World famous stores to bargain souvenirs

• BhS, department store – wide choice at affordable prices
• Browns – various designer labels
• C&A – economical and complete range of clothing for the whole family
• Debenhams, department store – quality at reasonable prices
• D.H. Evans, department store – lower priced alternatives to the more expensive brands
• HMV – huge record, music and multimedia store and the oldest record shop in the world
• John Lewis, department store – half a million lines including great ideas for the home with fabrics, furnishings and housewares
• Mappin & Webb – top of the range jewellers
• Marks & Spencer, department store – mega branch one of Britain’s best-known retailers, offering quality and value for clothes and food
• Miss Selfridge – the latest fashions for the girl about town at affordable prices
• Mothercare – clothing and everything for babies and toddlers
• Selfridges, department store – Oxford Street’s most prominent landmark with seven floors, nine different restaurants and the largest cosmetic hall in Europe
• Topshop/Topman – up to date fashions at sensible prices for the younger generation
• Virgin Megastore – giant music and multimedia store

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Regent Street
West End, W1
U Oxford Circus/Piccadilly Circus

Represents the very best that Britain has to offer with a choice of upmarket and mid range stores including classic English clothing, fine china and crystal, precious jewellery and the very best in toys.

• Aquascutum – traditional classic British clothing.
• Austin Reed – traditional British clothing for men
• Burberrys – classic high quality clothes, famous for its coats and associated accessories
• Churches – traditional English footware
• Dickins and Jones, department store – long established, traditional style with good quality
• Disney Store – recently opened flagship store
• French Connection – fashion clothing at reasonable prices
• Garrard & Co., – jewellers to the Queen
• Hamleys – world famous and largest toy store in the world with 40,000 different lines
• Jaeger – stylish British clothing
• Laura Ashley – traditional English furnishings and fabrics
• Levis – their flagship store
• Liberty, department store – exudes period charm; combining tradition with today’s style, including rich fabrics, elegant furnishings and the latest fashions
• Warner Bros. Studio Store – combination of entertainment and retail merchandising in an exciting and fun filled environment

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Bond Street
West End, W1
U Bond Street

Top of the range and exclusive shops with international designer labels, top jewellers, the best leather goods and fine arts and gifts.

• Asprey – upmarket jewellers
• Cartier – fine jewellery
• Chanel – designer fashion
• Church’s – men’s traditional footware
• Gucci – upmarket fashion and accessories
• Fenwick, department store – well known for its upmarket designer fashions, accessories and cosmetics
• Polo Ralph Lauren – world-famous clothing brand
• Russell & Bromley – wide selection of quality women’s shoes
• Tiffany & Co – a fine jewellers with a romantic and spirited range
• Valentino – exclusive designer label

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Carnaby Street
West End W1
U Oxford Circus

Enormously popular in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ when it was the home of designer boutiques. It is currently undergoing a bit of a 90’s revival and still has some shops worth checking out as well as the souvenir shops.

• John Richmond – an innovative clothes designer
• Muji – oriental wear, accessories and various
• Shelley’s – great selection of fashionable and streetsmart shoes and boots

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Tottenham Court Road
West End, W1
U Tottenham Court Road/Goodge Street

Very well known for its abundance of electrical goods shops selling everything including Hi/Fi, TV’s, computers, and cameras. It also has some excellent home design and furnishings stores as well as some famous bookstores.

• Computer Exchange – great game shop with big choice of new and second hand games
• Dillons the Bookstore – flagship branch with a huge selection
• Foyles – world famous and its sheer range of book titles stocked makes it worth a visit
• Habitat – wide affordable contemporary range of well-made furniture and home accessories
• Heal’s – one of London’s oldest furniture stores with several floors of stylish furniture and accessories
• Hi-Fi Experience – big choice of stock and eight demo rooms
• Purves & Purves – best of British furniture design as well as some top European

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Piccadilly
West End, W1
U Green Park/Piccadilly Circus

Home to a wide selection of shops, some of which are quite distinguished. Also features Jermyn Street which is famous for its fine bespoke tailors which have served royalty and aristocracy for generations

• Burlington Arcade – traditional, upmarket Victorian mall of quality shops selling antique jewellery, cashmere jumpers and Irish linen
• Cordings – famous for tweeds along with all types of outerwear and boots
• Fortnum & Mason, department store – traditional and very well known with a fabulous food hall famed for exotic grocery preserves, biscuits and teas.
• Lillywhite’s – traditional ambience offers clothing and equipment for all Sports
• Simpson – traditional quality English tailoring
• Sogo, department store – smaller version of the Tokyo department store including Lagerfield, Dunhill and Wedgewood
• Tower Records – massive choice for music and multimedia lovers

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Covent Garden
WC2
U Covent Garden/Leicester Square/ Charing Cross

Great place for something a bit different, its packed with lots of small unusual and interesting shops including designer labels, arts and crafts and all manner of jewellery shops

• Benjamin Pollack’s Toy Shop – One of London’s best teddy bear shops and a great choice of other fine toys
• Benedicks – world famous for chocolates and after dinner mints
• Comic Showcase – general comic store with a good range of translated comics
• Monsoon Thai – silks and batiks used to create colourful and casual clothes.
• Paul Smith – menswear classics with a twist as well as children’s and womenswear
• Peter Rabbit & Friends – specialist range of giftware for all ages from the world of Beatrix Potter
• The Tea House – more than 40 different varieties of tea plus teapots

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Soho
WC2
U Piccadilly Circus

A very interesting place to wander around with a variety of shops ranging from most interesting to quite zany. They also reflect the multicultural society of this area

• Algerian Coffee Shop – dispensing coffee since 1887 with coffee beans, teas, chocolate and equipment
• Ann Summers – sex shop with kinky lingerie and accessories
• Berwick Street Cloth Shop – silk and exotic materials
• Black Market Records – best of techno, jungle and dance music
• Boy – strange and colourful designer clothes
• Janet Fitch – designer jewellery featuring some of the best young designers
• Paradiso – fetish and lingerie boutique
• Vintage Magazine – excellent movie and TV memorabilia and posters

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Knightsbridge
(includes Brompton Road/Sloane Street/Sloane Square)
SW1
U Knightsbridge/Sloane Square

Probably London’s most prestigious and exclusive shopping area with top department stores, international designer labels (including a long line of designer shops leading down Sloane Street), elegant and upmarket fashions, and the smartest of shoe shops.

• Giorgio Armani – world famous designer label
• Harrods, department store – world famous with all things, for all people, with 300 depts, 7 floors and presented with lavishness
• Harvey Nichols, department store – a top of the range fashion favourite with most major designer labels, exclusive furnishings and a famous food hall and 5th floor restaurant
• Janet Reger – beautiful and glamorous lingerie of the highest luxury
• Joseph – top designer labels from including Kenzo, Dolce and Gabbana
• Mappin & Webb – top of the range jewellers
• Prada – international designer label
• Scotch House – fine quality traditional cashmeres and woollens.
• Valentino – famous designer label

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Kensington High Street
Kensington W8
U High Street Kensington

A wide choice that covers most things with dept stores, chain stores, small boutiques and trendy clothes shops. Also includes Kensington Market and the adjacent Kensington Church Street, which is full of antique shops.

• Barkers, department store – a fine traditional store for the modern day
• BhS, department store – wide choice at reasonable prices
• Children’s Book Centre – a wide selection of British Children’s books
• Hyper-Hyper – original and unusual fashion offerings from young British designers
• Kensington Market – hunt for those street and second hand gems
• Marks & Spencer, department store – Britain’s best known offering quality and value
• The Source – modern home accessories galore, at very reasonable prices

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Kings Road
Chelsea SW3
U Sloane Square

Birthplace of the mini-skirt in the Swinging Sixties and punk shops in the Seventies, it is still a lively fashion area with boutiques of every description with trendy and designer clothes and some good shoe shops

• Anglomania – top designer Vivienne Westwood’s secondary store selling lower-priced clothes
• Designers Guild – bright colours prevail in linens, crockery, soft furnishings and furniture
• Designer’s Sale Studio – some serious bargains on designer clothes labels
• Johnny Moke – speciality and custom shoes
• Octopus – great selection from the wacky to the tacky at this accessories emporium
• Peter Jones, department store – fabrics, furnishings and housewares and a policy ‘never knowingly undersold’
• Quincy – high quality men’s fashions from casual to formal
• Warehouse – high street womenswear that responds quickly to new trends

Opening hours for London shops are normally 0900–1730, Mon to Sat. Many are open late one night a week to 1900 or 2000 with as a rule of thumb the West End including Oxford Street, Regent Street, Bond Street, Covent Garden on a Thursday, and Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Kensington on a Wednesday. Sunday shopping is also available in many shops including department stores and chain store branches from 1100 or 1200 to 1700 or 1800

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