BENNIE GRAY
For those of you who may not already know, Grays has a sister antique market just up the road in Marylebone. Alfies Antique Market is home to around 75 antique dealers with a leaning towards chic interiors and quality vintage fashion. As well as specialist antique dealers such as Barry Landsmann, who sells exquisite 18th & 19th Century watercolours, there is a huge variety of 20th century design. Decoratum, owned by Jeff Salmon of ‘Four Rooms’ fame, has one of Europe’s largest showrooms of 20th century furniture and art taking up the entire lower ground floor at Alfies.
What’s exciting at the moment is that Church Street itself is fast becoming a celebrated destination for London’s art and antique elite. Where tourists and weekend browsers flock to places such as Portobello Rd and hip East London, Church Street has blossomed into a design lovers paradise for people looking to inject a little history and style into their bustling lives. The seeds of regeneration started back as early as 1976, when entrepreneur Bennie Gray bought the dilapidated Edwardian department store, Jordan’s, and opened Alfies Antique Market.
At the time the deteriorated state of the building was echoed along Church Street, where what had once been a thriving working class community fell into the familiar pattern of inner city decay with shops boarded up and vandalism rife.
Named after his father, Alfies opened to become an unpretentious, un-daunting antiques experience to welcome younger people into a relaxed ambience with a design-orientated stock not to be found in antiques emporiums elsewhere. Thirty-five years on and Alfies is still flourishing. A favorite among interior and fashion designers, serious collectors and vintage devotees alike, Alfies has achieved a loyal and diverse customer base that reflects is quirky and distinctive character.
Alfies is now a commercial hub on Church Street, a street which has attracted a host of dealers in the decorative industries and become a destination for interior decorators, designers and those seeking the chic and cheerful. Some 20 independent dealers now line the street, many of whom started out with a stand at Alfies. The renowned Lisson Gallery and the Showroom Gallery are just around the corner, antiquarian bookshops line Bell Street, and leading couture fabric shop Joel & Son also graces the street. The Cockpit Theatre provides a welcome performance space and The Church Street Association offers year round community projects, such as the Church Street Festival, to involve local residents in street activities.
The whole area is in state of rejuvenation and a bustling trading community has been firmly established. The vibrant mix of art, antiques, community projects, as well as the historic fruit and vegetable market is what makes Church Street stand out from other retail and consumer driven areas. It’s a hidden gem that is on the verge of becoming an illustrious district in London. If you haven’t visited yet, what are you waiting for!
Jenna Garner
PR & Marketing Manager
Niall Fairhead
February 27, 2012
And what a great place is Alfies Market! I have been there many times both buying and selling. I have drunk many a cappuccino in the cafe up aloft!
To be recommended!
Niall Fairhead
http://www.images-art.co.uk