Borough Market Honey Shop Stall: Open Friday and Saturday

The London Honey Company sells from a stall in Three Crown Square at Borough Market, 8 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TL, which sits right next to London Bridge Station. The stall trades on Friday from 10am to 5pm and on Saturday from 9am to 5pm, according to the company's own Visit us page. Its flagship jar is Pure London Honey, made by bees on London rooftops and in wild urban corners, and it costs £12.50 for 250g on the company's online shop. For a company that has no ordinary high street shop, the stall is the place to meet the honey in person.

Steve Benbow founded the company in 1999. He was a photojournalist missing his rural Shropshire roots, and after meeting rooftop beekeepers in New York, where hives were still illegal at the time, he put honeybees on his own roof near Tower Bridge. Urban beekeeping was almost unheard of in London then, and the company says that simple act caught a mood for pure, natural food brought back into the heart of the city.

Today the hives are not only in London. The company keeps bees from the Kent coast to the Cotswolds and the high Shropshire Hills, and it describes its approach as slow beekeeping. It takes part in the Bee Farmers Association apprenticeship scheme, which takes three years to complete, and it has been supported by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, so a conversation at the stall can easily move from flavour to how a hive is managed. Ask which of the place-based jars was extracted most recently, and which comb is from this summer, because the answers change through the season and the person serving will know.

The company's online shop lists a price for every jar, and these are the figures to go by. Start with the place-based honeys. Wiltshire Wildflower, Cotswold, Kent Beach, Kent Summer, Shropshire and Borage are each £8.20 for 250g, which makes them the cheapest way to learn how geography changes honey. British Bell Heather and Ling Heather are £9.50 for 250g, and heather is the darker, stronger one that people either love or avoid.

If you want something to chew, Pure London Honeycomb is £13 for 170g, and British Summer Honeycomb is £11 for 170g. The infused honeys are better used as ingredients than spreads. Infused Pure Honey with Italian Truffle is £9.70 for 100g, Smoked Chipotle Chilli honey is £9.70 for 250g, and Vanilla honey is £11 for 250g. Hot Chilli Honey, a newer line, is £17 for 350g.

The hives also supply wax. British Beeswax Candles, a standard pair in a gift box, are £16, and a hand-turned British wood honey dipper is £11.90. The company sells the Manuka honey NPA 15+ too, at £33, but with so many British single-origin jars on the table, it is the one to skip. Buy the heather or the London honey instead, and use the saved money on a honeycomb. The company's Cotswold Honey Hamper is £40 and its London Hamper is £45, which are the easiest ways to turn a market visit into a present without choosing jar by jar.

Borough Market says Saturday afternoons are its busiest time, and the passageways range from 1.5 metres to 4 metres wide, so a stall that stays open until 5pm is easiest to reach early in the day. The stall opens at 9am on Saturday, an hour earlier than on Friday, which makes Saturday morning the best time for a slow conversation with whoever is serving.

Friday is the calmer day and the stall opens at 10am. If the Saturday aisle is shoulder to shoulder, step out to the edge of Three Crown Square, buy a jar and come back for the honeycomb later. The market surface includes cobbles, so wear flat shoes if you plan to carry several glass jars home.

Three Crown Square is the area of the market for larger producers and merchants, while the Green Market holds the small specialist produce traders and Borough Market Kitchen holds the street food. Eat something from the Kitchen first and buy the honey on the way out, because glass jars are heavy to carry around a crowded market. The market's own site describes more than 100 stalls, stands, restaurants, bars and shops, so a honey run easily turns into a full lunch, and the honey stall is a good place to end the round with something to take home.

Southwark Cathedral stands next to the market, and London Bridge Station is the quickest way in and out. If you want to see where the bees live, the company's roots are near Tower Bridge, further along the river from the market.

Stall: The London Honey Company, Three Crown Square, Borough Market, 8 Southwark Street, London SE1 1TL. Hours: Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm. Borough Market entry is free and open to everyone.

Plan 20 minutes for the stall, and bring a tote bag, since the company sells its own cotton London Honey Co. bag for £15 if you forget one. Pair one pale jar with one dark jar, such as Kent Summer at £8.20 and Ling Heather at £9.50, and you have a tasting flight for the kitchen table for under £18. If it is crowded or sold out of a jar, the company's online shop carries the same range, and its wholesale page lists the delis and bakeries across London that stock it. For a gift, the British Honey Duo of London Creamed and Cotswold is £20.