Aladdin never had it so good in this treasure trove of a toyshop writes Mairi MacDonald

FEW can know more about toys than Gospel Oak’s very own Gepetto whose unmarked toyshop is all too easy for passers by to walk past, unaware of its existence. But knock on the door and you will find yourself inside an old fashioned little place more like a giant toy box brimming over with wooden toys and miniature forms of almost anything you could imagine.
For 31 years Kristin Baybars’ little treasure trove on Mansfield Road has brought pleasure to generations, who come for a poke around inside the dozens of dolls houses and to admire the beautifully made furniture and tiny inhabitants. Young visitors fall in love with the well kept secret and come back as adults amazed the shop really does exist.
She says: “People always love seeing things in miniature. I remember one time a customer saying it was like Aladdin’s cave in here. Immediately another person piped up ‘but Aladdin never had it this good’, which amused me a great deal and pleased me that people love it as much as I do.”
Part of the magic is created by Mrs Baybars who encourages people to fill their dolls houses with whatever they please and create fantasy homes run by cats or where the bathroom is the most decadent room in the house. Mrs Baybars, who is pushing 70 and an expert dolls house maker, talks with glee about the toys that fill her life and admits her own home in Muswell Hill gets pretty much ignored.
She said: “Ever since I can remember I have loved miniature things; one of my greatest regrets in life was not seeing the flea circus when it came to town.
“I was taken with my brother to the fair but when I discovered there was a flea circus that was all I wanted to see.
“They asked my brother first if he wanted to go on one of the fast rides, being the boy, but he refused as he was petrified of heights. So just to be kind, I was asked. Right at the top of the ride, Alan’s spectacles flew off and smashed to smithereens. They were like milk bottles and he couldn’t see a thing without them so when we got off he just wanted to leave. As I was only five-years-old I couldn’t explain how desperately I wanted to see the flea circus, but I will never forget how distressing it felt to miss it.”
Mrs Baybars began making her first dolls house – a Georgian mansion – when she was 15. It took her three years to build and got her into the local newspaper, the Essex County Standard in 1954.
Her career in toys began soon after, in 1957, and she was responsible for setting up the toy department in Heals department store on Tottenham Court Road in Bloomsbury. Her passion for all things miniature is no less today only now she makes sure she does not miss out and takes her customers needs very seriously.
She said: “It is a shame they are not called miniature houses rather than dolls houses, because the name alienates a lot of people, including adults, and young boys. It also means that some children will give up their dolls houses when they get to about 13 because their friends tell them they are too old to play with dolls and that it is childish, because that’s what their parents have told them.”
As someone who did just that with a three-storey house made for me by grandfather when I was three I would agree, but luckily mine was stored away in my parents’ attic in case I should change my mind. It might be about time to retrieve it now I have found the perfect soft furnishings stockist and with house prices as they are it will be the only house I will be redecorating in a long time.
Visitors should look out for a new addition at the shop from this week when a dolls that has been on loan for nine years to Burgh House in Highgate was returned. Mrs Baybars says: “It is unfortunate Burgh House say their budget will not stretch to paying for a display case for the dolls house as it was a popular attraction and children will miss it. They should know it is here now.”

• Kristin Baybars’ shop is in Mansfield Road, NW3. Call 020 7267 0934.