While on a recent visit to London I happened to discover Leather lane, which is a narrow street off Chancery lane. It is a paradise for bargain-hunters, where they can secure a host of useful commodities for a few shillings. Shops of every description abound, but on both sides of the roadway there is furious opposition in the form of stalls, which sell everything from nails to overcoats. The noise is appalling. Every shop has a loudspeaker in operation to attract customers, and the stall-keepers counter-attack by incessant shouting.
Competition, after all, loosens the purse strings. I got a pair of headphones for two shillings, a pint bottle of bay rum for fourpence, a half pound of delicious sweets for sevenpence, and a scarf that an Indian trader might envy for one and six. Meanwhile a man in ill-fitting clothes, who, as I was told, was a diamond merchant from Hatton Garden, bought a half-dozen of Irish Linen handkerchiefs for two shillings.
The Irish Times, February 23rd, 1931.