London has a lot to boast about if you plan to visit it: history, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Parliament but also plenty of shops. In fact, London is one of the best places to visit if you plan to do some serious shopping.
- Regent Street, Londonslimmer_jimmer / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Here are 10 shopping destinations in London to get you started.
Oxford Street
If you don’t have time to visit any other shopping centres, you should at least visit the shops along this street. Oxford Street is the mecca of shopping and is right there alongside the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, Nevsky Prospekt in St Petersburg and Fifth Avenue in New York. Most big departments stores have their flagship store on Oxford Street, from Primark to Selfridges as well as Marks and Spencer at Marble Arch, Nike and Topshop both at Oxford Circus.
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Regent Street
If you haven’t had enough of shops along Oxford Street, take a turn onto Regent Street where you’ll find many more upmarket brands and designer labels as well as Apple’s store.
Harrods
[simpleazon-image align=”right” asin=”1741798981″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51d3RVxBFgL._SL160_.jpg” width=”104″]If you had to visit one shop only, it would have to be Harrods of course. Harrods is as luxurious a shop as you can get anywhere is the world and supposedly, you can buy anything that can be sold there. Allegedly, people have bought things from a live crocodile to a helicopter.
Stratford City Westfield
Much less upmarket but nevertheless just as thrilling for shopaholics is the relatively new vast shopping centre that opened its doors in Stratford, East London a few months before the London 2012 Olympic Games. You could even have an excellent view of the Olympic stadium from a few well-located shop windows.
Westfield London Shopping Centre
If you can’t make it to Westfield Stratford in East London, there is always another one in West London. This one is located in White City, West London and is vast, at nearly 1.9 million square feet of retail space.
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Lakeside Shopping Centre
If you get tired of the London crowd, there are large shopping centres dotted outside the capital. This one is in Essex and only about 15 minutes ride by train from Central London. Take the C2C train from Fenchurch Street and get off at Chafford Hundred station.
Bluewater
On the other side of the river and further away from London into Kent is Bluewater, Europe’s largest shopping centre according to its website. There are plenty of things to do in London in summer but when it’s winter, you don’t want to venture outdoors; having such a big shopping centre to keep you entertained all day is fantastic.
Markets
London is dotted with markets all over, from small specialist ones to large fruits & veg ones. They never fail to attract the crowd. Here are a few well-known ones: Columbia Road flower market, Greenwich Market, Spitalfields Market and Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill, West London, selling antiques and immortalised in the movie Notting Hill. These markets sell produce from all over the world, from our own backyard in the Isle of Wight to specialist sausages of Spain and sun-dried tomatoes of Italy.
Brick Lane
It’s time to shop for a curry and where better than in one of the curry houses along Brick Lane in Whitechapel, East London?
Savile Row
Another iconic street, Savile Row is best known for its tailoring. So if you have a few hundreds or even thousands pounds to spare, get a tailor-made suit for you there and stand out from the crowd.
