Ben: Sylvanian Store Keeper

Everyone has a story. For the past 30 years the Sylvanian Families Shop on Mountgrove Road has been the only independent specialist Sylvanian store. It’s a magical world of little furry families, popular with primary school children keen to spend their pocket money, or find a big gift, and has even become a bucket list destination. Just before it closes its doors on 22 April 2023 store manager Ben (also known as Rocky Babblebrook) talks about his time working with the Sylvanians. Interview and photos by Nicola Baird

The Sylvanian Families Shop was set up by Taylor and Rose Timbertop – right from the start this very private and industrious couple used the moniker of Mr and Mrs Brown Bear. Twenty years ago, when Ben began working there he became Rocky Babblebrook.

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“If you’ve loved Sylvanians once then you’ll love them forever,” says Ben cheerfully dealing with an interview, customers and an unexpected N4 power cut. “I’ve been a Sylvanian families fan for life.” He was seven years old when his Grandmother bought him the baby of the brown rabbit family, but even when he went to secondary school they hadn’t been forgotten in the cupboard.

This early passion, plus experience working in a shop in Ashford, Kent which was “the only place that hired 16-year-olds and I wanted a job because my parents didn’t give pocket money,” means that Ben has been in retail forever.

“As an adult I started occasionally buying Sylvanians through the website, and they remembered me writing in as a child, so we got friendly over email,” says Ben. “I was living in London and I rocked up at the shop one day. I was chatting with the lady here and she said ‘you are Ben, you used to write to us!’ I came back a few more times as it’s far more fun to choose in person.” By then Ben was working in Virgin Megastores and Rose asked “’if I’d be interested in working’. The interview was more like a dinner date – and I’ve been here ever since,” he says.

Over the past 20 years the Sylvanians have changed, a little. “It wasn’t until the late ‘00s that we had vintage collectors. In the 1980s and 1990s Sylvanians were quite quaint – badgers, otters and deer were all British designed animals that captured the imagination, now they are replaced by poodles, elephants and giraffes, it’s a quite drastic breaching out of the original woodland animals,” says Ben with good humour.

Collectors
Suddenly the shop found that a new collector had arrived – adults “coveting their own well-loved childhood models but in mint condition.”

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Places Ben loves in Islington

1. Whenever I go past the Union Chapel, 16b Compton Terrace, I think about 2011 and the last time that I rehearsed and sang there in the London Gay Men’s Chorus. I’ve also seen a couple of gigs there.
2. I love the Hen & Chickens Theatre, 109 St Paul’s Road and I’ve seen a lot of hilarious, and awful, stand up comedy, partly because I had a dear friend, who is no longer with us, who loved stand up.
3. My favourite place for drinks and dinner is Hoxley & Porter, 153 Upper Street. It’s a great place, relaxed and never seems as noisy as pubs. You can sit and have a nice catch up – the ambience makes it feel like a gentleman’s club. What will I have? Anything from the wine list – and quite often there’s a signature cocktail in happy hour. They have different staff but do actively remember you.
4. Highbury Fields is an absolute must for all the times I’ve spent with friends on a picnic blanket catching up at a slower pace with wine and cheese. I don’t live in Islington but I’ve been going there to meet Islington friends for 20 years. We take turns to bring the blanket and drinks. We’ve had many outdoor birthday picnics, but we’ll go home for a BBQ if anyone is still upright!
5. After years of the building being derelict it was so lovely to have a business next door like Finks Salt & Sweet, 70 Mountgrove Road where everything is carefully considered. Like us they focus on attention to detail. I like a decaf coffee, either black or latte. They have fantastic bread which I buy and then make into sandwiches. I treat myself to a cake/savoury once a week and like to see what they’ve got on the go. Finks is a bit of a destination – their brunch was legendary, although I only had it once.

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Highlights
Ben – with his Rocky Babblebrook name badge – has real show presence at the Sylvanian Families Shop, and since his colleague retired last autumn he’s usually on his own in the shop. So how does he cope around visiting celebs and their families? “I always make a point of not being awkward! My most famous ever was Robbie Coltrane and his seven-year-old daughter. They had flown from Scotland to Heathrow, then got a black cab to the shop where she chose for ages. Then they went back in a cab to Heathrow.

“Last summer (2022) we had the comedian Russell Kane and his daughter. He’s hilarious on TV.”

“When Rupert Grint (who starred as Ron Weasley in Harry Potter) came in with his partner and their little girl, his partner said she’d been a huge fan as a child. It must be hard to be recognised when you are just trying to have a day out with the family.”

Curiously local politicians Tony Blair, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have not made visits to the Sylvanian Families Shop during Ben’s shifts. “I don’t remember any politicians, but Lisa Tarbuck has been in often. She’s always very jolly and buying presents for her godchildren. I’m sure she mentioned being into her local Sylvanian shop, as she called us, on her radio show,” says Ben warmly, adding, “And we’ve sent parcels to Kensington Palace once or twice, but we don’t know who they are for, it could be the staff shopping…” It’s clear he loves to think of Royal children busy with their favourite Sylvanians.

Dealing with floods
Although the shop is crammed with Sylvanians, even now there’s a packed basement. So when Thames Water’s large water pipe split along its length by Parkwood School on 19 October 2019 the flood poured down Queen’s Drive damaging 250 homes and also flowed straight into corner deli Finks’ and the Sylvanian’s basements.

“We lost 70% of our stock and we had a lot in the basement as it was just two months before Christmas,” says Ben.

“It was so quick, there was no time to save much. I was appalled by how quickly the water rose and then the power sockets were about to flood and I had to get out. I sat at the top of the stairs and watched as boxes fell. I think in the end 190 basement properties were flooded and all our neighbours needed temporary accommodation. Finks had just had a brand new kitchen, and it was ruined. Nothing made wet could be saved. It seemed to be clean water, but it was considered contaminated, so all the toys in our basement were taken away and destroyed. It was heart-breaking. Awful though it was for us, I did feel lucky it wasn’t my home,” he says.

Shutting the Sylvanian door
Thousands of children and hundreds of people have visited the little shop on Mountgrove road over the past 30 years. Brilliantly the Sylavanian shop (or storekeepers as they like to be known) includes a visitors’ book which is still in action, right at the entrance, and full of stories of trips to enjoy the amazing scenes. It’s also a definite bucket list requirement – go to the Sylvanian shop and add your name to the visitors’ book.

Storekeeper founder Rose Timbertop (as she is known) lived in Highbury and while her children were at St Johns primary she’d donate items for the raffles. This started a generous tradition of Sylvanian items for the local school’s summer fetes and Christmas raffles. “We probably do 20 schools,” says Ben. “Schools need all the help they can get, and the PTAs say that when there is a Sylvanian on the table they are coveted prizes. Rose thinks it is really important if you can to support your community.” Even at this late stage (March) Ben is busy making up prize bundles for Joan of Arc’s event in May and there are plans to donate a little Sylvanian stash to all their local contacts before the doors shut. Lucky schools!

As for Ben, how is he feeling about this big change to his life? “Well, we’ll close the store and move online. I’m getting redundancy and plan to take a month off, but I’m so focussed on getting the shop closed – and we are so busy – that…”

Here Ben stops and pauses just for a moment to take stock of what closing day will mean for him. “I never knew what I wanted to be, and now I’m 20 years older and I still don’t.”  But his smile flashes back and in seconds he’s dealing with a pensioner and her grown-up daughter who’ve come in for nostalgia to spend £20; the mum who loved Sylvanians when she was little, now introducing them to her toddler and another Mum with her two-year-old who has picked out some tiny saucepans – and just like that he’s lost in the busyness of this compelling world.

Thank you for brightening up every walk along Mountgrove Road and for the hours of time my own children spent storytelling with their Sylvanian families (our dog found them irresistible too, but for different reasons). Good luck Ben, and happy retirement to Rose and Taylor.

• The Sylvanian Families Shop has its final shopping day for visitors on Saturday 22 April 2023. The remaining stock can then be ordered online for home delivery.
• Go visit while you can: Sylvanian Families Shop, 68 Mountgrove Road, N5 2LT. T: 020 7226 1329 or see the website, which will be open for a little longer.
• sylvanianstorekeepers.com
• facebook.com/sylvanianshop

Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola