Archway Market

Come along to the Road Run Street Art Festival taking place on Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June 2024 (10am-6pm) at Navigator Square N19 3TD by Archway Tube

With Live Art by Street Artists Wumzum, Pode, El Davo, Alley Cat, Hells and more...come and add to the public mural we’re creating! Plus free activities and entertainment. Family friendly.

Run by Summit Amiss in partnership with Islington Giving Elthorne Pride Big Local, Caxton House Community Centre , Archway Market , Archway Town Centre Group and Islington Council

Plus of course...a wonderful line-up of traders!

Rendezvous demain à Archway

OPEN SATURDAY 10 - 5 for the tastiest freshest veg, fabulous French Deli, organic pastries, cakes and loaves and loads of gorgeous gifts!!

I have to bring the awful news that my dear beloved friend Jon Privett the bookseller, has died. For those who knew him, I am so sorry for the terrible loss and shock I know you will feel. I find that anyone who was ever blessed enough to have even a single conversation with him, recalls it, as his was a most magnificent mind, with an unforgettably beautiful kind heart.

He is JonBook, in my phone. Jon, and books, inextricably linked. He loved to read, ‘loved’ feeling like an inadequate descriptor there..; he was possessed by written words, formed into glorious sentences by authors. His accumulated knowledge of literature, that is now gone, is hard to fathom and irreplaceable. His was the kind of knowledge you really can’t fake - decades of commitment to partaking in an artform. Jon, the reader.

He was a born bookseller and his business had many incarnations. He was selling from bread crates in Uper Street when in 2005, the idea for Archway Market was forming. It was my very first exciting thought, that I could bring books to N19, and I was so blessed and thrilled that Jon, the Pavement Professor, wanted to be part of this new venture. And so the Word On The Street book stall at Archway Market sprang to life. We became friends as well as colleagues very quickly, which was a good job, because of course with an anarchist sensibility and following numerous run-ins with coppers and the council, Jon was not keen on managers and being managed. The arrangement we made was…well, I knew that the best and only way to ‘manage’ Jon, was to tell him he could take as much space as he wanted and do whatever he liked. How that relationship developed over the years and the journey that the market and his bookstall took, would make a book. A bloody good, riotous book, packed with wonderful and hilarious stories of our adventures on the street in Archway.

Jon lived on a boat and, as with anything he valued, he loved and was utterly committed to boat life. His ultimate dream was to sell books on the canal. And so it was, when he met Paddy and Noy, that they joined with him to create the spectacularly beautiful and special, world-famous, universally and individually loved and treasured Word On The Water Bookshop.

As it grew and became more and more successful, he was able to start buying new books and thoroughly curate the stock as he had always wished. When frequently asked if there was a philosophy behind the curation of the stock he would say: ’It’s every great book I’ve read, and every great book I want to read.’ He also, with Paddy, makes damn sure the London Bookbarge represents voices. There is no lazy bookshop tokenism there, but instead, the knowledge of how the cultural wealth of marginalised voices is stolen, hidden and so easily lost to us if you don’t pay attention.

Jon was intensely thought-filled about the world. He was a fabulous activist. He chose not to eat any animal products 4 decades ago, and placed himself repeatedly in danger defending the uneatable from the unspeakable hunters, and defending the eatable with cogent compassionate argument and steadfast veganism.

He read Angela Davis as a teenager, and agreed with her that, in a racist world, it’s not enough to be not-racist, but that you have to be anti-racist. There was nothing that would have kept him away from the streets, masked, during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. And last year when people were queuing to look at the queen’s box, he was at the protest for Chris Kaba, yet another black man murdered by police.

He endlessly informed himself, and having already read Angela Davis and Malcolm X and Toni Morrison and Public Enemy and James Baldwin and so many many others, he wanted to listen to the new generation of voices. Of course perhaps the most accessible way to do that is to listen, by reading.

We had countless conversations chewing over the world, what to do about it all. We of course didn’t always agree, and frequently sparred with mutual respect and interest. There were times when I managed to persuade him of something..when he conceded a particular point. O wow to have Jon Privett find something I said illuminating - those moments are among my proudest!

When I start to think of how much I will miss those conversations, and all our conversations, it breaks me. Simply listening to him speak. When anything happened in the world, it was always guaranteed to be fascinating to get his take on it.

He leaves many of us broken-hearted. He leaves us all that most joyful creation and manifestation of his life’s work, Word On The Water.

And there is lovely, kind Zed, who I have not seen for many years, but feel that I know, from Jon’s gushing loving admiring stories.

And there is his wonderful, sweet-hearted, clever, creative daughter Megan. There is nothing he treasured more than to spend time with them. There are no words he loved more than theirs.

Goodbye dearest Jon, my friend, my brother.

This Saturday!!!

Nous sommes de retour 😜et avec des petits nouveaux en fromages alors venez les découvrir

Today is the start of Love Your Local Market fortnight, an opportunity to discover, visit and celebrate your local market. We're spoilt for choice in Islington, with ten markets offering a wide range of goods at value prices.

Which market is your favourite?

Find out more about the fantastic markets in your community here: https://orlo.uk/BukIQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX5xIp7erJ0

The Beach Boys - Vegetables (Visualizer) The official visualizer for “Vegetables” from ‘Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys’ Expanded Edition. Listen to The Beach Boys 'Sounds of Summe...

Rendez-vous demain à archway nous serons contre le mur du pub à cause du vent nous fermerons à 13h30

You know we have fabulous food from Francis et Sylvie. Celtic Bakery and Ted's Tasty Veg..but have you seen our gorgeous gifts? Tomorrow we have a lovely line-up of small businesses offering all sorts of lovely things for gifts or a treat. Interiors & kitchenalia, luxury skincare, candles & bath salts; pre-loved and new books + children's books; microgreen-growing kits; printed clothing & accessories; knitted woollens; jewellery, silk ties, prints & textiles, things for your dogs... We would love to see you there - you can shop local and get everything you need!

Tomorrow - you can get some early Christmas shopping done with us - these four amazing traders bring extra special scented candles, printed clothing, silk/wool blend scarves, gorgeous knits and natural plant-based skincare...plus of course, French cheese, deliciuous bread and the tastiest veg in town just because...

Rendez-vous demain à archway market blanc aux morilles # escargots # œuf en gelée # pâté de Noël

The wonderful Francis and Sylvie - tomorrow!

Check out this parade of special traders who will be gathering together a fortnight from today to offer you wonderful things which are either pre-loved, handmade or made from natural ingredients. plus tasty food! This is our first midweek market open into the evening. There'll also be entertainment from Mr Bobby Bubbles, A balloon-modelleing Elf and the London Shanty Collective singing carols! Do put it in your diary and spread the word...Thank you!!

Back tomorrow! with her delectable delightful wax melts and other gorgeous fragranced things... ; You can also get more info about her promoting breath and singing for well being - check her insta!

have a surprise for you! Tomorrow, their "Pummarola" fresh San Marzano tomato sauce, perfect to go with the green Spinach pappardelle!
❤️ See you tomorrow, 10am - 5pm, Navigator Square, N19 3TD

Gorgeous new stall from Sev's Natural Skincare - all sorts of elixirs and potions and lotions, handmade with love and plant-based ingredients. Come and say hi!

What are you reading lately? Fancy a bookshelf top-up? The selection and price at Word On The Street is unbeatable... Come and check it out! Every Saturday next to the vinyl.

Cette semaine escargots beurre persillé 🤤🤤🤤

Can't wait for fresh pasta tomorrow from Ravioli & Friends! Swing by for some proper Italian goodness made in North London!

Lapis lazuli...an absolutely gorgeous semi-precious stone that has been prized for centuries for creating the intense deep blue pigment known as 'ultramarine', used in this famous Vermeer painting... this Saturday you will find Sonas Crystals at the market with a beautiful display of all sorts of gorgeous stones and gems..

In the wilds of London’s suburbs, two Italian chefs have created Ravioli & Friends: pasta prepared according to authentic Italian traditions, renewed through innovative local recipes, and inspired by flavours from all over the world...
JOINING US THIS SATURDAY!!!