Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop

Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop is an independent toy shop on the first floor of the Market Building in Covent Garden, and the direct descendant of a business that began in Hoxton in 1856. It is best known for paper theatres, also called toy theatres, the Victorian tradition of printed stages and characters sold "a penny plain and twopence coloured" that the shop has kept alive for generations of customers.

Benjamin Pollock came to toy theatres through his wife Eliza Reddington, who inherited her father's Theatrical Print Warehouse. His customers ranged from local children to Charlie Chaplin, and Robert Louis Stevenson wrote fondly of the shop. After Pollock's death in 1937 and the loss of the Hoxton premises to wartime bomb damage, bookseller Alan Keen worked with the actor Ralph Richardson to bring the business to Covent Garden, where Laurence Olivier contributed to a toy theatre version of Hamlet. Today's owner, Louise Heard, has been involved with Pollock's for over thirty years.

A traditional toy shop Covent Garden visitors return to

The shop specialises in paper theatres, from its own original designs to pantomime and Shakespeare editions, alongside traditional toys and games: tin vehicles, wooden dolls, dioramas, pop-ups, paper craft and vintage theatrical pieces. Much of the range is made in the UK and chosen for imaginative, creative play rather than mass-market appeal, and the shop also supplies trade customers.

What to expect on a visit

The red shopfront sits upstairs in the covered Market Building, open from 10.30am on weekdays and Saturdays and from 11am on Sundays. Many customers first came as children and now bring their own, and staff are happy to talk through which toy theatre suits a beginner. It is a natural pairing with The Moomin Shop next door on the same floor and the other gift shops of Covent Garden.