Alfies Antique Market at 13–25 Church Street, Marylebone NW8 8DT opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, and is closed on Sunday and Monday. That closure is the single thing people get wrong: a weekend trip planned around Alfies works on Saturday and collapses on Sunday.
Alfies is four floors of separate dealers in a former department store, a building it describes itself as art deco in style, about four minutes' walk from Marylebone station and five from Edgware Road. Entry is free, you are not expected to buy anything, and the stock runs from a £15 brooch to five-figure furniture. It is the largest indoor antiques market in London and the least intimidating way to see how the trade works.
The street matters as much as the building. Church Street is Westminster's largest licensed street market, and the council's own description places London's best-known antiques quarter at its Lisson Grove end — which is exactly where Alfies stands. Our overview of London's antiques markets covers the arcades and the trade fairs across the city; this page is about this building and this street.
Alfies and Church Street: the practical frame
- Alfies opening days
- Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm. Closed Sunday and Monday, and on some public holidays
- Church Street market
- Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm (Westminster City Council)
- Entry
- Free to both
- Busiest
- Saturday, which Alfies describes as its most active trading day
- Walk from the Tube
- Marylebone about 4 minutes (345 m), Edgware Road about 5 minutes (303 m), Baker Street about 7 minutes (571 m)
- Step-free?
- Partly. Lifts and stairlifts reach several floors; Alfies says full step-free access throughout is limited by the age of the building
The building was a department store, and you can still read it
Before it was Alfies it was Jordan's, a Marylebone department store established in 1880 that sold clothing and accessories and survived into the 1970s. Bennie Gray bought it and opened Alfies in the summer of 1976, naming it after his father Alfie Gray, a jazz drummer who had also been an antiques dealer with a stall on Church Street and who had encouraged his son to buy the place. The Pearly King and Queen turned out for the opening and paraded down the street.
Alfies began on the ground floor only. Within a few months it had filled all four levels, which is why the layout feels like a shop that has grown into a building rather than a building designed as a market. Gray went on to open Grays in Mayfair, the jewellery and watch arcade beside Bond Street station, which is why the two markets feel related; our guide to Bond Street and Mayfair covers that end of the trade.
One thing to know before anyone tells you otherwise: the building is not a listed building. A search of Historic England's National Heritage List for a box around 13–25 Church Street returns nothing at that address. The listed buildings nearby are Christ Church on Cosway Street, at Grade II*, the Exeter Arms public house, and the terraces on Ranston Street. The frontage is handsome and the interior has period fittings, but its protection comes from the conservation area rather than from the statutory list.
How many dealers there actually are
Alfies gives two different figures on its own site, and there is no point pretending otherwise. Its home page and its history page both say "nearly one hundred" or "close to one hundred" dealers; the frequently asked questions page says "over 80 specialist dealers". Either way, the number you should carry is that this is dozens of independent businesses under one roof, each with its own prices and its own opinions, not a single shop with a single till.
That structure changes how you shop. Every cabinet and unit is a separate business, so a price agreed with one dealer means nothing at the next. You pay each dealer directly, most take cards, and cash is still useful for smaller pieces. There are also craftspeople working in the building — Alfies lists jewellery repairs and clock restoration among them — which is unusual and worth knowing if you are carrying something that needs fixing rather than buying something that does not.
Nobody at Alfies expects you to buy anything. There is no entry fee, no ticket and no obligation, and the building is one of the better free hours in this part of London on a wet Tuesday. Go up to the top floor first and work down; the lift traffic runs the other way.
What the dealers sell, and what you should expect to pay
Alfies lists its stock as antique jewellery, vintage fashion and accessories, fine art, retro collectables, interior furnishings, textiles, ceramics, glass and silverware. Dealers move between units, so rather than a floor plan — which would be out of date by the time you read it — ask at the management office if you are hunting something specific. Alfies publishes a dealer directory on its website, searchable by name, which is the sensible thing to look at before you travel.
| Looking for | How to approach it | What to expect to pay |
|---|---|---|
| Vintage clothing and accessories | Several dealers specialise; try them all before buying, because the same era is priced differently unit to unit | Our estimate, September 2026: from about £30 for small accessories, into the hundreds for designer pieces |
| Antique and costume jewellery | Cabinet dealers, who will open the case and let you handle pieces | Our estimate, September 2026: a wide band, from under £50 to several thousand |
| Furniture, lighting and interiors | Ask about delivery before price: carriage decides whether the piece is worth it | Our estimate: mid-hundreds upwards, plus shipping |
| Ceramics, glass and silver | Compare against the London Silver Vaults for silver before committing | Our estimate: from about £20 for small pieces |
| Repairs and restoration | Ask at the management office for the craftspeople working in the building | Quoted per job |
Those price bands are our own estimate from the categories Alfies lists, not figures read off tickets, because in a market of separate dealers there is no published price list. Ask, and expect a reasonable dealer to move a little on a piece they have had for a while. Our vintage and second-hand shopping guide covers the cheaper end of the same instinct.
Church Street itself, which is two markets in one street
Westminster City Council calls Church Street its largest market and licenses trading Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm. The commodities it lists are fresh food, flowers and plants, household goods, bags, clothing, shoes, delicatessen and international takeaway food, and that is what you will find along most of the street: an ordinary, busy, inexpensive neighbourhood market serving one of the most mixed neighbourhoods in central London.
The antiques are concentrated at the Lisson Grove end, where Alfies is, and the shopfronts on either side of it continue the same trade at street level. We have deliberately not given a count of those shops: the number moves, and every figure in circulation is somebody's guess. Walk the block either side of Alfies and you will see what is currently trading.
The two halves of the street also run on different clocks. The food and household stalls are properly busy from mid-morning and thinning by five; the antique shops keep shop hours and several of them close on Monday alongside Alfies. Our page on markets by day of the week sets out which London markets work on which day, and opening hours and Sunday trading explains the rules underneath.
Tuesday to Saturday means Tuesday to Saturday. Alfies is shut on both Sunday and Monday, and it also closes on some public holidays. A bank holiday Monday is therefore the worst possible day to come: the street market may be running but the antiques quarter will largely be dark.
Getting it home, and what the tax rules allow
Small items travel in a suitcase; anything larger needs shipping, and the dealer will usually have a shipper they use. Ask for the price of packing and carriage before you commit, because on a mid-priced piece of furniture it can be a significant share of the total.
There is no VAT refund to be had. The scheme that once let overseas visitors reclaim VAT on goods carried out of Great Britain was withdrawn on 1 January 2021, and the only remaining tax-free route is when a shop sends the goods directly to an address outside the UK — which, for a dealer who ships anyway, is worth asking about. Many genuine antiques are in any case outside the standard VAT treatment; ask the dealer to put what you are paying, and what it includes, in writing on the receipt. Our page on tax-free shopping in the UK has the detail, and how much cash to bring to London is relevant if you plan to negotiate.
Eating, resting and the rest of the hour
There is a rooftop restaurant inside the building, which Alfies advertises for the view over the surrounding rooftops, and the street outside is lined with cafes serving the market. We have not named any of them here: we check every place we recommend on the Food Standards Agency register first, and the eating places on this stretch are small, change hands and are best judged on the rating sticker in the window on the day you visit. Look for it before you sit down.
If you have half a day rather than an hour, the obvious pairing is Marylebone proper, ten minutes east, where the high street and the quieter Marylebone Lane are a different kind of shopping altogether, and the Wallace Collection is free and full of exactly the sort of objects the dealers here handle. In the other direction, the Circle and District lines from Edgware Road are explained in our guide to the District and Circle lines.
Frequently asked questions
What days is Alfies Antique Market open?
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays, and closed on some public holidays, so a bank holiday weekend is a poor time to plan a visit. Saturday is its busiest trading day.
Is Alfies Antique Market free to enter?
Yes. There is no entry charge and no ticket, and you are free to browse all four floors without buying anything. Each dealer is an independent business, so you pay them directly.
Where is Alfies Antique Market?
At 13–25 Church Street, Marylebone, London NW8 8DT, at the Lisson Grove end of Church Street. It is about four minutes' walk from Marylebone station, five from Edgware Road and seven from Baker Street.
Is Church Street market open on Sunday?
No. Westminster City Council licenses trading on Church Street from Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm. Alfies, at the antiques end of the same street, is additionally closed on Monday.
Can you get a VAT refund on antiques bought in London?
Not by carrying them home yourself: the retail export scheme ended in Great Britain on 1 January 2021. The one exception is where the dealer ships the goods directly to an address outside the UK, which is worth asking about if you are buying something that needs shipping anyway.
Sources
- Westminster City Council - Church Street NW8 market, days, hours and commodities (page last updated 10 July 2026; checked September 2026)
- Westminster City Council - Markets in Westminster (checked September 2026)
- Historic England - National Heritage List for England, open data service (checked September 2026)
- Historic England - Christ Church, Cosway Street, list entry 1356972 (checked September 2026)
- Food Standards Agency - food hygiene rating search (checked September 2026)
- GOV.UK - Tax-free shopping (checked September 2026)