Camden Passage

The independent shops, cafes and restaurants are typically open seven days a week, and the Angel Comedy club runs nightly at the Camden Head public house.

As recorded in Jackson's Oxford Journal, 2 November 1765:[3] The new Street now building near Mr. Pullen's farm, at Islington, is on a Piece of Ground belonging to Mr Rosoman, the Master of Sadler's Wells, and is to be called Camden Street, out of Compliment to the celebrated Chief Justice of that Name, who is so highly, and so deservedly esteemed in this kingdom.The antiques market was founded in the 1960s, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Borough of Islington by John Payton.

The venture was initially successful, attracting over 350 traders, but recently the centre of Islington has undergone regeneration, leading to higher rents being asked at the renewal of leases.

The closure of the arcade reflects the reduction in the number of antique traders in the nearby Camden Passage.

Its severe windowless brick aspect is dictated by its original use, English Heritage describe its architecture as influenced by, and a tribute to, Newgate Prison (by George Dance the Younger), which had been demolished in 1902, three years before this building's construction by the LCC.