My Favourite Shop

My Favourite Shop

21 July, 2008
by: Frank

I fell into London with a sigh as if into a warm bath. Among the gothic council estates and the abattoirs I found my way and I lost it too. I quickly became hooked on the cheap tricks of the movable magic shop in the tunnels beneath Charing Cross. It's run by a sinister child in a mini tuxedo, he dazzles and frightens the punters through quick fingers and dead eyes. I eventually learned to ignore the elastic coins and rubber fingers. I was persistent, I studied the darker edges of the craft; the theories of cruel trickery and wicked manipulation, linger. Linger and eventually he'll take you into the back rooms that smell of madness. You'll have to fight off his craven advances but he's never seen the sun and he's weak. When he's exhausted and can only flop like a beached whale, demand that he show you the forbidden boxes, I swore to break his finger before he would. I saw the perverted remains of the decadent Edwardians, who believed in nothing and felt even less. There are bone marrow bombs and the secret songs of the rag and bone men to make you sell the things you love. There are slow poisons and blueprints of long illegal machines. Take what you can and run far away because if you linger he'll enslave you and put you to work in a sweatshop of smoke and mirrors. Listen, but believe nothing. Linger, but not for too long. This is a shop to lose yourself in, where they'll empty you and sell your goodness on.

It's closed Mondays but otherwise keeps normal office hours.

Davenports Magic
5,6&7 Charing Cross Underground Arcade
The Strand
London
WC2N 4HZ

Frank