So Much Choice?

The New Caledonian antique market in Bermondsey Square. (The old Caledonian market relocated from Islington in the 40's when the area was redeveloped.)

It's a shadow of it's former self.
The whole area from Bermondsey Street across to Tower Bridge Road, and Abbey Street down to the level of Grange Walk, was a carpark. Strangely I never saw many cars parked there, but every Friday there were hundreds of antique stalls.
They would set up about 4am when the dealers would do there stuff.
Apparantly it was a marché ouvert, which meant "if an item was sold between sunrise and sunset then its provenance could not be questioned, so stolen goods could be traded and good title would pass to the purchaser"* Amazingly this medieval law was only abolished in 1995.
Then the tourists would turn up about 9am until the market started packing up about noon.
You could spend a couple of hours wandering up and down all the aisles of assorted stuff.
Now it's a handful of stalls fitted into the slightly awkward space between the new hotel, and the flats and shops on the other side.
I'm not defending the stolen goods aspect, but I do miss the massive market where you might find anything from cheap knick knacks to the Holy Grail.

*Wikipedia.