From February 19, the Central London zone extended to the West End, including Kensington (North and South), Notting Hill, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Pimlico, Belgravia, Brompton and Bayswater, where many important art dealers are located.
Key areas affected include Pimlico Road, Portobello Road, South Kensington and Kensing-ton Church Street.
As chairman of Pimlico Road Association, Mark Boyce vigorously fought against it. He now seems disillusioned with the scheme: "Fewer clients will come from the suburbs during the week and delivery costs may increase soon, because of more expensive shipping."
Small antiques shops in Portobello may also suffer badly during the weekdays. Costas Kleanthous, chairman of Portobello Antique Dealers Association (PADA), told ATG that it represents a "big financial pressure" for dealers, who would have to reorganise their stock distribution during the week.
According to the general manager of Christie's South Kensington, Tom Woolston, it is still too early to say. "The only thing we can expect is an increasing traffic on weekends" he said. Deliveries and collections at the auction house during the week will be affected, but only marginally. At least one shipping company said they had no plans to pass on the extra charge to clients.
Robin Silverman, chairman of Kensington Church Street Antique Dealers Association, identifies two main issues: "There will be adverse circumstances, customers might stay away from London, although it is too early to say.
"On the other hand, expanding the zone boundaries also means opening the centre of London to all residents, and include the western part in the central area."
For Mayfair galleries, who have already experienced four years in the zone, it is not such a big deal. One dealer said: "In 2003, when the congestion charge begun, dealers did say that it would affect them. But, today, we cannot measure any heavy consequences. This is possibly because of the 90 per cent resident discount.
"In some cases, like the big fairs (Olympia or Grosvenor House), some antique dealers already pay for cars to bring in their clients; and it seems that others will not mind paying."
By Léonore Vitry
