Camden News - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS Published: 27 November 2008
Stallholders, from left, Phyllis Caras, Jean Archer, Stella Cox, Adrienne Renton and Mary Cantrill
Market forces: antique dealers trade Saturday for Sunday
HAMPSTEAD institution the antiques market returned this weekend after being controversially ordered out by bosses four months ago.
The antiques market was held every Saturday in the Hampstead Community Centre for decades until it closed in July to accommodate a new food market, to the distress of many traders who were given their orders to quit out of the blue just weeks earlier.
But this weekend, following negotiations with market bosses, the market was back: buttons, books, jewellery, knitted hats and old photographs of Hampstead were just some of the goods on offer following the unwelcome hiatus.
Jean Archer, who has run her antiques stall at the community centre for 32 years, said the market’s first-ever Sunday went well “in spite of the weather” and had already attracted three new traders.
She said she had “no hard feelings” about losing their Saturday slot but openly wondered if a food market was the most popular choice locally. “Hampstead people seemed to prefer the antiques market,” she said. “Nothing’s set in stone and it would be very nice if we did return to Saturdays.”
However she insisted she wished the new food traders well and said: “I definitely do want it to work for them.”