…I have posted similar pictures before of …

… St Katharine Docks (look under the stern of the boat in the foreground) and…

… the coots who live here, but it always makes me smile to see a coot…

… standing on the rudder to groom himself. He looks happy and that makes me feel happy.

This building in Islington is variously known as the tram shed, the tram depot or, more mysteriously, the mall, as Historic England calls it in its Grade II listing text.

Trams ran in London from 1860, when horse trams were introduced, and continued, with electrification until 1952. The tram shed, having become surplus to requirements went on to serve various new purposes.

I first became acquainted with it in the early years of this century or the latter years of last – I don’t remember exactly when. I do remember the circumstances, though. I had gone out to explore parts of London and had taken the tube from Hendon, where I then lived, to Islington, a destination chosen at random.

Quite by chance, I wandered towards the tram shed and along the narrow road to its right (part of Islington High Street). Here, I suddenly found myself among antiques shops, side by side, all the way along the continuation of the High Street, called Camden Passage. I later discovered that the tram shed was full of small shops and stalls, also selling antiques.

There was every kind of antiques that you can imagine: jewellery, silver, fine art and shops specialising in a sinle product: I remember one that dealt only in boxes of inlaid wood.

Several days a week there was a market when antiques dealers would set up their stalls in Camden Passage, creating a very lively scene.

This happy picture was to change when, despite considerable protest, the owners of the tram shed evicted the antiques stallholders and turned it into a single retail unit. Since then, several well known names have tried their luck here but none has lasted very long.

Closing the tram shed to the antiques stallholders affected the whole Camden Passage antiques trade. There are still antiques shops in the Passage and the market still takes place but it is no longer as it was. Many of the antiques shops, particularly the larger ones, have disappeared and been replaced by restaurants and other kinds of shops.

Today, I went for a stroll along Camden Passage and took a few photos.

This is the end of the High Street. The tram shed is behind me, over my left shoulder.

The High Street starts at the crossroads where the old Angel Inn once stood. There, it is a broad 4-lane highway. Within a short distance, however, the High Street disappears and the road continues as Upper Street. It took me a long time to discover that the High Street continues as a relatively insignificant street that branches off to the right and passes behind the tram shed.

This is the end of the High Street where it runs into Camden Passage. Camden Passage is L-shaped, branching off Upper Street and then turning sharp left as a pedestrian-only lane. The premises on the corner marked by the pink sign once accommodated small antiques shops and stalls but today, like the tram shed has been given over to a sole retailer.

This are two open areas in the Passage and on market days stalls are set out here. There is a canopy to protect the stalls and their browsing customers from the weather.

The open stall area shown in the previous photo stands at the mouth of a U-shaped passage full of small antiques shops. On market days some put out trestle tables with a selection of items for sale.

This is a second corner site where stalls can be set up under cover. Many a time I have wandered among the stalls, looking at items and even handling them under the watchful eye of the stall holder.

This is one of the few larger antiques shops to have survived. I suspect that these increasingly do their business online, seeing potential customers by appointment.

Towards the end of Camden Passage there are still stalls beside the shops on market days. However, these now tend to sell secondhand rather than antique goods or to specialise in costume jewellery, garments or decorative objects.

Camden Passage continues to exist but I think its glory days are past.

On my way home I passed through another market. Chapel Market is the name of the street and also of the market that takes place there. The market operates every day except Monday.

Chapel Market, the street, is lined with shops and there is no doubt that shops and stalls enjoy a symbiotic relationship, each bringing trade to the other. It is this symbiosis which, it seems to me, has broken down in Camden Passage, leaving the antiques trade there with an uncertain future.