Hungerford Arcade Antiques & Collectables - Hungerford

Melissa S.

A wonderful place filled with interesting things. The cafe on the top floor, amongst the beams, is adorable.

John S.

Posting on behalf of my mother-in-law:

I recently had a truly frustrating experience with Hungerford Arcade that I feel compelled to share. On Saturday, 1st February, I bought a watch that I immediately loved. The lady who helped me was lovely and negotiated a deal with the seller for me, which made me extremely happy with my purchase. However, within just a couple of hours, I noticed the watch was losing time—first 30 minutes behind, then gradually worsening to two hours behind.

I returned on Sunday to speak with the assistant and the manager. They were friendly and suggested I get the battery changed to see if that resolved the issue and assured me that if the watch still didn’t work, I could bring it back for a full refund, including the cost of the battery. I thought this was a fair and reasonable solution.

However, when I went to the jeweler, they recommended to get the battery replaced on Monday, the watch continued to lose time. So, I went back to Hungerford Arcade that afternoon expecting a smooth return process. Instead, I was met with unprofessionalism and rudeness. The lady who helped me accused me of lying, outright denying that I was told I could get a refund for the battery. She even went so far as to imply that I had tampered with the watch, even though I had taken it to the very jeweler they suggested.

After an unnecessarily tense exchange, she begrudgingly offered to refund me the £6.50 for the battery replacement as a “goodwill gesture,” but I told her to keep it because of the way I was treated. The whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth. I did end up purchasing another watch, which so far is working fine, but I am sorry to say that I will not be returning to Hungerford Arcade after this.

I do not live close by (live in Hertfordshire) so I’m glad I managed to get all of this done while I was in the area as I wonder what their position would have been if I had got home and found the watch not to work, I expect I would have been left with a non-working watch with no recourse.

To anyone considering making a purchase from here, be cautious of products that may not work correctly as most things are second hand/vintage and be familiar with your rights as a customer. It is a shame how one member of staff can let down an entire team and spoil the trust in the store.

Neil H.

Proper little antique shop, occasionally seen on bargain Hunt on TV. I bought a walking stick from there, although I have since lost it. It was sensibly priced.

Richard B.

Nice place to wander around, pretty vast place full of hundreds of shelves of antiques and nicknames, lots of cheap items, also lots of not too expensive antiques, have all sorts of items from jewellery, ceramics, books, furniture, records. Very interesting just to wander.

Yvonne W.

Arcade is a great place as always but the newly opened tearoom, Henry's, was such a let down. Dropped in for tea and cake, started off badly when my friend asked for something on the menu to be told they didn't do it, so ordered 2 pieces of cake, when they came, differing portion sizes, one slice half the size of the other, the cake was dry, my friend didn't even eat hers it was so bad, I asked for strong tea, good size teapot arrived with 2 teabags, unfortunately only enough water in it for 2 smallish teacups, so tea virtually undrinkable it was so strong and if that wasn't bad enough, when being poured into the cup, the teapot lid fell off into the cup. The chef burnt something so the place stank of burnt food.
Very disappointing and certainly won't be going back. £14+ for dry stale cake and undrinkable tea.

Thank you for your reply Rita, for your info, I spoke to the people down on the main counter as I purchased something from one of the units and one of them also had negative comments. As I'm not from the area, the person on the main counter told me that the cafe was being managed by the people who owned the place next door and perhaps I should mention it to them. So I did and the young lady I spoke to was very polite and understanding and said she would pass my comments on to the owner and gave me a slice of cake, which was moist and delicious unlike the dry offerings from Henry's. I certainly did not go anywhere else in Hungerford and speak about the cafe and I certainly don't have an axe to grind. For your info, I did speak to the waitress about the differing sizes of cake portions and she just grinned so I saw little point in mentioning anything else to her. I actually told the friend I had met and gone to the cafe with that I had posted a negative review and she said good as she is local and has been to most of the coffee shops in the area so was well versed to beable to judge what Henry's was like. I have no intention of going to Henry's again, I'll stick to the places where I know that the cake and tea are exemplary.

Mark T.

What an amazing place... I can spend hours looking around this place.

Whatever you collect your likely to find it here.

The staff are so knowledgeable and the advice is always good (and free)

George

My kind of town ,my favourite arcade.Can spend hours here.It is not one antique shop,it's many under one roof.Some things just impossible to resist.

Mark A.

Great place to visit, including the newly opened Henry's Tea Room on the top floor. I enjoyed a nice pot of tea, easily enough for two cups! I also enjoyed a coronation chicken sandwich with a nice side salad, everything being as fresh as a daisy. The staff were super friendly and i wouldn't hesitate to return again.