Going, going, gone – the Criterion Auction Rooms
Well this is a bit different from Sotheby’s. I’ve been window shopping at Sotheby’s – I actually furnished much of my Stoke Newington house from the Criterion Auction Rooms!
The Islington branch is in that little bit of Essex Road that hasn’t been complete ly gentrified yet. You find lovely antiques, but you can also find a solid wood Victorian kitchen table like the one in my grandad’s kitchen for ten or fifteen quid – if you’re lucky.
Auctions are on Mondays. That gives you Friday and the weekend to look at the lots. A viewing here is always fun – it’s like a fantastic junk shop, cluttered and higgledy-piggledy, with clocks, jewellery, trinkets on the top of the tables, dressers and sideboards, tables piled on tables and wardrobes forming narrow alleys of wood. You’ll find something – if you look hard enough – indeed, it’s hard not to believe that if you look around long enough , you’ll find the manuscript copy of Hamlet, or perhaps the way into Narnia.
And the auctions seem to be crammed in among all the furniture. It’s a much more informal atmosphere than Sotheby’s – sometimes it seems slightly mad, if there’s a stuffed tiger glaring at the auctioneer or one of the assistants pulls the wrong lot out by mistake.
Definitely the place for a bit of weekend fun. And when you’re finished, there are plenty of good places nearby to get a cup of coffee or a spot of lunch.
Besides, you could always combine your viewing with a little shopping in the Angel antiques market, if you’re down here on Saturday morning.
Where: 53 Essex Road, Islington (Angel tube)
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