The Antique Trader and The Millinery Works Gallery are trading names of:

THE MILLINERY WORKS Ltd

(Registered in England at c/o Derek Rothera & Company Units 15 & 16, 7 Wenlock Road, London N1 7SL, Registration no: 3100479)

History of The Millinery Works

The terrace of properties, which includes numbers 85/87 Southgate Road, was built as residences around 1860. The recession of the 1880s and the development of a transport system that allowed people to access London from the suburbs gave rise to a general exodus from the area and the properties may well have become derelict or at least neglected. 

Gavin Smith’s book "The Archive Photograph Series – Islington" shows the factories in 1905 with a street full of men & women in hats and bonnets. A post war Ordinance Survey map notes the premises as a Millinery works alongside a cardboard factory, a cake decorating factory and a large printing works. The area was plainly occupied by a substantial number of light industrial businesses. Not far away was the East End where there was a long established tradition of furniture making.

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Email us at antiquetrader@millineryworks.co.uk