To celebrate Halloween 2022, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies was invited to set up a pop-up shop in Leadenhall Market, in the heart of the City of London.

Hoxton Street Monster Supplies is a purveyor of quality goods for monsters of every kind, with a permanent shop on Hoxton Street in Hackney. Humans are also allowed to shop there, and all profits go to the Ministry of Stories, a writing and mentoring centre for children.

The iconic market has been around since the 14th century, though the current building dates from the 1880s. Brilliantly, the market was used as a location in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – with one of the market’s doorways used as the secret entrance to the Leaky Cauldron and Daigon Alley. So it’s the perfect spot for a shop for monsters!

I worked in collaboration with the wonderful folks at Motive Productions on the design of the shop; and also designed a whole set of new products.

I designed a height comparison chart so that shoppers could check to see what sort of monster they are.

Seeing as a lot of Harry Potter fans visit the market (as well as our more regular witch customers) it seemed only appropriate to stock broom sticks. I decided that ‘The Leadenhall Flyer’ had a nice ring to it, and designed a swing tag for the broom.

Naturally, a wand was essential too. We decided that, given the current financial crunch, something affordable would make most sense.

No sensible monster can exist without a decent quill pen, so this ornate set with a wax seal and several calligraphic nibs seemed perfect.

I also designed a Lunar Calendar for werewolves, to help them track their transformations.

And we thought that vampires would really love blood vessels as a snack on the go.

Our new lines of Bezoars and Rat Brains are expected to sell really well.

(A bezoar is “a lump of hardened, undigested material found in the gastrointestinal tract of deer, antelope, goats, oxen and llamas. It forms when layers of calcium and magnesium phosphate build up around a small bit of plant fibre or a pebble. Stomach contractions squeeze and smooth it into a roughly round shape”. They are mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.)

All those run alongside our usual product range, which has expanded in the twelve years since we set up the shop. ‘Salt made from Tears shed while Home Schooling’, introduced during the COVID-19 lockdowns, has been a particularly big seller.

Who wouldn’t want to ask someone to pass the Bloody Ketchup?

We also worked with brilliant biscuit-maker Carol Dean, who created two packs of extra special handmade treats: Enchanted Biscuits and Witches’ Biscuits (part of the Cauldron Essentials range). She also created brilliant packs of Minty Maggots – ‘quite the most delicious grubs’.

For the launch event, I designed some labels for our bottles of rarest AB+, sourced from full bodied humans (or possibly the nearby M&S).

Oh, and there are some tentacles which help advertise our presence in the market too.

The shop is open at Leadenhall Market from 11am to 6pm, Tuesday to Friday until 11th November, with extra Halloween opening on Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th and Monday 31st October.