Portobello Road

THIS letter from the Deputy Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council Daniel Moylan appeared in ATG issue no. 1939, May 8.

It was in October 2007 that I was personally able to break the news to Costas Kleanthous that Kensington and Chelsea Council had decided to effectively create an enclave in Portobello for small shops which could act as a blueprint for other shopping and tourist destinations across Britain.

THE people of Portobello cheered at Kensington and Chelsea town hall as their local councillor demanded an investigation into “what could prove an absolute scandal” concerning the development site that now houses the local All Saints store.

THE Portobello Road antiques trade have suffered another blow after the shutters finally came down on a long-established Saturday market. The early morning Good Fairy Market closed in the first week of March with no indication given that it will reopen as an antiques market.

THE public protest over the replacement of antiques shops in Portobello by fashion stores and other chains is gathering pace.

A GROUP of Portobello Road dealers are to lobby the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea following the loss of a prominent antiques arcade to a highstreet retailer.

LIPKA’S Antiques Gallery, the Portobello antiques arcades that closed earlier this year, has now become an outlet for the AllSaints Spitalfields fashion chain.

A CHALK drawing of an ‘elephant graveyard’ appeared earlier this month at the entrance to the Portobello Road Market. The three-dimensional pavement art depicting an elephant carcass was the work of representatives for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), who in recent years have singled out the weekly antiques market in its campaign to curb the illegal trade in modern elephant ivory.

Portobello Road is one of three finalists for the Great Street Award 2009.

A NUMBER of dealers are having to leave The Van Arcade in Portobello Road after the owners issued a two-month notice to quit.

Council puts up new barriers to fend off invasion of clone stores and retail giants

THIRTY-six stallholders from Portobello Road made their way to Madrid at the end of June where the London street market was recreated for a day in the Spanish capital.

Council commission points to more sympathetic position

THE Saturday Portobello antiques market will not be disrupted by water board works as feared.

AFTER more than 41 years, veteran silver dealers Hymie and Shirley Dinerstein have left West London’s Portobello Road.

THE Portobello Management Committee have reached an agreement with Kensington and Chelsea council to safeguard the character and traditions of London’s best-known antiques thoroughfare.

PORTOBELLO Antique Dealers Association are more confident of a positive outcome in the debate over licensing since meeting local council officers last week.

Association vow to fight new licensing move: Portobello market is facing its own congestion issue as dealers report that the local council have threatened to confiscate stock from traders whose pitches illegally block the pavement or road.

COSTAS Kleanthous, pictured right, has been appointed a director of the board of LAPADA, the UK’s largest professional art and antique dealers’ association.