Cool Britannia are the biggest and by far the coolest souvenir stores in London and the UK. They have the largest and best range of British souvenirs, novelty goods and fashion so that you can do all of your gift shopping for loved ones in one great location. Their flagship store is on the world famous Piccadilly Circus, steps away from Eros! Check out the official website for a wide variety of souvenirs in store and for ordering online, as well as ticket offers, tours, sports, and gifts. Store Information
(Piccadilly Store) 225 – 229 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HR Phone: 0207 839 7200 Store Hours: 9am to Midnight 7 Days a Week
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As a major Harry Potter fanatic, this is one of the stops on my seven day trip to London. As many fans will know, King's Cross Station is the home to the Hogwarts Express, caught at Platform 9 3/4. To celebrate this wonderful phenomenon, King's Cross station opened this store adjacent to Platform 9 3/4. On December 15, 2013, the store was opened by actor Warwick Davis, who portrayed both the choir directing Charms Teacher, Professor Filius Flitwick, and the Gringotts goblin, Griphook in the film series. The shop carries a wide variety of Harry Potter and Platform 9 3/4 collectibles. The apparel section contains t-shirts, sweaters, ties, scarves, and costumes. The Souvenirs collection includes mugs, keychains, stationery, toys, phone cases, etc. The Collectibles include wands, prop replicas, jewelry,and other treasures. They also carry the books and DVDs, as well as the different sweets as seen in the movies and books. After you have finished shopping you can walk just outside of the shop to have a picture with the trolley disappearing into the wall at Platform 9 3/4, as seen below with Prince Charles and Camilla! Store Information
The Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 3/4 Kings Cross Station London • N1 9AP Phone: 0207 803 0500 Store Hours Monday-Saturday 8am - 10pm Sunday 9am - 9pm For more information about products, delivery charges, and even online ordering, check out the official website below! Cheers! As a soon-to-be chef, food is not the only side of the culinary arts I want to explore whilst in London. As Borough Market will be my food haven, Berry Bros. & Rudd will be my wine and spirits hub. Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain's oldest wine and spirit merchant, having traded from the same shop since 1698. Today the company also has offices in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, a Wine School and an exclusive fine wine & dining venue in London's St James's. With over 315 years of history, Berry Bros. & Rudd is justly proud of its past. In 1698, the Widow Bourne established a shop at No. 3 St James’s Street. Over three centuries later, with two Royal Warrants and eight Masters of Wine, the family business continues to flourish, with its heart still very much at No. 3. The company’s colourful history encompasses wines on board the Titanic, supplying smugglers running alcohol into Prohibition-era America, and sheltering Napoleon III in cellars beneath the shop. Nowadays, Berry Bros. & Rudd continue to supply wines and spirits to royalty, have a successful presence in Asia, and lead the world of wine with a philosophy of constant innovation. In 1998, two years before the start of a new century, Berry Bros. & Rudd celebrated 300 years in business. The run-up to the 300th anniversary celebrations was marked in 1997 with the award of Berry Bros. & Rudd’s second Royal Warrant by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. If the second half of the 20th century had been characterised by expansion of the traditional business, the 21st saw new sides of the business established. The beautiful historic cellars below the shop and rooms in Pickering Place were gradually renovated to facilitate private wine events and the highly-respected wine school. Berry Bros. & Rudd’s business in Asia continued to flourish, with new websites and physical presence in Japan and Hong Kong. In 2013 Berry Bros. & Rudd was the first major UK retailer to give the wines from China a permanent place on its shelves. Today, with two Royal Warrants, 300 years of history and eight Masters of Wine, Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain’s original wine and spirit merchant. While the firm embraces progress, traditions are also valued. Everyone is welcome to the Widow Bourne's shop by the Palace, whether they want one bottle or a cellar full. It is run by members of the Berry and Rudd families and they continue to supply the British Royal Family, as we have done since the reign of King George III. Just because they serve the royal family does not mean that they are so ridiculously expensive that the wealthy cannot afford them. They have a wide variety of wines, spirits, and other drinks that can vary in price, for example from some as low as £6.95, up to even £220,000.00. So whether you want a nice little bottle of wine to go with your dinner, or a magnum of champagne for a wedding or celebration, you can find it all at Berry Bros. & Rudd Winesellers. Store Information
3 St. James's Street, London, SW1A 1EG Phone: 0800 280 2440 (from within the UK) +44 20 7022 8973(from outside the UK) Shop Hours Mon - Fri: 10am to 6pm Sat: 10am to 5pm Sun / Public Holidays: Closed For more info including a detailed history of the shop, shop deals, and even online ordering, check out the official website below! This along with Harrods and Borough Market will be one of my shopping delights when I get to London. Located on the famous shopping street know as Piccadilly, it is probably the dominated name when it comes to shopping. It is famous for its longevity since 1707 and for being the Queen's Grocer. Fortnum & Mason is recognised internationally for its high quality goods and as an iconic British symbol. It has held many Royal Warrants over the past 150 years. Founded as a grocery store, Fortnum's reputation was built on supplying quality food, and saw rapid growth throughout the Victorian era. Though Fortnum's developed into a department store, it continues to focus on stocking a variety of exotic, speciality and also 'basic' provisions. The store has since opened several other departments, such as the Gentlemen's department on the top floor. It is also the location of a celebrated tea shop and several restaurants. William Fortnum was a footman in the royal household of Queen Anne. The Royal Family’s insistence on having new candles every night meant a lot of half-used wax which William Fortnum promptly resold for a tidy profit. The enterprising William Fortnum also had a sideline business as a grocer. He convinced his landlord, Hugh Mason, to be his associate, and they founded the first Fortnum & Mason store in Mason's small shop in St James's Market in 1707. In 1761, William Fortnum's grandson Charles went into the service of Queen Charlotte and the Royal Court affiliation led to an increase in business. Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented the Scotch egg in 1738. The store began to stock speciality items, namely ready-to-eat luxury meals such as fresh poultry or game served in aspic jelly. During the Napoleonic Wars, the emporium supplied dried fruit, spices and other preserves to the British officers and during the Victorian era it was frequently called upon to provide food for prestigious Court functions. Queen Victoria even sent shipments of Fortnum and Mason's concentrated beef tea to Florence Nightingale's hospitals during the Crimean War. On March 1,2012 was an historic day at Fortnum & Mason. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge, visited the store to open the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. It was also an opportunity for Her Majesty to inspect the 60 unique Diamond Jubilee products created in celebration of her reign. One of these was a service tin – filled with tea and biscuits – that we sent to 17,000 British servicemen and women across the globe. At the foot of the sparkling spiral staircase lies the fabulous Food Hall, filled with fresh fruit and vegetables, superior meat, fish and crustacea, delicatessen delicacies, a variety of baked treats, superb cheeses and pantry provisions of all kinds, not to mention the Fortnum’s Takeaway Counter. Here, too, you will find the Customer Collection point as well as our famous Wines & Spirits department and the gourmet delights of the 1707 Wine Bar. On the Ground Floor you will find tea and coffee, confectionery and a considerable range of honey and preserves, as well as Fortnum's famous hampers, including the capacity to create one's own bespoke hamper. Here, too, are the Gallery and Fountain Restaurants, offering delicious food and drink just a few steps from the shop floor The First Floor is home to the well-stocked Cookshop and also features books, china and glass. Here too you will find the Demonstration Kitchen and their famous Hampers. For refreshment, visit The Parlour, which offers ice creams, light meals, tea, coffee and other drinks. The Second Floor is filled with ladies’ fashion accessories such as hats, jewelry, lingerie and handbags, as well as perfume, cosmetics, toiletries, luxurious soft furnishings and bed and bath linen. The Children’s section offers traditional toys and beautiful clothes. Visit also The Beauty Rooms, their elegant in-store spa. On the Third Floor you will find an abundance of gentleman’s accessories, gifts and toiletries, leather goods, luggage, games, stationery and a personal gift-wrapping service. The fourth floor was made home to the much-loved St James’s Restaurant in good time for their 250th anniversary in 1957, and specialized in superb dining and fine afternoon tea. So for generations afternoon tea has been an essential part of any visit to 181 Piccadilly. On 1 March 2012, with enormous joy and excitement, the refurbished St James’s restaurant was opened by HM the Queen accompanied by Their Royal Highness's the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge, and renamed The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. Information
181 Piccadilly, London W1A 1ER. Telephone +44 (0)207 734 8040 Monday to Saturday 10am - 9pm Sunday 12noon - 6pm For info on restaurant menus, takeaway menus, ordering or to shop online, check out the official Fortnum and Masons website below. Cheers! There is a reason that I have devoted half of one of my seven days in London to Harrods...it is huge! Not only is it the biggest department store in Europe, it is the most well known! Although some things at Harrods can be expensive, it is worth just going there to look around, even though you may not have the money to buy a lot of things. I am also looking forward to going to their famous food hall. I have been advised that the food hall is second to Borough Market as a chef's haven. No matter what you are looking for, Harrods probably has it. Although the original story of Harrods goes back to 1834, it wasn't until 1849 when it came to its current location on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, South Kensington. The owner Charles Henry Harrod, had operated a few stores around London before taking over a small shop on Brompton Road, where the store now stands. Beginning in a single room employing two assistants and a messenger boy, Harrod's son Charles Digby Harrod built the business into a thriving retail operation selling medicines, perfumes, stationery, fruit and vegetables. Harrods rapidly expanded, acquired the adjoining buildings, and employed one hundred people by 1880. However, the store's booming fortunes were reversed in early December 1883, when it burnt to the ground. Remarkably, in view of this calamity, Charles Harrod fulfilled all of his commitments to his customers to make Christmas deliveries that year—and made a record profit in the process. In short order, a new building was built on the same site, and soon Harrods extended credit for the first time to its best customers, among them Oscar Wilde, Lillie Langtry, Ellen Terry, Charlie Chaplin, Noël Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, Sigmund Freud, A. A. Milne, and many members of the British Royal Family. On Wednesday, 16 November 1898, Harrods debuted England's first "moving staircase" (escalator) in their Brompton Road stores; the device was actually a woven leather conveyor belt-like unit with a mahogany and "silver plate-glass" balustrade. Nervous customers were offered brandy at the top to revive them after their 'ordeal'. The department store was purchased by the Fayed brothers in 1985. In 2010, Harrod's owner Mohamed al Fayed, sold the store for £1.5 billion to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar. Two weeks prior to that Fayed had stated "People approach us from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. Fair enough. But I put two fingers up to them. It is not for sale. This is not Marks and Spencer or Sainsbury's. It is a special place that gives people pleasure. There is only one Mecca." He later stated in an interview he wanted his "legacy and traditions that he has built up into Harrods would be continued." Harrods was a former Royal Warrant Holder. It has held Royal Warrants since 1910. The recent ones were as follows:
In 2000, the Royal Warrant for the Duke of Edinburgh was removed and Mohamed al Fayed had the others taken down and burned. He proclaimed that the warrants were a curse. He then on went to state that business had doubled since removing the warrants. Most may know, Mohamed al Fayed's son Dodi Fayed was killed along with Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997. A memorial shrine now rests in the store between two of the Egyptian Escalators. The shop's 330 departments offer a wide range of products and services. Products on offer include clothing for women, men, children and infants, electronics, jewellery, sporting gear, bridal trousseau, pets and pet accessories, toys, food and drink, health and beauty items, packaged gifts, stationery, housewares, home appliances, furniture, and much more. A representative sample of shop services includes 32 restaurants, serving everything from high tea to tapas to pub food to haute cuisine; a personal shopping-assistance program known as "By Appointment"; a watch repair service; a tailor; a dispensing pharmacy; a beauty spa and salon; a barbers shop; Harrods Financial Services; Harrods Bank; Ella Jade Bathroom Planning and Design Service; private events planning and catering; food delivery; a wine steward; bespoke "picnic" hampers and gift boxes; bespoke cakes; bespoke fragrance formulations; and Bespoke Arcades machines. Up to 300,000 customers visit the shop on peak days, comprising the highest proportion of customers from non-English speaking countries of any department store in London. More than five thousand staff from over fifty different countries work at Harrods. Opening Times
Please refer to the "Visiting the Store" section of the official website. There are different opening and closing times throughout the year. For more info about the store including current times, store guides, departments, or even online shopping, click on the official site for Harrods below! Cheers! As a soon-to-be chef, this would be the food and drink highlight of London for me. I first fell in love with this location when I saw it on an episode of Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa. It was a special entitled "Barefoot in London". She and her husband Jeffrey took a vacation to London. She had the luxury of having Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall's journalist brother give her a tour of Borough Market. I was astounded by all of the locally produced goods and the lovely British looking atmosphere. I know when I go to London, I will spend the better part of a day just strolling and eating through the stalls of this glorious market. Borough has long been synonymous with food markets and as far back as the 11th century, London Bridge attracted traders selling grain, fish, vegetables and livestock. In the 13th century traders were relocated to what is now Borough High Street and a market has existed there ever since. In 1755, the market was closed by Parliament, but a group of Southwark residents raised £6,000 to buy a patch of land known locally as The Triangle, once the churchyard of St Margaret’s, and reopened the market. The Triangle, where you’ll find Northfield Farm and Furness Fish and Game, is still at the heart of the market today. The market still feeds this core community and has grown to over 100 individual stalls. Alongside the original fruit, veg, bakers and butchers we now sell a huge variety of British and international produce. All of the traders share a love of food and many of them make, grow or rear the produce they sell so now, just as in 1755, the customers know exactly where their shopping has come from. The market ensures high standards of produce by employing a food quality panel of impartial experts who ensure that the taste, provenance and quality of foods sold here are all regularly measured and maintained and we support small traders to meet these standards. With its vibrant and friendly atmosphere, Borough Market will always be at the heart of the local community. Its unique standing within the area has recently been marked by a Blue Plaque, voted for by the people of Southwark, marking its place as London's Oldest Fruit & Veg Market. Information on the Market Opening Times Open for Lunch- Monday - Tuesday: 10am-5pm Full Market Wednesday-Thursday: 10am-5pm Fridays: 10am-6pm Saturdays: 8am-5pm Travel Information Borough Market is easily accessed by public transport. It is a few seconds walk from a major train station, on countless bus routes and even provide bike racks for keen cyclists. If you’re travelling to the Market using public transport, Transport for London’s Journey Planner, which you’ll find to the right of this page, is a useful tool. The address is: 8 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1TL Travel by train and underground: The Market is located next to London Bridge Station which is serviced by the Jubilee and Northern Lines on the Underground and by overground trains from all over London and the south of England. To find us, simply exit the station following the exit signs for Borough High Street. Travel by bus: If you’re travelling by bus, stops at London Bridge, Borough High Street or Southwark Street will leave you right by the Market. Travel by bike: We provide bike racks so you can cycle to and from the Market. You’ll find the racks in Jubilee Space.If you’re using a Barclays Cycle Hire bike, the nearest docking stations are located on Southwark Street and Park Street. We are also easily reached by foot or along the Thames Path on the Southbank or over London Bridge from the City. Travel by car: There are now a limited number of parking spaces available in Jubilee Place for customers unable to use other forms of transport or wishing to make larger purchases. Charges are £4 for a maximum stay of 2 hrs. Jubilee Place now also provides electric car charging bays and mobility scooter hire. The parking scheme will operate from: 09:45-3:15 Monday-Tuesday 10:45-5:15 Wednesday-Thursday 11:45-6:15 Friday 07:45-5:15 Saturday For more information on the market such as maps, vendors, and floor plans; check out the official website below. Cheers!
Ah! My favorite subject when it comes to London. For info on all of the places below, click on their adjacent pictures. I don't think I need to explain further, so here you go! Enjoy... Shopping The one thing that most people look forward to is coming home with all sorts of goodies. Although you won’t be able to buy the Crown Jewels at the Tower but you can always buy some other good souvenirs at the gift shop and do some other shopping. Of course at every tourist destination you go to, certainly go into the gift shop and have a look around. One benefit if you were to opt for the London Pass that I spoke of earlier, it offers 10% off purchases at a lot of gift shops. If you have a look in the guidebook that comes with it, it lists all of the places where it gives you a discount at gift shops. Some of the major sites included are the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, and Westminster Abbey. Once you get aside from the tourist gift shops you can get into some serious shopping. Of course without a doubt one of the biggest names to shop in London is Harrods. It is the world’s largest department store. It is in the west end of the city in South Kensington. Spread over seven floors you can find almost anything you could imagine. But also as you can imagine it can be a bit on the expensive side. Another popular destination is the part of London known as Piccadilly. It is home to such names as Fortnum and Masons, Waterstones Bookstore, Lillywhites, and Cool Britannia. Around the Piccadilly neighborhood there are also big shopping districts such as Regent and Jermyn streets. That is where things can be way on the expensive sides. You can also opt for the less expensive and quite popular street markets and stores. Probably the best known in London are Covent Garden and Borough Market, Portobello Road, and Brick Lane. Covent Garden is just a few blocks away from Trafalgar Square. It is home to four markets in one location. They are called the Jubilee, Apple, East Colonnade, and Real Foods Markets. The Apple Market is found just within the main market building. The Jubilee market is on the right side of the building. Its goods change every day. Mondays are for antiques. From Tuesday to Friday the market has stalls selling household goods, clothing, food and gifts, and on Saturdays and Sundays it's devoted to arts and crafts, with more than 200 artisans selling everything from candles to jewelry, paintings to clocks and calligraphy. Borough Market is the most popular markets food wise. It is found in east London on the Southbank of the Thames River. It is just feet away from the London Bridge Tube Station. It is the premier place for local food artisans. It is a perfect place to grab a picnic lunch to enjoy in one of the many parks. If you prefer a street market for antiques or crafts, you should check out Portobello Road. It is arguably the most exciting street market in London. It offers anything you can imagine. It is spread over several blocks in the Notting Hill district just north of Kensington in between Hyde and Holland Parks. On the opposite end of London there is Brick Lane Market. Just north of the Tower of London, it is in the midst of the Bangladesh community. It offers handmade clothes and crafts amidst dozens of street food vendors. For more info go to the website below. At the end of the day, don’t blow all of your spending limit in one place. Also, don’t just go there to shop. (Even though London gives you plenty of reasons to do so). Take some time out of each of your days to get off the beaten path of sightseeing and explore all of the shopping destinations London has to offer in the particular part of the city you are visiting. Tie some places into your itinerary. If you are near Trafalgar square, stop off at Covent Garden or Piccadilly. If you are near the Tower of London, stop over to Borough Market or Brick Lane. Once you have all the souvenirs you can handle, you then have the matter of packing them up to take home. I will discuss that in the next section. I hope this helps you. In the next and final chapter of my book, I will explain how to pack up all those goodies you bought whilst in London. Cheers! |
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