Traders fear end of Portobello Market after giant chain store moves in

Antiques traders fear the death of Portobello Market "within five years" after the opening of the street's biggest chain store.

The two-storey branch of fashion retailer AllSaints launched last month in a former arcade where more than 150 traders, including a 94-year-old woman, made a living until last summer.

Local campaigners say Kensington & Chelsea council's failure to save the former Lipka's Antiques Arcade made a mockery of its pledge to ensure the market is "not overrun by identikit multiples".

The AllSaints store, which is decorated with antique Singer sewing machines and has a warehouse feel with wooden floors and dim lighting, covers the basement and ground floor of its 15,000 sq ft site — the length of six shop-fronts along Westbourne Grove and four down Portobello Road.

Antiques traders warn it is only a matter of time before other stalls are driven out. They accuse the area's dominant landlord, Warren Todd —whose firm Westbourne Arcades owns the AllSaints site — of jeopardising the market in his pursuit of high rents.

Geoff Knowles, treasurer of the Portobello Antiques Dealers Association, said: "The traders respect the right of the owner to earn a living. The thing that stinks is that the market which used to be there is how he made his money in the first place."

Robina Rose, a founder of campaigners Friends of Portobello, said: "To sell Portobello down the river means it will be gone in less than five years."

The arrival of AllSaints comes less than three years after a key report from a retail commission set up by Kensington & Chelsea council to find ways of protecting small shops.

One member, former Kensington & Chelsea mayor Tim Ahern, said the council had no legal right to intervene because there had not been a change of use at the site. He said one possible measure was for the council to buy up antique arcades to keep them open.

An AllSaints spokesman said: "We've had nothing but good reviews for this store. It's bringing trade to the area. We put antique sewing machines in the windows to stay in keeping with the local aesthetic."

Mr Todd was not available for comment.