Shops and markets - The Rough Guide to London - page 421

ESSENTIALS
Sales The cheapest time to shop in London is during one of
the two big annual sale seasons, centred on January and
July, when prices are routinely slashed by anything
between twenty and seventy percent. An increasing
number of mid-season sales mean that you may be lucky
whenever you visit. The best place to find details of other
discount events is in Time Out ( W timeout.com).
Cash, cards and exchange Some stores, notably
Selfridges and Harrods, will take payment in euros and US
dollars, too, although this is still quite rare. Market stalls
tend to take cash only. Always keep receipts: whatever the
shop may tell you, the law allows a full refund or
replacement on purchases which turn out to be faulty.
There's no such legal protection if you just decide you don't

like something, but some retailers are happy to exchange
and most retailers will at least offer a credit note.
VAT Overseas (non-EU) visitors can sometimes claim back
the value-added tax (VAT) that applies to most goods sold in
British shops, although you will need to spend well over £100
for this to be worthwhile. Check W hmrc.gov.uk/vat/sectors
/consumers/overseas-visitors.htm for the latest details.
Opening hours We've given the days and hours for each
shop reviewed below, but as a rule of thumb central
London shops open from Monday to Saturday from 10am to
6pm and many also open on Sunday, from around noon to
5pm or 6pm. Some of the bigger stores stay open later, and
extend their hours on Thursdays and in the weeks leading
up to Christmas.

30

WHERE TO GO
In the centre of town, Oxford Street is the city's hectic chain-store heartland and,
together with Regent Street , offers pretty much every mainstream clothing label you
could wish for. Just off Oxford Street expensive designer outlets clutter St Christopher's
Place and South Molton Street , with even pricier designers and jewellers lining chic
Bond Street . To the north, Marylebone High Street offers a pretty (and upmarket)
village oasis in the middle of town - a laidback place to get all your labels, treats and
gifts away from the bustle.
Tottenham Court Road is the place for electrical goods, sportswear and, in its northern
section, furniture and design shops, while New Oxford Street has a few new and used
camera equipment shops. Charing Cross Road is the centre of London's book trade, both
new and secondhand. At its northern end, particularly on Denmark Street (once the heart of
Britain's music industry), music shops sell everything from instruments to sound equipment
and sheet music. On the other side of Charing Cross Road, stretching down to Piccadilly, Soho
offers an increasingly mainstream mix of funky gift shops, specialist record stores, delis and the
odd old-fashioned fabric retailers, while the streets surrounding Covent Garden yield art and
design, fashion, designer wear and camping gear; the streets around Seven Dials are best for
indie designers and offbeat stores.
Just off Piccadilly, St James's is the domain of the quintessential English gentleman, with
the shops of Jermyn Street in particular dedicated to his grooming. Swanky Knightsbridge ,
further west, is home to Harrods and the big-name fashion stores of Sloane Street and
Brompton Road, while the King's Road , having all but lost any ra sh edge it once had, is
now lined with upmarket indie fashion stores, expensive designer shops and high-street
chains. You can still find some offbeat shops in Notting Hill and Kensington Church Street; this
rather smart part of town is enlivened by Portobello Road, which has been a hotspot for
antique and vintage for decades, and its offshoot, Golborne Road. On the South Bank, just a
stone's throw from Waterloo, Lower Marsh is also burgeoning, harbouring one-off shops and
studios and a local street market.
Hampstead , in a luxurious and leafy world of its own north of the centre, is a great place to
browse upmarket fashion stores, posh delis and patisseries, antiquarian booksellers and
tasteful arts and crafts shops. Greenwich , south of the river, has an eclectic range of shops
and markets, while Richmond , out to the west, has the mainstream staples and one-off
boutiques in a moneyed riverside setting. For an edgier experience, head east, where
independent stores and markets in and around Brick Lane , Shoreditch, Dalston and
Spitalfields specialize in quirky one-offs and vintage gear for hip young things; this is by far
the coolest neighbourhood to shop in London. Other popular market areas (see p.433) are also
good hunting grounds for small independent stores and vintage outlets.