Portobello Road Market

ALMOST EVERYTHING, FROM ALMOST EVERYWHERE

D-day is coming. The gift must be valuable and unique but not a catastrophe for your pocket. The dilemma grows deeper every hour and there’s no space for anything else in your brain. And suddenly, like Newton’s apple, a name comes out, Portobello Road Market. You are not becoming an Einstein, but there’s no doubt it is a very convenient thought.

Portobello Road Market is a paradise of antiques, second-hand goods and handcraft that opens every Saturday from 8:00 to 6:30, with a democratic range of prices from a few to more than a thousand pounds.

There´s a lot of history in this colourful corner of London. Before going deep into the bustle of the market, you will pass by a quiet place and will see the house where George Orwell lived between 1930 and 1950.

For more than a kilometre along Portobello Street and side roads, hundreds of shops and stalls offer bric-a-brac of all kinds, attracting crowds of dealers, collectors and tourists from all over the world.


Watching, buying, investing

For many Londoners and outsiders the market is the opportunity to find beauty with the added value of a future investment. Andrea Marchetti, an Italian devoted to the high-design-furniture in Barcelona, comes seeking what is “original, weird, nostalgic; things that we used a short time ago but seem so distant to us in this dizzy era”.

“I even enjoy discovering objects of great decorative value, which are interesting not only because of their form and design, but because we have lost the knowledge to use them," he adds.

Street performers cover a wide range of rhythms, and it is possible to listen a Caribbean steel drum, blues, country or a Spanish air on the guitar. Many spaces encapsulate the essence of a country or its ambiences. The Russia of czars and Konsomols, the Arab bazaar with its carpets, the glitter of Cartier and Tiffany, or fabrics from India and South America.

“I always come looking for a specific thing but leave with many more, and happy”, says Richard, a 32 year-old Londoner. His girlfriend from Spain, Ana, says that they have walked a lot today and she met some friends from Toledo. “My back is killing me," she complains.

In cases like this, Portobello is plentiful of solutions. You may stop at one of the many pubs, cafes or arcades in the area, and next to the antiques market there is a sector where fruit, vegetable and hot food are sold.

Mary, an antique dealer for thirty years, says that her jewels and watches certainly are expensive, but cheaper than in other places. This morning an expert came to see her showing a great interest for one of the rings she wears and he was surprised by the price, set on £1800. “He assured me that in Regent Street this ring would be easily sold by £3000, and I agreed with him," Mary adds.

“This business is about buying and selling, sometimes it is fun and very profitable, sometimes it is not, but we have kept coming for the last 13 years and sincerely we can not complain," she states.

You will always find something here

At Portobello Road Market the sellers know their trade and are qualified experts. They are ready to give the potential buyers exhaustive information on a particular item.

Many of those who visit the market are caught unaware by the long list of temptations and the lack of facilities to pay by card. There is a very long queue in front of the ATM at the bank on the corner of Portobello and Elgin Crescent.

“The Saturday at Portobello is about enjoying the ambience, the people, the music and the search for some rarity. It is about looking for patiently, because any minute you can find an interesting object," Ana says as she eats Spanish fritter sitting in an outdoor café.

“We come at least once a month, and we already have our own little museum at home. It is the novelty we proudly show to everyone”.