“The streets of London have their map, but our passions are uncharted. What are you going to meet if you turn this corner?”
Virginia Woolf
There are many elements that make this place an interesting and unique shop. Let's start from the outside. Despite its appearance the Wyvern Bindery is not a bicycle shop. It is in fact a traditional hand-binders.
At a glance, when its closed it has a graffiti drawing of a dragon, I thought it was an abandoned premise and someone had done some graffiti art on it.
When I saw it was actually an operating business, I immediately had a nosey. They have books, leather, cloth, paper, sleeves, boxes, brass rings, a workshop, and the binders all in there. It is an active space, people are never just sitting around answering phones. It smells of antique mixed with leather, and it's just charming.
Given enough time and money (but don't ask how much - of either) the 'Wyvern' will bind, make, build, block, deboss, take apart, re-bind, repair or restore pretty much anything. I can't wait to have the opportunity to use their services, after all, using them would be a special occasion because we don't see amazing places like Wyvern around anymore.
The "Gentle Author" of Spitafields Life wrote a lovely interview with Mark Winstanley last year (read here) and is worth to have a look. Also a visit to Wyvern Bindery is advice!!!