Dealers

A second major property development unveiled for Cork Street in Mayfair now means that over half of the galleries there face being forced out.

Last month, we reported that seven of the 22 galleries on Cork Street in Mayfair were informed in August that their leases will not be renewed next year.

In a new blow to art and antiques dealers who are increasingly being priced out of London’s West End, seven of the 22 galleries in Mayfair’s Cork Street have been informed that their leases will not be renewed next year.

Antiques dealers in the heart of central London who are suffering from being caught up in one of Europe’s largest construction projects are calling for some respite from the ongoing disruption.

An illustration of the Polish composer Frederic Chopin by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) was the star attraction at a recent auction in Wales.

Pressure for better police cover is starting to pay off for Portobello antiques dealers – but they say there is still much to be done. The traders have been incensed by cuts that left just four officers to patrol the area in pairs on Saturdays despite a recent rise in robberies, and demanded action on extra patrols.

COMMENT: More than 60,000 visitors on a summer Saturday, one of the most popular tourist spots in the UK, a name so recognised internationally that the local council wants to brand a Crossrail station after it... there are plenty of reasons to protect Portobello‘s antiques trade.

The dreaded experience of the inexperienced gallery-goer: having mustered the courage to ring the buzzer on the door, you’re greeted by a deathly silence as you nervously look at the works under the hawk-like gaze of a dealer. No prices and you’re too scared to ask. This is exactly the kind of image that the organisers of Master Paintings Week and Master Drawings London are trying to combat.

An alarming rise in violent robberies on antiques dealers in Portobello Road has spurred them into action to call for better police cover, CCTV cameras and even private security guards.

It’s closing time for another antiques market in the Portobello Road area where dealers increasingly fear for the future of their trade.

TRADERS in Sheffield have launched an initiative to promote the city’s antiques quarter that could provide a template for other parts of the country to follow.

IT was the five o’clock shadow that gave it away. When London dealer Philip Mould spotted this 18th century portrait in a general paintings sale at the New York auctioneers Thomas Cornell Galleries in November last year, he thought it to be of a rather masculine middle-aged lady.

Seven-day trading in the basement at the Admiral Vernon Arcade has been given the green light despite fears it might sound the death knell for antiques in Portobello.

WITH their move to new premises, Mallett have announced a profit for the first time in four years.

MALLETT have quit their New Bond Street showroom for Ely House in Dover Street, in the heart of Mayfair.

A DETAILED survey of the relationship between antiques dealers and their banks has highlighted a serious breakdown in communication and little inclination on the part of the financial institutions to understand the special nature of the antiques business.

THE Royal Mint stands accused of ripping off the public through sales of coins as collectables. Even the latest Olympic issue is affected, it is claimed. The problem has become so outrageous, says the UK's leading dealer in the secondary market in non-gold coins from the Royal Mint, that he has announced a boycott.

MALLETT have assigned the lease on their Bond Street rooms to fashion house Fendi and have confirmed that they are negotiating new premises in Mayfair.

TOP-END furniture dealers Mallett made a £1.3m loss last year, a 30 per cent improvement on 2009.

THE Arctic weather that struck the UK last week caused severe disruption during one of the busiest periods in the calendar for the art and antiques trade.