Noble and Common
On Consignment
Exhibitions and Art Markets
Hops vs. Art
Opening : 24th September 2025
Worcester Hop Market and Forgate Street dated 23rd March 2018 - Postcard printed by F. Frth & Co. Ltd. Reigate, no. 57107.
Press Release
Hops vs. Art
Opening : Wednesday 24th September 2025
-} refreshments served courstesy of Company Drinks
24.09.25 - 10.11.25
Artists: Angelina May Davis, Elisha Enfield, Lewis Graham, Chris Shaw Hughes, Isaac Jordan, Ispahani Mukah, John Timberlake. Supported by
Company Drinks
The Hop Market in Worcester, where our gallery now stands, was historically a site of lively commerce, where farmers, traders, and brewers met to exchange one of the region’s most valuable crops. This exhibition draws a parallel between that history and the contemporary art market, asking: what kinds of value are exchanged in both?
At first glance, the hop market and the art market might seem unrelated — one rooted in agriculture, the other in culture and commerce. But look closer, and shared qualities begin to emerge. Both are spaces of negotiation and trust. In the hop market, value was determined through handshakes and expert knowledge; in the art world, worth is just as fluid — debated, perceived, and deeply personal. Both markets honour unseen labour. Hops are cultivated, harvested, and dried through seasonal cycles of care, while artworks are researched, wrestled with, and revised, often over months or years. What appears for sale is only the surface of a much longer process.
These markets are also inherently social. Where farmers, brewers, and traders once gathered to talk and trade, artists, collectors, and audiences now meet in conversation and exchange. Both reflect something deeper about local identity. Hops once defined Worcester’s economy and its outward-facing character; today, art continues to explore and challenge how we see this place — and ourselves within it.
And perhaps most fundamentally, both markets are about transformation. Hops become beer. Ideas become artworks. Materials are turned into meaning. In each case, value — in all its forms — is brewed or painted, drawn, shaped, and shared.
At Noble and Common, we open our doors with this inaugural exhibition, Hops (Market) Vs. Art (Market ) — a celebration of shared histories, marketplaces, and cultural exchange.
Verso. Worcester Hop Market and Forgate Street
dated 23rd March 2018 Postcard printed by F. Frth & Co. Ltd. Reigate, no. 57107.
Dear Zoé - Just a card to show you the hotel I am at. Just back from Hartleberry, 10 miles north, where I have been busy this afternoon. [see][other] still grand.
Yours as usual - Dick.
dated 23rd March 2018 Postcard printed by F. Frth & Co. Ltd. Reigate, no. 57107.
Dear Zoé - Just a card to show you the hotel I am at. Just back from Hartleberry, 10 miles north, where I have been busy this afternoon. [see][other] still grand.
Yours as usual - Dick.
Image: 1/18 Company Drinks explained. Drawing by Kathrin Böhm
Image: 1/18 Company Drinks explained. Drawing by Kathrin Böhm
Chris Shaw Hughes (WORK IN PROGRESS)
St Mary's church in Hadlow (2025)
The Hartlake bridge is a bridge over the River Medway in Golden Green of the parish of Hadlow, Kent. On the evening of 20 October 1853, a wagon was taking around 40 hop-pickers and their families back to their camp site. One of the horses pulling the wagon shied on the bridge, causing one of its wheels to crash through the side of the bridge. This upended the cart, tipping its passengers into the river, which at the time was swollen in flood.
The victims were casual workers and either Irish or Romani people. The Romanis were all from one extended family. The victims were aged between 2 and 59 years old were laid to rest at St. Marys Church in Hadlow.
Notes for editorsSt Mary's church in Hadlow (2025)
The Hartlake bridge is a bridge over the River Medway in Golden Green of the parish of Hadlow, Kent. On the evening of 20 October 1853, a wagon was taking around 40 hop-pickers and their families back to their camp site. One of the horses pulling the wagon shied on the bridge, causing one of its wheels to crash through the side of the bridge. This upended the cart, tipping its passengers into the river, which at the time was swollen in flood.
The victims were casual workers and either Irish or Romani people. The Romanis were all from one extended family. The victims were aged between 2 and 59 years old were laid to rest at St. Marys Church in Hadlow.
Hops vs. Art is supported by Company Drinks
* Company Drinks Mission Statement:
Company Drinks is a community space and social enterprise based in Barking and Dagenham, where we make drinks with and for each other. Company Drinks started out in 2014 to bring people back together through the act of picking and reconnecting with local green spaces and nearby countryside.
Company Drinks is now a co-working space and an expanding network of users, collaborators and partners, who come together to pick, grow, make, learn, unlock and share the resources and knowledge around us.
Like the seasons, Company Drinks changes and adapts, and is shaped by those who are involved. We collaborate and champion the ideas of those around us, encourage each other to re-imagine new ways of working, trading and existing together, through conversation, care and good company.
Company Drinks was set up in as an art commission, andregistered as a Community Interest Company in 2015. We see ourselves as part of a larger community-focused ecosystem of care, that strives for an equal, just and non-discrimat