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Grays Antique Centre is an antiques centre in
The Mews section is now closed and many of the dealers from that part of the building now trade from the sister company Alfies Antique Market located in Marylebone. The Mews section of Grays was built circa 1900 and was also taken over by Bolding in 1931.
The basement of the Mews had been under six feet of water for many years, and on closer inspection it was found that a spring arose from one end of the building. Now renovated, the shop claims that the water flowing through a conduit in its basement is the
Grays Antique Centre is an antiques centre in Mayfair
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, close to Bond Street station
Bond Street is a London Underground and Elizabeth line station in Mayfair, in the West End of London. Entrances are on Oxford Street, near its junction with New Bond Street, and on Hanover Square.
The station is on the Central line, between ...
and is better known as Grays Antique Market. Dealers specialise in antiques, jewellery, watches and collectables. The centre is home to nearly 100 dealers on 2 levels.
History
The Grays dealers are situated in a grade-two listed building onDavies Street
Davies is a patronymic surname of English or Welsh origin. There are two main theories concerning its beginnings, neither of which has been definitively proven. The first theory contends that it may be a corruption of "Dyfed", the name of a medie ...
designed by the Edwardian architect Reginald Bloomsfield. The building was originally commissioned by water closet manufacturers, John Bolding and Son. In 1977 it was restored by Bennie Gray, the founder of Grays from a near-derelict site to the former glories of the water closet showroom.
The Mews and the River Tyburn
The Mews section is now closed and many of the dealers from that part of the building now trade from the sister company Alfies Antique Market located in Marylebone. The Mews section of Grays was built circa 1900 and was also taken over by Bolding in 1931.
The basement of the Mews had been under six feet of water for many years, and on closer inspection it was found that a spring arose from one end of the building. Now renovated, the shop claims that the water flowing through a conduit in its basement is the River Tyburn
The River Tyburn was a stream (bourn) in London, its main successor sewers emulate its main courses but it resembled the Colne in its county of Middlesex in that it had many distributaries (inland mouths). It ran from South Hampstead, through M ...
, which rises in Hampstead and flows underground towards the River Thames. The ''Londonist
Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...
'' website describes this suggestion as "fanciful", as the modern Tyburn is a sewer.
See also
*Tyburn (stream)
The River Tyburn was a stream (bourn) in London, its main successor sewers emulate its main courses but it resembled the Colne in its county of Middlesex in that it had many distributaries (inland mouths). It ran from South Hampstead, through M ...
* Alfies Antique Market
References
External links
* {{London markets Antiques Business organisations based in London Mayfair