Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop

Two old townhouses merged into one which house both a museum and small toy shop. Winding your way up and down rickety stairs while exclaiming as you notice something that you had as a child tucked away in some cabinet or other is great.

This is the a super fun store with great things for kids, but as a sixty year old woman I found it quite magical. Most fun for me were the make it yourself theater kits. Workable sets, stages, actors, etc. just a fabulous find! Don’t miss this place.

J’ai lu que Benjamin Pollock’s est l’un des plus célèbres magasins de jouets de Londres. Donc je m’y suis rendu avec impatience, mais j’ai vraiment été déçue. Le magasin est très petit. On y trouve des jouets en bois fabriqués à la main dont des marionnettes et des livres ce qui est sympa. Mais le choix est vraiment très limités, et les prix sont élevés.

I’m not gonna lie, this place is straightup creepy. Leering string puppets, a grinning ventriloquist doll, a drawing of a girl with a tree for a head… CREE. PEE.
Despite my wussiness, it was fun poking around the shop and seeing what strange things I could find. These are definitely not your typical toys! These toys are old-​fashioned and even a bit weird. But, I can guarantee you will find something very unique. I bought my niece an Alice in Wonderland jewelry box with a twirling Cheshire cat inside and my nephew got a dinosaur egg that hatches when soaked in water. When my niece got her jewelry box, she actually screamed with happiness. Definitely a winner! I’ll be back when the next birthday rolls around!

Q: What do you buy the person who has everything?
Answer: A little something from Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop.
Remember a time when things were much simpler, a time of rocking horses, puppet shows and table top spinners… O. K, well I’m not really that old, but I still appreciate good old fashioned fun, which is what you can find here. From jack-​in-​the-​boxes, string puppets and kaleidoscopes to cycling monkeys, you will find the most lovely traditional toys in this tiny shop.
I came across this toy box of a shop whilst gift hunting around Covent Garden and I’ve been going back ever since. Whenever I’m at a loss over what to buy, er ‘older’ people (usually boyfriend’s Dad’s) this place has been my saviour! I’ve bought all sorts from zoetropes to wind-​up robots, they’re all wonderfully made and have gone down a treat.
They also specialize in toy theaters and if you go though to the back of the shop you can see them on display. With scenery from Molieres Malade Imaginaire to Dracula, theyr’e all really exquisite.
The only thing that could make Bejamin Pollock’s better is if they opened up an old fashioned sweet shop next door.

Die and gone to heaven. 22 years gone in an instance and immediately I’m a small child again playing contentedly and concentratedly. I wonderworld of enchantment. Wooden toys, puppets, paper theatres, paper theatres in a match box. Bags of marbles, bags of jacks, brightly painted wooden blocks, spinning tops, I can’t stop, I can’t stop! My arms are full of things and I keep seeing more. If you have children or you know a child you must must must brave the hoards of Covent Garden tourists and sneak up the stairs to this unimaginably wonderful shop. Forget toys r us, forget plastic cars and toys and mini kitchens. These are real toys full of imagination and timeless. The moment you walk in you’ll be transported back to sitting in the school playground with your friends trying to grab all 9 jacks with your tiny hands in between bounces. Magical.

This is an adorable nostalgic toy shop. It carries the kind of toys our grandparents would have played with. It was originally opened by Benjamin Pollock in the 1800s; now owned by actor Peter Baldwin. It is still a small family run company which we are seeing less and less of these days. It is an ideal place for collectors to seek out puppet theatres along with Punch and Judy puppets or marionettes on string. I think this toy shop is more for adults than for today’s children it is quite a different atmosphere than Hamley’s. I suppose we are all still kids at heart and it is great that a shop like this is still around.

A lovely little shop, with all kinds of old fashioned toys, models and little gems!
Is a great place to find a present especially for those who are a bit nostalgic!

I’m a guy and I like my things to bang and my things to whizz — do I want my things to hang from strings and to jerk around in a pathetic parody of life? Maybe not. But you might! Or you did when you were a child, and you want to pass this trait down. If so, come to Benjamin Pollock’s. A shop above a shove, as such, you feel like you’re standing in someone’s converted apartment (much like another local shop, Regents Gifts), so the space is tight. You also feel alot more self concious because arranged on the shelves are a host of puppet theatres and little wooden figures (about 3 cm high, but cost £40 each) ‘acting’ out a performance in them. Excellent for people who like the old school. An outdated momento to the MTV generation. Give it a visit anyway.

Please excuse me if I sound a little old fashioned but children of today probably wouldn’t even know what a jack-​in-​the-​box is. Christmas ‘toy’ shopping revolves around Wii, computers, and basically anything which you basically interact with on a screen. It is so nice to see a proper old fashioned toy shop and remember what is was like in the days of drummer soldiers and puppets.
This is a brilliant shop for alternative gifts and the older generation will definitely appreciate everything in here as it will probably take them back to the ‘good ol’ days’. The quality of the toys is incredible — an immense amount of care and skill must go into producing them.
It is always fun to even browse in here and the setting in the Piazza is such that it gives you that warm and homely feel. Bring back old fashioned fun I say!

Incredible old-​fashioned toyshop from Victorian times, specialising in toy theatres (3D cardboard cutout theatres), wooden toys, puppets and all Victorian childhood inventions. More busy than their museum near Goodge St as it is in the heart of the market, but still like stepping into the past. Upstairs in their tiny shop you can see intricate puppets and dolls. Perfect place for buying exciting, hand made, beautiful andbrain-​building toys instead of modern plastic junk.

It’s a bit like a dream world with all its old toys, miniatures, little soldiers and fairies. They sell victorian style paperdolls and puppets and all the kind of cute small things.