London Shopping Tips by tvor

Name of Shop: LUSH

LUSH is an international chain of stores where you can buy personal products for bath, beauty, shampoo, shaving, personal care. There is no animal testing and they also have lots of vegan options of products made without any animal extracts. There are shops all over the UK including at least 8 locations in London. All of their products smell yummy and most of them work great! See the website for product reviews. Web ordering in Canada was fine, expect it would as well in the UK as well.

What To Buy: Soaps, body lotions, deoderant bars, shampoo and conditioners, shower gells, bath "bombs", face cleansers, toners and moisturizers, face masks, shaving creams and lotions, foot products. Buy soaps and some other products by weight. They have various sizes of products down to trial sized bottles. Refillable pots.

What To Pay: more expensive than drugstore/chemist/department store prices but not exorbitant

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Theme: Bath and Beauty
Directions: In London: Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Heathrow T3, Kensington High, Kings Rd, Liverpoot St stn, Victoria stn, Regent St. See website for other locations.
Website: http://www.lush.com

Name of Shop: Food and Drink

On the Strand, leading west out of the City of London, is a deep narrow shop that's been around for 300 years. It's one of the oldest shops in London and it sells and specializes in tea. Every kind of tea you can imagine. Yes they do sell coffee too and also teapots and cups and other tea paraphernalia. It's a fascinating shop.

What To Buy: Tea!

What To Pay: Various prices depending on the blends.

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Theme: Other
Directions: ACross from the Law Courts and next to Temple Bar on the Strand.
Website: http://www.twinings.com/en_int/index.asp

Name of Shop: Department stores

Liberty is a tudor beamed department store on Regent Street. THey are famous for textiles and fabrics but they sell men's and ladies' wear, accessories, gifts as well. The shop was originally opened in 1875 and this Tudor building was actually erected in the early 20th century, completed in 1924.

What To Buy: They specialize in fabrics for clothing and upholstery but have all the up to date fashion and designer names as well in men's and ladies' fashions. Great accessories and gifts too.


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Theme: Department Store
Address: Regent Street, London
Website: http://www.liberty.co.uk/

Name of Shop: Covent Garden

Covent Garden was designed as a piazza in the 1600's and some of the area street names are still the same as then. St. Paul's church is on one side of the square and it used to be surrounded by Inigo Jones designed houses. Little by little Covent Garden became a market square and then a flower market and slowly the merchants expanded into the surrounding streets. In the mid 1960's, the old market was cleared out and redeveloped for tourism. There are still market stalls amid all the shops and restaurants and the old theatre is now the Royal Opera House.

What To Buy: Covent Garden has some very interesting shops in the main piazza structure. There are seconds china shops, a theatre and toy store, Past Times, boutiques and the market stalls as well. You will see street performers and at night, there are streams of people filing into the area to take part in the bars and restaurants before and after the theatre.


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Theme: Other
Phone: Maps and shopping guide below
Website: http://www.coventgardenmarket.co.uk/shopping/

Name of Shop: Resurrection Records

Resurrection Records is the place to go for goth, metal and industrial music, often you can get here what you can't get anywhere else. They offer cd's and vinyl by new and independent labels. For lovers of goth, industrial and various types of metal music, look here first for what you want. The music shop is downstairs. Upstairs you can buy clothes and accessories.

What To Buy: records, cd's. Metal of all types including black, thrash, heavy metal and more, goth, industrial, some electronica. Band tshirts, leather, other miscellaneous clothing and club gear.


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Theme: Music
Address: Camden High Street
Directions: Nearest tube Camden Town. Close to the market on the high street and not far from the Stables Market.
Website: http://www.resurrectionmusic.com/

Name of Shop: Celtic Dawn

Celtic Dawn (formerly Wilde Celts) carries a wonderful assortment of celtic style jewellry in gold and in silver. The shop is small but the quality is very good and the prices were reasonable for the good quality you are getting, , i thought. I bought two silver rings there for 33 pounds total. Most of the items are made in the UK and Ireland.

*There was a serious fire in the Camden Lock market in early 2008. I'm not sure if this store was affected or not but it's possible this isn't open anymore*

What To Buy: Rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings,

What To Pay: various

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Theme: Jewelry
Phone: Telephone: 020 7267 7056
Address: Camden Lock Market
Directions: In the courtyard of Camden Lock market by the canal.

Name of Shop: Alienate Design

This is a small shop in the Camden Stables market, tucked away in a back corridor. The walls are painted red, the better to show off the sculptures. The prices are very good and mostly all the merchandise is made in the UK.

What To Buy: Alienate Design is probably one of the more unusual shops i've ever been in. The walls and ceiling are covered in plaques, sculpture, mirrors, incense burners.... all depicting characters and faces and designs showing skulls, aliens, trolls, gargoyles, Tribal symbols, sci-fi figures and more. Anyone that is a fan of the bizarre and demonic will love this shop. My boyfriend loves horror movies and images and also the surreal artwork of a man named HR Giger (http://www.hrgiger.com/) and there are items that reflect his works as well.

*There was a serious fire in the Camden Lock market in early 2008. I'm not sure if this store was affected or not but it's possible this isn't open anymore*


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Theme: Art
Address: Unit 8b, Stables Market Camden
Directions: Take the tube to Camden and walk up Chalk Farm road until you get to the Stables Market. Alienate is in a back lane.
Website: http://www.alienatedesign.net/

Name of Shop: Foyles Bookshop

Foyles is over 100 years old and is still privately owned. This in itself lends to a unique feel, instead of the usual national chain stores selling books to the masses. There are five floors of books, an art gallery, cafe, lifts and air conditioning! There are many specialist subjects available as well as gifts, stationery.

They are open late six days a week and open on Sundays until 8. The main store is on Charing Cross Road and there is now a branch in the Royal Festival Hall.

Also check out Silvermoon, a specialist area for women's books and interests. There's a link off the main website to their section with online book shopping there as well.

What To Buy: Books, gifts


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Theme: Books
Address: 113-119 Charing Cross Road
Directions: Tottenham Court road station, south on Charing Cross road on the west side of the street. You can't miss it!
Website: http://www.foyles.co.uk/

Name of Shop: Stanford's

More than just a store to buy travel books and guides, Stanford's also has an extensive supply of maps of all kinds, from atlases to walking guides and ordnance survey maps. Stanfords is 150 years old and still going strong with it's main store in Covent Garden, London and a branch in both Bristol and Manchester. Maps are also available on cd rom and you can also buy gps devices. They have a good range of travel accessories too, from laundry and toiletries to luggage, money belts and insect repellents! A very useful and interesting store!

What To Buy: maps, travel guides, travel books, travel accessories, luggage


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Theme: Books
Phone: 020 7836 1321
Address: 12-14 Long Acre
Directions: A few minutes walk from Covent Garden and Leicester Square stations.
Website: http://www.stanfords.co.uk/