You may have heard on the grapevine that we’ve added another award to our cabinet. This month we were crowned Best Shop in Clerkenwell and Farringdon at the Time Out Love London Awards! This award is extra special to us because it’s voted for by you so we’d like to say a massive thank you for nominating us and making us winners. Congratulations to all our traders and staff too who make the fair what it is, this award belongs to you all. We’re so pleased you’ve enjoyed visiting the fair this year and we’re busy making sure our fairs in 2016 are just as fun and filled with vintage wonderfulness.
We celebrated our win by dancing the night away at the glitzy award ceremony at Bloomsbury Ballroom. The 1920s Art Deco venue certainly felt like an appropriate location to raise a glass to the fair and all our traders. We kicked up our heels in our finest vintage frocks from regular trader Retrouvé and danced up a storm with fantastic live music from swing band Gertie and her Gaity.
Talking to the lovely team at Time Out on the night we realised we had a lot more in common than we thought. Here are a few facts about the history of London’s essential magazine:
- Time Out was first released in 1968, making them a vintage classic. It was created by 21-year-old Tony Elliott.
- It first launched in London but now has editions in 36 cities worldwide; our capital is certainly a global trend setter.
- As well as a guide to what’s on, in the early days, Time Out also had a radical political stance and discussed issues such as gay rights, racial equality and police harassment.
- The name ‘Time Out’ was inspired by the jazz album of the same name by Dave Brubeck, released in 1959.
- You can download the first ever copy of Time Out, a four-page fold out here.
Not only has Time Out played a role in the lives of many people who have been lucky enough to live in London over the past five decades, it’s also had a special role in the history of our fair and letting London know who we are. We’d like to say a big thank you to Time Out for giving us the opportunity to win such a great award.
Celebrating with all the other award-winning independent businesses that night, it was wonderful to meet other Londoners who work twice as hard and often get half the recognition. After all, our vibrant, eclectic, cosmopolitan city isn’t special because of the chain shops, restaurants, cafes and bars that you can find in any city in the world, it’s special because of the number of top quality small businesses who make us unique.
See the list of all the winners here.