New Market

Category: Market
Visiting Time: Weekdays 10:30am –7pm; Saturdays 10:30am –2pm; Sundays closed
Admission Fee: Nil
Hit the Spot: Any Esplanade bound bus and a few Howrah bound buses can bring one here.
Nearest Railway Station: Howrah
Nearest Metro Station: Esplanade
Nearest International Airport: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.
Approximate Time required for sight seeing: 2 hours
Parking: Hourly parking charges applicable.
Contact: Lindsay Street (or Neli Sengupta Sarani), Kolkata – 700013

According to some the first multi-shopping mall in the world, Hogg Market, Hogg Saheber Bajaar, or New Market – they all refer to the same Kolkatan institution, which has been a landmark shopping location for Kolkatans since 1874. Constructed by East India Railway Company’s renowned architect R. Bayney, it is an architecturally Gothic market-complex, with a red-brick clock tower to complement its Gothic structure. Housing about 2500 shops all under one roof, it was originally conceived to serve the needs of the British upper class in Kolkata. However, it is now an integral part of the cosmopolitan landscape of the city, and caters to the needs of modern Kolkata, with shops selling everything from saris, to leather from Shantiniketan. Nevertheless, the colonial past of the market is still kept alive through rare shops selling Bandel cheese (an Anglo-Indian variety of cheese), barley sugar and even Christmas decorations and plum pudding, letting it remain the best place for Christmas shopping in the city. A part of the market was unfortunately burned down by a fire in 1985, but was soon rebuilt.

Nahoums & Sons, a legendary Jewish family owned bakery and confectioner’s in the heart of the market, remains an old favourite for many. Try the plum cake, the fudge or the black-forest pudding.