5. Bombs and Dogs

After the Second World War, even though Britain’s economy was once again in ruins, the Club Row Market continued to thrive. Whereas the area surrounding Club Row was bombed during the Blitz, the market streets themselves escaped relatively unscathed, allowing the animal market to continue. Many market sellers had other animal businesses on the side, such as permanent shops and kennels, which helped them to avoid bankruptcy.

The animal market had also developed illegal clubs for catching and blinding linnets in postwar era. Yet the serious, male-dominated atmosphere of the prewar market had softened slightly, with the result that more women and children began visiting the market.

The 1951 Pet Animals Act was introduced by the British Government after decades of pressure from animal welfare organisations and members of the public. The Act made it illegal to keep a pet shop without a licence from the local authority, and prohibited the sale of pets in the street or in a public place, except at a stall or from a barrow in a market. Conveniently, this allowed traders at Club Row Market to continue selling animals under barbaric conditions so long as they had a license. The Act had the effect of increasing the number of stalls selling animals at Club Row because it outlawed the selling of stray animals and required traders to conduct their business at a fixed market such as Club Row.

Although birds and other exotic animals remained popular after the war, dogs had by now become the main attraction at Club Row Market. This was perhaps due to tighter legislation that the government, under pressure from the RSPB, had imposed on bird sellers at Club Row Market, although it may also have been simply the result of changing tastes in pet ownership. Traders sold dogs of all shapes and sizes, some pedigree but most not. It has been estimated that as many as 2,000 dogs were on sale each Sunday.

What happened to the dogs that remained unsold? In his 1955 book Dogs, Cats, and People: A Vet's Eye View, Norman Comben documents how, while some market sellers kept them in kennels or sold them in businesses on the side, there were persistent rumours among locals about the appearance, at the end of business, of a black van that had supposedly been parked under the railway arch separating Bethnal Green Road from the goods station. Its owner, it was alleged, would pay market traders a few shillings for any leftover dogs. What he did with the dogs was a mystery, but it was suspected that he sold them to laboratories for experiments. This grim trade earned him the nickname of the “Knife Man.” While this colourful character may have been an urban legend, it was common knowledge that London markets regularly sold animals for testing and other experiments. In later years, this practice was the prime target of demonstrations against Club Row Market.

Club Row’s fame as a dog market extended to many European countries, where British pedigrees were well respected and always in heavy demand. Prior to the Second World War, buyers from the continent often journeyed to London specifically to buy dogs from markets such as Club Row. They would travel from Paris or Brussels to London on a Saturday, amuse themselves in town during the day, and stay overnight. On Sunday morning, they would make their way to Club Row Market to buy dogs, which they would then ship directly from Victoria or Waterloo to Europe by the midday train. So great was the traffic in these animals that Sir Frederick Hobday, President of the Royal Veterinary College in London, at one point referred to this train as “the dog continental express.” In the immediate aftermath of the war, there was a decrease in foreign buyers at Club Row, but they soon trickled back as London made an economic recovery.