power station on the south bank of the Thames, it means you can now pair the site's shops and river views with a casual Italian-style eating hall rather than a sit-down restaurant.
Mercato Metropolitano made its name with its original market near Elephant and Castle, which opened back in 2016. The concept is simple: a covered marketplace of independent food and drink traders, heavy on Italian favourites — fresh pasta, pizza, aperitivo, coffee — alongside a rotating mix of other street-food stalls. It's the kind of place where you grab a plate from one counter, a glass of wine from another and find a shared table. That format translates well to Battersea, which has been steadily filling up with dining options since the power station itself reopened to the public in October 2022.
The wider Battersea Power Station site is worth building a trip around. There's the retail mall inside the restored turbine halls, chimney-view experiences, the riverside walkway linking to Vauxhall and Chelsea, and regularly changing events in the public squares. Having a proper food market on the spot gives visitors a lower-key, more affordable eating option compared with some of the more polished restaurant bookings nearby — useful if you're stopping in for a couple of hours rather than making an evening of it.
Battersea is also easier to reach than it used to be. The Battersea Power Station Underground station on the Northern line extension opened with the site, putting it on the Tube map properly for the first time, and buses and the riverside path make it walkable from Chelsea or Vauxhall in about 15 to 20 minutes.
If you're the sort of traveller who likes food markets — Borough, Boxpark, the rest — this slots neatly into a London itinerary. Go hungry, expect queues at peak weekend times, and consider combining it with a stroll along the Thames or a visit to the nearby Battersea Park.
