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One of two horse head sculptures in the new market. |
There’s ‘neigh’ wrong with the revamped Stables, say tourists
The punters are happy, but horses’ heads are an offer traders would rather refuse
SOME of them stand at over six feet tall. They’re all hard to miss, and one is probably the biggest sculpture of a horse’s head you’ll ever see. But are the statues at the Stables Market in Camden Town, recently unveiled as part of a multi-million pound revamp, any good?
Well, the tourists seem to like them. “Unique” and “the best thing we’ve seen in London” were just two of the responses that met the New Journal when reporters went for a walkabout at the Chalk Farm Road tourist spot this week.
Traders, on the other hand, are not all so sure. They described the £20m glass and steel overhaul of the historic horse tunnels and the proliferation of the bronze statues as a step away from the market’s bohemian origins.
They say the market has begun to resemble a Camden Town theme-park, a chance for tourists and teenagers to have a day out but spend little more than the price of a crepe or a box of stir-fry. Tourists, however, said they like the newly unveiled tunnels and the horse theme that ties the market together.
Andreas Constantinou, an accountant from Golders Green, visited the market for the first time on Monday with his wife Sarah. “The horses are stunning,” he said. “I can understand why lots of people from around the world come here.”
Dancers Jill Finnigan, 17, and Edward Kitchen, 18, from Middlesbrough, said the wealth of vintage shops had made the Stables “the best place we’ve been so far in London,” and they liked the horses. “It’s like they’ve brought back what it was and are proud of the history,” Mr Kitchen said.
But one trader, who didn’t want to be named, said the vast sums of money would have been better spent on a Picasso.
Market campaigner Suki Jacobs said there are so many statues they were “horse to tail”. She added: “There are two massive heads; one is great, two is overkill. The market is so cluttered tourists are actually bumping into the statues.”
Fellow campaigner James Livingston called the revamp “a complete disaster” that had devastated the Horse Hospital block, “the only remaining attraction for serious foreign visitors and London collectors,” and left a Soho-style restaurant and bar complex in its wake.
Stables Market management did not take up the offer to comment. |
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