1. The Market Vaults - Scarborough

The Market Vaults really are one of Scarborough’s hidden gems. The market itself is a huge building, but you’d even miss that if you were rushing down the main street to catch a donkey ride. The market is to the left off Newborough (from the station you’ve got Westborough, Newborough, Eastborough and then the harbour) – somewhere behind Boyes and Argos.

Once you’re there you can’t miss the market, but unless you’re looking for fruit and veg, meat products, DIY equipment or bobble hats, the market probably won’t keep you long… Actually, all that sounds quite interesting, but the market vaults are the real treasure trove. About 30 shops – not really shops as we know them, more a cross between Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley and the stalls at Glastonbury – have been squeezed into the passages beneath the market. So if you’re looking for a shopping experience that’s the complete opposite to the Brunswick Centre is its chain store outlets then this is the place to come because everything here is a one off.

The Trading Post is a great place to start – a small piece of Arizona transported to the Yorkshire coast, with a selection of Navajo Indian artifacts, cowboy boots, belts and bootlace ties, some with scorpions in them. Along from the Trading Post you’ll find the Tin Shop – which really does what it says on the, uhm, tin. It’s like a museum selling all sorts of nostalgia tins, magazines and collectible bric a brac. As you browse you’ll almost certainly find yourself saying, ‘We had one of those.’

You feel like you’ve stepped back in time? Then how about The Clock Shop (oh, very clever) which is packed with beautifully restored grandfather clocks, mantel clocks and barometers etc. If you’re looking for a present for your grandfather and have a couple of thousand pounds to spend this could be just the place. On the other hand, as grandfathers are getting younger all the time (or is it that grandchildren are getting older?) maybe he’d prefer a classic album from the second-hand record shop tucked away in the back corner. Its name is an indecipherable graffiti squiggle, but there’s some great singles, LPs and CDs inside – so maybe get an original on Two Tone and party like it’s 1979. Go next door to Beat Nik for vintage clothing and you might fix yourself up with a Harrington jacket and a pork pie hat (failing that, bob back up to the market and get some packing tape, a bobble hat and a pork pie – let’s think outside the box).

Then for a sit down and a cuppa to look through all your new bits and pieces, or to wind up your grandfather clock, there’s a few options. Bakers ‘n’ Brew in the market vaults is an option – I’ve never actually seen it open but it gives the impression of being open sometimes, just not when I’m there, but you might be OK. Outside on the Newborough side Café Heart is really good with a funky vibe and great indoors/outdoors seating.

If you’re particularly peckish or about to attempt some sort of extreme swim to Germany and need to load up on carbs, head back up Newborough and try the Conservatory opposite Lloyds Bank. They serve a piece of caramel shortbread so big that most other places would call it a tray of caramel shortbread. In fact I did have a piece and now need to have a bit of a lie down, so over to you – best thing you purchased in the Market Vaults, other quirky shopping tips in the Scarborough area, heck, even Filey?

Kevern

http://www.ScarboroughWaves.co.uk

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