Carlo Della Croce at the Hampstead Emporium

TRADERS facing the boot from a historic antiques market this Christmas say “lives have been ruined” by the sudden closure.

The New Journal revealed last week that the Hampstead Antiques and Crafts Emporium – a hidden gem of NW3 that opened in 1967 – will shut down for good in the first week of January.

Surveyors have been in to measure up units at the market as an online petition was launched calling on the market owner, Richard Jaffe, to change his plans.

Concerns are growing that a developer is going to come in with an unsympathetic scheme. Trader Carlo Della Croce, who lives in Finchley Road, said: “This is a big moment for me. It’s a massive blow although admittedly there are people facing far more perilous worries that me.

“People there have recently lost partners, and are on a very limited pension. Emotionally, it has been a trauma I think for everyone. It’s not just a question of cry a few tears and move on.”

He added: “It simply means that us traders have fallen victim to the overarching forces of capitalism. Specifically, the ever-growing gentrification of Hampstead.

“Lives at the Emporium have been ruined.”

Market owner Mr Jaffe told the New Journal last week that rising costs meant the market was no longer viable and that he had been left with no option.

Many traders have already made plans to rent spaces in other markets including Alfie’s Antique Market in Lisson Grove and Portobello. Mr Della Croce, who comes from a family of antiques dealers, said: “My business model was always built around the idea of potential failure – as long as I had five or six months to liquidate my stock I would be OK. But this is so sudden.”

He described “a very humble way of life” and “a labour of love” for traders who were “completely enamoured with this job”.

He recalled his best antiques discovery being a pair of little “cats made of lead” found in a house clearance, adding: “They cost me 20p and they went for auction at £150. But we make mistakes also. We have a horrible knack of finding out something that we have sold is the next day sold for very much more.”

Unlike the market traders, who have all signed on one-month contracts, some businesses with leases in the mews street outside the main market are being allowed to remain.

Hampstead Town Lib Dem councillor Linda Chung said it was an old part of Hampstead and it had needed support from residents, adding: “I don’t want to lose it. It’s a tight space. Everyone is afraid that a developer will make an unsympathetic scheme in that tight space.

“I’m helping the traders in helping them turn it into an Asset of Community Value, but that would only give them a bit of breathing space.”

A petition, signed by 400 people, told how the market “contrasts sharply with the unsustainable fast fashion and single-use items generally available, all part of the throw-away culture that is destroying our environment”.

Mr Jaffe has said: “We will be closing after Christmas. It has become no longer viable to keep trading because of ever-increasing costs, general costs. As an example, utilities bills are increasing.”