The Peckham Car Boot expansion is officially crossing the river, with new monthly markets planned for Leyton and Stoke Newington from September, giving east and north London their first taste of one of the capital’s best-loved second-hand events.
For anyone who has spent a Sunday morning in SE15, the appeal needs little explanation. Since Erin Murphy and Steven Lopes founded the market in 2019, just before the Covid-19 lockdown, according to the BBC, Peckham Car Boot has grown from a local car-boot swap meet into something considerably larger. Pre-loved pieces from big-name brands, vintage homewares, clothing rails rifled through before ten in the morning: the bi-monthly format has built a loyal following across south London and beyond. It has even attracted the attention of Vogue magazine, which featured the market, a detail that speaks to how firmly the event sits at the intersection of thrift culture and fashion.
Three dates each for the Peckham Car Boot expansion into Leyton and Stoke Newington
The Leyton events will be held at George Mitchell School on 6 September, 4 October and 1 November. Across north London, Metro reports that the Stoke Newington market will take place at Stoke Newington School in Clissold, running on 20 September, 18 October and 15 November. Both sets of dates are being treated explicitly as a trial. Murphy and Lopes have described the three-event run as a chance to ‘test the waters’, and are encouraging sellers and shoppers to ‘come down, see what it’s about, and help us decide if this is a regular thing’. Whether either location becomes permanent will depend on how the E10 and N postcode crowds respond.
The expansion follows an earlier move to Balham, where the duo launched an additional iteration last year to serve second-hand treasure hunters in south-west London. The Peckham Car Boot expansion north of the river is, then, the next logical step for a market that has been quietly building its footprint across the city since it first opened its car boots in 2019.
Pitch prices and what to expect on the day
For those thinking about clearing out an attic rather than browsing one, bookings are already open for both markets. Pitch prices start at £15, which puts a seller’s spot within reach for anyone with a carful of unwanted clothes, old records or inherited kitchenware they can no longer justify keeping.
The format at both new locations will follow the same model that made the Peckham original worth a Sunday morning detour: resellers, both new and veteran, trading from the boots of their cars or from pitched stalls, with the mix of merchandise that tends to make a good car boot genuinely unpredictable. One rail might hold a Nineties leather jacket; the next, a set of mismatched earthenware. That variety is, of course, the point.
It is worth noting how far the concept has travelled since Murphy and Lopes first set it up. Launching a market in 2019 and then navigating a global pandemic within weeks of opening might have finished a less resilient operation. Instead, Peckham Car Boot not only survived but accumulated enough of a reputation to land in the pages of Vogue and to sustain expansion into multiple new London postcodes simultaneously.
For Leyton and Stoke Newington regulars, the September dates give a clear first opportunity to judge whether the atmosphere translates. The organisers are watching the numbers, and they have said so openly: three months, two new locations, and a straightforward question about whether to make it permanent. Seller bookings are open now at Time Out, with the first Leyton date on 6 September.