Shopping in London

Shopping in London is amazing! The city has everything you could possibly want, from giant shopping malls, plenty of markets and huge department stores. However, if you don’t know what you’re doing or where to go, you might end up falling into the trap of visiting Oxford Circus on a Saturday afternoon. Not fun!

Let’s start with a brief description of some of London’s most famous shopping streets:

Oxford Street – The main department stores such as Selfridges, John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser are on this street as well as Marks and Spencers’ flagship store. Between Bond Street station and Marble Arch station, budget shoppers will find Primark. Try and avoid it at lunchtime though, because it really does get extremely busy.

Tottenham Court Road –. The street is famous for it’s electrical shopping, but it also has a decent variety of home furnishing stores.

Regent Street and Carnaby Street – Regent Street, south of Oxford Circus down to Piccadilly is home to famous children’s store Hamleys and you can also gain access to Carnaby Street which is near Liberty’s department store.

King’s Road – for a less busy and stress-free shopping experience. Home to Peter Jones’ department store and various high end clothes shops.

Kensington High Street – again, less busy than the West End, but contains usual high street chain stores.

Covent Garden – Neal Street is where you’d head for chain stores, but the rest of the area tends to be good for shoe shopping and independent stores.

Bond Street is expensive and laden with jewellers such as Tiffanys and antique stores.

Depending on where you are arriving from, you may not appreciate wandering up and down London’s streets with carrier bags and may prefer more of a shopping centre/mall experience. If this is the case, do not despair, there are plenty of options.

First and foremost is the Westfield centre which has just celebrated it’s first birthday. It is located in West London and is accessible from 4 different tube stations: Shepherd’s Bush, Wood Lane, White City and Shepherd’s Bush Market.

If you live in North London, then you might find Brent Cross Shopping Centre to be convenient. Hendon Central tube station or Hendon mainline rail station are nearby.

For South Londoners, there are good options available at the Glades in Bromley. Bromley North and Bromley South station are both good options for the Glades. If you live nearer Croydon, then try the Centrale or the Whitgift

Finally, for those living further out into the counties, you’ll almost certainly want to visit Lakeside in Essex or Bluewater in Kent – both close to the M25.

But it’s not all about high street chain stores and shopping centres, there are also many markets to choose from, but this topic deserves an article of it’s own, so come back in the next couple of days for a comprehensive rundown of London’s markets.

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