Shopping in London

For shopping, London hosts the world famous Oxford Street, with all its major department stores. To the west, Knightsbridge boasts the legendary Harrods alongside upmarket boutiques, such as Harvey Nichols. And from DKNY to Armani, Bond Street is the lush destination for expensive tastes. A myriad of antique stores are hidden around Islington, and lower Soho serves up an array of delicatessens, catering to all tastes. And all are just a short jaunt from the city’s main centre. For keen bargainers, London also has a generous share of market life:

Camden Markets
The huge Camden Markets could be the closest England gets to free-form chaos outside the terraces of football stadia. They stretch between Camden and Chalk Farm tube stations, incorporating Camden Lock on the Grand Union Canal, and get so crowded on weekends that you'll think you're in the Third World. The markets include the Camden Canal Market (bric-a-brac, furniture and designer clothes), Camden Market (leather goods and army surplus gear) and the Electric Market (records and 1960s clothing).

Portobello Market
After Camden Market, the colourful Portobello Market is London's most famous (and crowded) weekend street market and is best seen on a Saturday morning before the gridlock sets in. It's full of antiques, jewellery, ethnic knick-knacks, second-hand clothes and fruit and veg stalls. Starting near the Sun in Splendour pub in Notting Hill, it wends its way northwards to just past the Westway flyover.

Covent Garden
Once a vegetable field attached to Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden became the low-life haunt of Pepys, Fielding and Boswell, then a major fruit and veg market, and is now a triumph of conservation and commerce. The car-free piazza is surrounded by designer gift and clothes shops, hip bars and restaurants. Stalls selling overpriced antiques and bric-a-brac share the arcaded piazza with street theatre, buskers and people-watchers.
 

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