Shop
The section of railway arches around Spa Terminus has become a hub for food and drink businesses to run their wholesale and distribution operations from. Open during the week for wholesale trade, many of the producers open up to the public on Fridays and Saturdays so you can buy direct from them. And with the likes of the Fresh Pasta Company, Maltby & Greek, Little Bread Pedlar, The Kernel, Ice Cream Union, Natoora, Poon’s, Neal’s Yard Dairy, London Smoke & Cure and Mons Cheesemongers there, you won’t be short of delish produce to pick up.
Grocery shopping becomes a pleasure rather than a chore at this cute shop on Bermondsey Street. As well as having nostalgic charm, Giddy Grocer is filled with some of the finest artisan produce from around Britain, so you can shop from seasonal fruit and veg, fresh meat and fish, deli items, breads, pastries, wines and more. There are also cakes and other goods on the counter that are made in-house using any produce that’s nearing the end of its life.
A new market has started in Tottenham, running on Saturdays from 10.30am – 3.30pm in the grounds of the Harris Academy. As well as produce, baked goods from the Dusty Knuckle, coffee, and street food from jollof rice kitchen Jim Jima, you can also pick up flowers, vintage homeware and other goodies from local traders. Well worth heading down if you live nearby.
The Clapton outpost of Fink’s (which also has spots in Finsbury Park and Clissold Park) is the pink shop on Chatsworth Road. Head inside to shop from a range of the city’s best producers of jams, honeys, spirits, hot sauces and more delish things. Or if you want something to eat asap, you can grab one on of their cakes or sarnies (made with Dusty Knuckle bread and always deep-filled) and a brew from Scenery Coffee Roasters.
If you love a spot of bargain hunting, Peckham Car Boot is well worth a visit. Held every other Sunday at Harris Academy on Peckham Road, the car boot (which has been going since 2019) has become one of the best places in south London to find some real secondhand gems. There’s always a great array of sellers (you can secure a pitch yourself by pre-booking from the Monday following the previous event), and it’s even been featured in Vogue. One pro tip – remember to bring exact change for the admission charge, which is £7 for early birds at 10am, £5 from 10.30am, and then a quid from 11am onwards.
Bermondsey Antique Market has been running for over 75 years, and though it’s changed a bit over that time (it now starts at 7am every Friday rather than 4am like it did in the sixties), it’s still one of the best antiques markets in the capital, if not the country. You can find a mix of veteran traders and antique shop owners alongside a younger generation of sellers, and with many of the stall holders running antique businesses outside of London, there’s always an influx of interesting items to browse.
Biscuiteers runs the world’s only biscuit boutiques and icing cafes in Notting Hill and Belgravia. At the boutiques, easily identified by their black and white striped awnings, you can shop the full range of Biscuiteers’ hand-iced collections, stop for a slice of cake, indulge in afternoon tea, and even learn how to ice biscuits like the pros with Icing Lates and School of Icing events.
Slow fashion menswear brand Wax London is all about making characterful clothing that doesn’t break the bank. The pieces are designed in London but draw inspo from British heritage, Indian craftsmanship and Mediterranean sensibility, as well as a love of music, sport and the outdoors. It’s a blend that results in bold patterned shirts, linen suiting, classic jeans and timeless tees. There are three stores in London – one in Spitalfields, one in Soho and the newest (and largest) in Covent Garden.
Glaswegian Gregg Boyd, the man behind Auld Hag, has been flying the flag for Scottish food in the capital for the past few years, and now he’s opened London’s very first Scottish deli. The Shoap (from the Scottish slang for ‘shop’) is stocked with the best produce from across Scotland, including Glasgow’s Bare Bones Chocolate; charcuterie from East Coast Cured in Leith; preserves from the Isle of Arran; and a range of cheeses salts, cakes, biscuits, Mackie’s crisps, haggis, square sausage, Stornoway black pudding, and Scottish beers. The counter is filled with Dundee cake, Ecclefechan tarts, shortbread and tablet for all your sweet treat needs. And if you’re eating in, you can choose from Glasgow morning rolls with square sausage, tattie scones, macaroni pies, and toasties in the daytime, with small plates on in the evenings. Basically it’s your one-stop-shoap for all things Scottish.
Nail your at-home grazing boards with products from Aga’s Little Deli. Pick up fresh British and French cheese, sourdough bread, eggs, butter, salami, and wine, and while you’re at it, make a quick pit-stop for coffee and a cake or a sandwich.
If you’re up for spending big bucks and looking for a real shopping experience, head to LN-CC. Recently re-opened after a four-year closure, the shop’s various different rooms, including their iconic, 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque tunnel, have been reimagined by designer Gary Card. And, for the first time, you’ll be able to drop by on weekends without an appointment so you can browse womenswear and menswear pieces from major fashion houses like Alexander McQueen, Chloe, Burberry, and Prada alongside up-and-coming designers, plus luxury lifestyle and homeware items.
Welcome to the farm — we mean farmshop. Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, the first black farmer in the UK, opened the Black Farmer Farmshop in Brixton complete with life-size cows, a deli counter, homeware, and premium wine. You can also grab a bite to eat inside the shop with a menu of freshly made sandwiches, desserts, and more.
A New Part-Restaurant, Part-Floristry Has Opened in the City
Stem & Stem is fusing British cuisine and locally-grown flowers in Central London
Michelin-trained chef Edward Boarland teamed up with floral and fashion industry veteran Dee Reid to create this fine dining, wine bar, and nature experience. As business — and life — partners, the pair combined their passions and opened Stem & Stem in November 2023, which prioritises sustainability and freshness by using local produce and ingredients from South East farmers. A constantly evolving menu by Boarland, who trained under Alain Roux, Clare Smyth, Gordon Ramsay, and Simone Zanoni, showcases British cuisine inspired by his everyday life and seasonal produce. Along with the evolving menu comes a changing wine list focused on European wine appellations.
Reid is responsible for the floristry side of things and uses British blooms to elevate the Stem & Stem experience into a sensory one. As well as popping in for lunch, dinner or drinks, the space, located near St Paul’s Cathedral, also hosts themed workshops for occasions like Mother’s Day, where you can learn how to create the perfect bouquet while tasting Stem & Stem small plates and drinking champagne.
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FLASHBACK RECORDS
An outpost of the city-wide franchise, Flashback Records in Crouch End is the ideal spot for some neighbourhood vinyl shopping. The original N8 location had been the site of a record shop for a while, having been home to Listen Records before Flashback took over in 2006, so music was pretty much in the bones of the place. They’ve since moved to a bigger space to make more room for their wide selection of used and new vinyl – and we’re not complaining!
The Wapping Docklands Market is open every Saturday, located along the edge of the Shadwell Basin. As well as stalls packed with fresh produce, there are indie brands selling specialty coffee, flowers, wellness products, fresh bread, cheese, craft German beers, wine, cocktails and more. Plus, there’s seating for up to 100 people, live music and a range of street food vendors so you can really make a day of it.
Since the 80s, cinema enthusiast Ümit Mesut has been running his video and film shop in Clapton, surviving the proclaimed death of analogue film through the sheer power of personality and nostalgia. Ümit & Son’s collection is the kind of expansive mass that’s clearly taken many years to bring together and every corner of the shop is covered in posters, tapes, reels and merch. As well as selling his wares, Ümit runs the 16mm movie club Ciné-Real alongside director Liam Saint-Pierre, as well as projection workshops, and rents out the 15-seater cinema at the back of the shop for £250 (just over £16 per person for a full house). Stop by – or bear this spot in mind for your next birthday party – if you love watching classics as they were intended to be watched.
The first in-person shop of its kind, big. is dedicated to showcasing conscious beauty products at its flagship location in Victoria Park Village. There are plenty of cult brands on sale at the shop, some you may already recognise, including the likes of Mirror Water, Votary, Haeckels, Pelegrims, Sans[ceuticals], Horosoaps, Salt & Stone, Wild Source and The Seated Queen. As well as promoting the use of sustainable and cruelty-free skincare and wellness products, big. has designed its first bricks-and-mortar site to be totally circular by incorporating furniture made from discarded plasterboard (the most frequently wasted product in London), panels made from algae biomaterial, fixtures grown from mycelium (mushroom) biomaterial and more.
LO'S NOODLE FACTORY
As the name suggests, Lo’s is a noodle factory, but not just any noodle factory – this tiny backstreet spot, opened by owner Wai-keung Law’s great-uncle in 1978, is where 95% of Chinatown’s restaurants, as well as Hakkasan, get their ho fun and cheung fun noodles from. You can pick up your own bags of fresh noodles or baked goods like steamed buns from the bakery upstairs.