Do you know where to go for a firearm, once you have an open license?  Is it election time and your licensed firearm has to be in 'safe custody'? Has your license expired and your pistol needs to be kept in ‘safe custody’ till you renew the license? Then Sydenhams Road in Periamet, is the place to go.

“We call this place - the armoury of Chennai”, says Selvamani of Anna City Armoury.  An arms and ammunitions dealer for nearly four decades now, he says, customers come from all over India to this place for their firearms requirement or even for sports goods like air rifles and air pistols. 

This trade has been going on for more than 75 years now. Originally the traders dealing in these goods had been in the erstwhile Moore Market near Central Station.  One trader recounts, “Previously, there were a lot of hawkers and pavement shopkeepers in and around Broadway and the High Court area.  These hawkers and encroachers gradually built up their trade and soon set up petty shops.  It was then, that the British decided to construct a market of some kind for these traders.  Thus was born the Moore Market.  It soon became a place where one could get all kinds of things.  It was like the ‘Raffle Market’ of Mumbai where you could get anything from food items like cake and pork to books and weights”.

Because of the great Moore Market fire, these traders had to shift to Sydenhams Road in Periamet.  In the early eighties, Moore Market was razed to the ground in a fire, and all the traders were forced to shift to the neighbouring areas like Choolai and Sydenhams Road, Nehru Market and so on.  At present, in the place where the old Moore Market stood, is the Railway reservation complex.  A little away from it, is the multi-storeyed Lily Pond Complex, which has been constructed as an alternative for Moore Market traders.  Though all the shops have not yet been occupied, a slow transition is taking place and it will be a few years before, Lily Pond Complex can even be a shadow of the Old Moore Market. 

It is not just firearms that one can get here in Sydenhams Road but also uniforms and caps of all kinds.  Some of the big names in uniforms are United Industries, one of the oldest in this trade and United Uniforms.  There are about ten traders on this road, dealing with uniforms and caps, apart from the arms dealers.  Most of the traders are approved uniform contractors and suppliers to Government departments like the Police, Customs and Excise, Central Railway Protection Force, Scouts, IRS, Central Security Force and Private Security agencies. 

Caps are another specialty of these shops. You can get the latest model to hit the town, with your favourite brand on it, at unbelievably low prices.  Tarpulins, plastic sheets, safety equipment like helmets, gumboots and factory overalls are also available here.

The Jawaharhal Nehru Football and Athletics Stadium, the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium and the Ripon Building are some of the landmarks near this area.

Approach: Take the left when entering from Poonamallee High Road or the right when coming from Central Station