Wonders at Wood Street Market Walthamstow

Welcome to Wood Street Market in Walthamstow, e17 massive! There are many excellent words beginning with ‘W’. Wonderful. Wizardly. Wowzer. ILM’s favourite W is Wood Street Indoor Market, conveniently in the borough of Walthamstow, and it in fact attributes itself to all of the above words. It’s a curious place, steeped in history and brimming with character; it’s not your average market and it really does need to be seen to be believed.

The Beatles in Martin's Toys & Memoribilia

The Beatles in Martin’s Toys & Memorabilia

A bringer of meaning to the term ‘hidden gem’, Wood Street is not your typical market layout. Instead of stalls, there are lots of little shops – some littler than others – and each beaming with the personality of the trader who ‘lives’ there. And as well as the usual market treasure types such as vintage and handmade craft, there is a framer’s, artist studio, cafe, nail bar, cake-crafter and gin emporium. Dickensian style windows let you peer into each outlet, all snaking along a Willy Wonka-esque maze of corridors. You could potentially spend hours here, and be as fascinated by the next shop as you were the last.

One such shop was Bunty Olsen Vintage, where we were drawn immediately to the little black and white TV in the corner, which was playing old movies. Stepping through the door was a bit like stepping back in time, and is the kind of place where, as well as wanting to buy a lot of the stuff, you could spend the day reading or doing something tranquil. There was an air of period drawing room in here, and we felt very inspired by that!

Bunty Olsen's Vinatge, Wood Street Indoor Market

Bunty Olsen's Vintage, Wood Street Indoor Market

Inside Bunty Olsen’s

ILM likes a wee tipple every now and then and we were therefore enthralled by Mother’s Ruin, a gorgeous little emporium selling homemade fruit liqueurs, gins and ales. Everything from the wallpaper down to the little labels on the bottles has been thought out and were beautiful, and the best part is that Becky, the owner, does everything herself; branding, bottling, growing and picking the fruit, and of course, making the alcohol. Despite it’s small square footage, this is another one of those atmospheric shops you could easily spend hours in.

Mother's Ruin, Wood Street Indoor Market

The wondrous Mother’s Ruin

We’re complete suckers for baby shoes here at ILM and so were taken in immediately by the knitted offerings from Butterfly. Lovely owner Jo not only offers a made-to-order knitwear service, which you can see her doing in the shop, but also houses captivating items of vintage, retro, and decoupage. Just about everything you need then, really!

Butterfly Crafts and Gifts, Wood Street Indoor Market

If you’re still not convinced to go and experience Wood Street for yourself, then know this: they have a resident dog. Nite the bichon frise is the happiest, friendliest little guy you could hope to come across on a visit to the shops and what’s more, he’s great at promotion. He picked up this ILM flyer and posed for the camera without us even asking him to. Hard working, and adorable!

Nite, Bichon Frise Dog, Wood Street Indoor Market

We have still barely touched on the magic of Wood Street. There was never a more eclectic mix of shops and professions, including Wood Street Coffee (who use beans from an ILM fave, Climpson’s and Sons), VXX Couture House, Being Sound and Forsaken Dreams… but you really must go and explore yourself. Every turn is a discovery and every discovery a delight, with truly friendly faces waiting to tell you about their wares, or just have a chat. So direct yourselves to E17 and have a wonderful, wicked, whimsical, whale of a time… we’re sure that you will!