The new shop is owned by Graham Walpole who for 25 years, until the end of 2000, traded out of Westbourne Grove in West London. Since joining the Westbourne Grove diaspora he has, for the past three years, been looking for suitable premises and planning the new
venture.
Two decades ago almost every shop in Westbourne Grove and Ledbury Road was an antiques business or a gallery.
Now they are all fashion emporiums and the dealers have been driven out by what Graham Walpole describes as “the changing nature of Westbourne Grove”.
Always a dealer with a leaning towards the decorative, Graham has now developed a new speciality and the core of his stock in Greenwich is maritime and military.
You will find campaign and colonial
furniture, scrimshaw and shell work alongside navigational instruments and China trade merchandise.
Based in Greenwich, there’s obviously the potential for sales to tourists and, of course, maritime items have plenty of collector appeal. However, the general thrust of business at Walpoles is still with interior decorators.
New berth for Westbourne veteran
LONDON: OPENING in the heart of Greenwich this week is a familiar name in a new location, Walpoles, which is located at 18 Nelson Road, London SE10 9JB (Tel: 0208 305 3080).
