A paper chase

At the moment Centrepoint is swathed in netting and surrounded by scaffold and boarding, LRT's homogenous new Tottenham Court Station is partially open, (Northern Line only), chunks of the eastern end of Oxford Street resemble a builders yard, The Astoria is long gone and Denmark Street is doomed.
St Giles, it is a-changing. But there are glimmers of hope here and there.
I wrote last year about the old emporiums of Tottenham Court Road and mentioned within that there was an empty site on the corner of Goodge Street. Well, on a visit to Paperchase last week I noticed the new build and I am glad to report that the old façade of the gothic frontage above Eat is being retained, so that's good.

Paperchase and two pics of the construction site on the other side of the road

Relieved, I entered the colourful world of Paperchase on a hunt for some large sheets of coloured and textured paper.
I have never in all my days seen so few people in there. It was so quiet. I know it was a Friday at about 2.30pm but I had the feeling that any minute they might announce a closing down sale. It had been the same when I had popped into Heals and Habitat earlier that day for a nose about. Where are all the people? Has everyone spent all their dosh on Christmas Presents and in the sales? Is everyone hibernating? Have the tourists gone home?

The colourful world of Paperchase

Paperchase is probably the last decent shop selling stationery and more craft-based items in Central London, but they didn't stock what I was looking for. They did have lots of gorgeous multi-coloured sheets of hand-printed wondrousness that would look great framed or hanging from bulldog clips as 'art', tiers of craft paper, shelves of stationery, and racks of cards, but they had nothing subtle enough for my specific needs. 

So I went to Faulkiners Fine Papers, recently moved from Bloomsbury and now part of Shepherds. There I found exactly what I was looking for. Well, I knew I would. They have about 50 books of A4 samples containing all kinds of lovely large paper stocks, and all at really cheap prices too and no minimum order. It's hard not to buy things in there!
This makes me realise that we now have hardly any independent stationers and art shops left in Central London. All I can think of is Green & Stone of Chelsea. Yes, we have big companies such as London Graphics, Cass Fine Art, Scribbler and even Rymans, but where have all the little shops gone?
Here in Holloway I am lucky that we have this well stocked stationers, but the small art shop that used to be opposite Holloway tube station, and was trading for decades, has recently closed down probably due to competition from a branch of Cowling & Wilcox further down the road, though that too also looks to be rather empty every time I pass or go inside.
In nearby Finsbury Park there is Fish & Cook with it's gorgeous old shop front. I also have fond memories of a little stationers in Smithfield which closed down a few years ago.
All of which makes me think about other independent craft shops such as Creativity (wools) which used to be near Holborn station. Throughout the 80s and 90s I took that place for granted and shopped in there often. I now can't find find an image or ref of it anywhere. How sad.
And there used to be a fabulous art shop that at the St Giles end of Monmouth Street that sold paint in powder form by weight, and artists' canvas by the foot. I can't now recall the name of the shop. What happened to them?

Coffee anyone? A mobile phone contract? How about a pizza?

P.S. This is not a Paperchase advertisement; Paperchase is a lovely shop full of lovely things and I am happy to endorse it. But if anyone at Paperchase would like to offer me something for this bit of free promo mentioning the company name eight times, then please do get in touch.
Paperchase, Paperchase – I thought I'd best make it a round ten.