London Shopping Tips by KennetRose

Name of Shop: Paxton & Whitfield

Lovely old-fashioned cheese shop. Also sells pies, ham and some exotic groceries, but cheese is the major stock in trade. Knowledgable staff will tell you what's ripe for eating now and what needs to be kept for how long. Free samples on offer, and of course you can taste before you buy.

There is a branch in Bath and perhaps other UK towns.

What To Buy: Cheese of course. Unlike Monty Python's cheese shop, if you can name it they probably have it. Some of the soft French cheeses are so rank they could probably walk out of the shop on their own - but they taste divine!

What To Pay: Name your price. It's easy to get carried away though, so be careful.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Food and Drink
Phone: 0 20 7930 0259
Address: 93 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6JE
Directions: Piccadilly Circus or Green Park tubes

Name of Shop: C Lidgate & Sons

Good butchers are pearls beyond price and David Lidgate is the doyen of them all. The best reason I know for not being vegetarian - all meat sold here is organic and humanely reared. Not cheap, but the quality is worth it.

Aside for culture vultures. George Eliot, the 19th century English novelist, lived around here at one point in her life. Lidgates was established in 1850, so Ms Eliot almost certainly knew of its existence. Those who have read Middlemarch, or at least seen it on the telly, will know that the doctor's name was Lydgate, and it is a very George Eliot joke to name her doctor after the local butcher...

What To Buy: Buy succulent pies and pasties for your picnic in Holland Park across the road. Or a rack of pork ribs, which I've always found to be especially good value, for your dinner guests.

What To Pay: As much as you want to pay.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Food and Drink
Phone: 0 20 7727 8243
Address: 110 Holland Park Avenue, W11
Directions: Holland Park tube

Name of Shop: The Kite Store

Everything you need for kite-flying, with an enthusiastic and knowledgable staff on hand to advise.

What To Buy: Kites, silly!

What To Pay: A few pounds for a simple kite for a small child up to hundreds of pounds for decorative kites and flexifoils.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Hobbies
Phone: 0 20 7836 1666
Address: 48 Neal Street, WC2
Directions: Holborn or Covent Garden tubes

Name of Shop: London Camera Exchange

I've found the branches of the London Camera Exchange very helpful in buying camera equipment, film, processing, and photographic paraphernalia. The staff are knowledgeable and operate with a refreshing lack of condescension - pretty rare these days.

What To Buy: Cameras and camera equipment, including second-hand stuff (they don't make 'em like they used to!). Professional film. Processing if you want something more than just your holiday snaps - especially the speedy service for enlargements. I use the Reading branch mostly, but it's the same lab they use (in Cornwall!).

What To Pay: As much as you want.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Other
Phone: 0 20 7379 0200
Address: 98 The Strand
Directions: Charing Cross tube
Website: http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/

Name of Shop: Samuel French Ltd

If you are interested in drama and the theatre then Samuel French's is the place to go for the texts of plays and all things theatrical.

What To Buy: The play's the thing.


Leave a Comment

Theme: Books
Phone: 0 20 7387 9373
Address: 52 Fitzroy Street W1
Directions: Warren Street tube

Name of Shop: Rococo

The best chocolates in the world may be in Belgium, but for chocolate as a work of art this eccentric shop can't be beaten! The white chocolates topped with coffee beans called "Venus's Nipples", as seen in the film Amadeus, are supplied from here.

What To Buy: Venus's Nipples

What To Pay: Try not to think about it! GBP 9.00 for a small (225g) selection, and upwards from there.

Leave a Comment

Theme: Food and Drink
Phone: 0 20 7352 5857
Address: 321 Kings Road, Chelsea
Directions: South Kensington tube (and a fair walk)
Website: http://www.rococochocolates.com

Name of Shop: Dub Vendor

Reggae music isn't my thing, well I loved Bob Marley but I guess he counts as MOR these days :/

Still, I'm assured that if it is your scene then this is the place to buy hard-to-find recordings all the way from Trenchtown. Or Brixton, for that matter.



Leave a Comment

Theme: Music
Phone: 0 20 8969 3375
Address: 150 Ladbroke Grove
Directions: Ladbroke Grove tube

Name of Shop: Portobello Green

Just at the point where Portobello Road passes under the 1970s concrete monstrosity known as the Westway, the space under the flyover has been made over to small shops and workshops for local designers and artists to sell their wares. There's a small shopping arcade, and the terms of the leases specify that the products sold have to be made by the proprietors.

The street market spills over here into a wider space full of clothes by young designers. You may have to rummage through some tat but there are bargains to be had here.

What To Buy: Unusual clothes, jewellery, crafts


Leave a Comment

Theme: Local Craft
Address: Portobello Road / Westway
Directions: Ladbroke Grove tube

Name of Shop: R Garcia & Sons

Lovely Spanish delicatessen, which complements the fruit & veg market outside. The local Spanish community come here to buy chorizos, olives and all the trappings of their cuisine.

What To Buy: The olives stuffed with anchovies may be a cliché but they are the stuff on which dreams are made.


Leave a Comment

Theme: Food and Drink
Address: 248-250 Portobello Road, W11
Directions: Ladbroke Grove tube

Name of Shop: D R Harris & Co

Old-fashioned homeopathic pharmacy, dark and mysterious, full of bottles and jars of assorted potions, and smelling scrumptious.

A total sensuous experience!

The nearby residents of St James's and Buckingham Palaces are known to favour homeopathic medicine and this is where they come, as the several royal warrants in the window testify.

What To Buy: "The Original" is said to be an effective proprietory hangover cure. I've never tried it myself, I usually rely on strong black coffee.


Leave a Comment

Theme: Other
Address: 29 St James's Street, SW1
Directions: Green Park tube