Secondhand and Vintage London

As I have mentioned before on more than one occasion, I am a born and bred Londoner. I grew up in West London, and Portobello market was one of my stomping grounds as a teen. I started having an interest in 'old' clothes, I think as a result of that wonderful road, and its amazing weekend markets, and had been buying secondhand and vintage clothing for years before my transformation into a full-time vintage girl.

For the last four years I have been frequenting the vintage shops of East London, and I feel I am pretty familiar with the majority of what are considered to be the best of the vintage shops from across town. Therefore, when I was offered this new publication to review, I thought, well it might be interesting, although I'm not sure how much it can tell me that I don't already know. (That sounds hideously like the words of a know-it-all, I know ;-)

'...shopping for secondhand and vintage in London is an adventure, a journey of discovery that takes you to some of the city's most individual shops, found in its most atmospheric quarters.'

The book itself is an A5 paperback, and wouldn't be considered as something gorgeous for the coffee table, however, I really like it.  It feels like an A-Z, or one of those books that you used all the time at school that becomes well thumbed and is comfortable in your hand and handbag.

It is categorised by four chapters; Clothes and Accessories, Books, Music and Memorabilia, Home and Garden and Only in London. I particularly like the 'Only in London' chapter, where there are sections on markets and car boot sales. 

'Remember - all vintage is secondhand, 

but not all secondhand is vintage'

Ok, so I hear you say 'I could look up car boot sales on the internet' Yes, you could, but in an age when its all too easy to google everything, isn't it nice to own something that someone has been lovingly researched, where there everything in one place, categorised, by area as well as type...that you can actually hold in your hand? I think so. The shops also have a rating in terms of how expensive they are, so if you fancy a cheap shopping trip, you can make sure you avoid the more expensive shops, before you fall in love with something out of your price range by accident!

The author, Andrew Whitaker, has a lovely tone to his descriptions, and I could imagine him traipsing around all the shops, and interviewing the owners, with real and genuine interest.

It even has those super futuristic barcode scanner thingamabobs so you can access the maps of each area on your clever phone.

As a reference guide, I think this is great, and does exactly what it says on the (vintage) tin.

'...the simple, magical allure of old things...'

*all featured quotes are by the author Andrew Whitaker