Fact check. Shop details as of 1 October 2026 so look at the shop’s own page before you go.

Where to start

If you only have time for a few, these are the places to start and the full story on each is in its own section further down.

1. A Fortnum & Mason hamper, the classic gift to give somebody because I’ve still got the wine cooler from mine.
2. An Islander bag you build yourself, because I’ve got mine and making it with the girls was such a fun day out.
3. An Alice in Wonderland pop-up card from Benjamin Pollock’s, which sits on my bookshelf.
4. A James Smith & Sons umbrella, which is on my list because I still dream about the pink one.
5. The perfume experience at Experimental Perfume Club, where you blend your own and I really want to try it.
6. A Sunday at Columbia Road Flower Market, which I love with a coffee and the flower stalls.
7. A cheap Tube map, because a map of London would be cool to take home.

Fortnum & Mason

Fortnum & Mason has been on Piccadilly since 1707 and it’s famous for its hampers, which is why one of them is such a classic gift to give somebody.

Mine came from a friend who pulled together a lovely hamper for my birthday and there was a cup and a few other things in it but the wine cooler is the piece I kept. They’re really nice hampers too so they’re good to keep for future picnics or for keeping bits and bobs in.

The terracotta wine cooler gets reused so much because I run a wine club and love hosting dinners and it’s sat on the table cooling my wine at many a dinner party I have fond memories of. It’s slotted in as home decor and something unique to talk about with friends.

My recommendations

• The classic hamper, the one Fortnum’s is famous for.
• The tea blends. There’s a tea counter on the ground floor that will blend one for you.
• The Fortnum’s at Heathrow Terminal 5, after security, if you’re short on time before your flight.

• Address: 181 Piccadilly, London W1A 1ER
• Tube: Piccadilly Circus or Green Park

Ships abroad, though some fresh food can’t go.

Lock & Co hats

Lock & Co is the oldest hat shop in the world and it’s been on St James’s Street since 1676, at number 6 since 1765. It made the Coke, the bowler hat, in 1849 so a hat from here comes with a bit of London history.

Their hats look really cool and getting a beret or a classic hat you could wear to the races would really hit the mark.

My recommendations

• A beret, or a classic hat for the races.
• The Coke, if you want the one with the history.

Good to know: there’s a Heritage Room at the back of the shop holding its old ledgers.

• Address: 6 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1EF
• Tube: Green Park

Ships abroad.

Hatchards books

Hatchards is the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom and has sold books on Piccadilly since 1797, right next to Fortnum & Mason. It keeps signed and special editions so a book from here is a London souvenir that sits on your shelf.

I love Alice in Wonderland so much that I’ve got a second edition print of it, hence why I have that little pop-up card from Pollock’s. I’ve got special editions of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe too because it’s just nice to collect those precious things.

That’s why I’d happily buy the iconic books here, signed or a special edition of something that hits home for you.

My recommendations

• A signed book of something that hits home for you, since they keep signed editions.
• A special edition of a classic, like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

• Address: 187 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LE
• Tube: Piccadilly Circus or Green Park

Ships abroad.

Liberty

Liberty opened on Regent Street in 1875. It closed its shops outside London in 1996. The Tudor Revival building went up in 1924 from the timbers of two old warships so even walking round it is a bit of London history.

It’s a department store with perfume brands like Penhaligon’s, Christmas decorations and loads more so it’s not something you uniquely go there for, except the fabric. Buy some and turn it into something you make like a nice skirt and you’ve got a reminder of your time in London you can wear and a story about your trip every time someone asks. It’s really only for those who know how to make clothes.

My recommendations

• Liberty print fabric, sold by the metre, for the skirt.

• Address: Great Marlborough Street, London W1B 5AH
• Tube: Oxford Circus

Ships abroad.

James Smith & Sons umbrellas

London is iconic for its drizzle and outside of summer you’ll have an umbrella in hand or in your bag most of the year.

James Smith & Sons has made umbrellas since 1830 from its one shop behind a Victorian shop front on New Oxford Street and they literally only do umbrellas, plus canes.

Someone in the shop will help you pick out the right umbrella for you and tell you about it, which is why it’s one of those classic gifts nothing else kind of beats. I fell in love with a pink one that’s £85 and I still have dreams about going back for it because it’s so pretty and pink is very me.

My recommendations

• A handmade umbrella. They do some fun print ones but those aren’t as good given you want that handmade feel and the craftsmanship.
• One with an animal head handle, like a toucan or an eagle.

• A walking stick, since they do canes as well.

Good to know: it’s on the more pricier end so be mindful of that when you go.

• Address: 53 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1BL
• Tube: Tottenham Court Road

Ships abroad.

Islander bag workshop

Scotland is famous for its tartan and its Harris Tweed and Islander started in Edinburgh in 2010 making bags from both. It’s technically a Scottish thing but its first London shop opened in Covent Garden in July 2026 with a workshop where you choose the body, the cloth and the straps and put the bag together with the team.

If you don’t make it all the way up to Scotland this trip, or you live here and want to make a cool souvenir, this is the chance to do it in London.

It was such a fun day out with the girls and we’ve all made our own unique bags, which gives you a souvenir to talk about when you go home. It’s an hour-long workshop and I went with the mini bag in tartan with purple straps and a green body and £73.50 covered the bag and the workshop together.

My grandparents are Scottish and I wish I’d thought about my family tartan because one lid was a similar match so if you have Scottish heritage look for yours on the wall.

My recommendations

• The mini bag, since you can start with the mini and upgrade on the day.

• Your pick of cloth, from tartan, Harris Tweed or leather or your family tartan if there’s a match.
• The wash bag if you like a challenge, because it has 21 screws so it’s the hardest to build and no one in our class picked it.

Good to know: if you’d rather not make one you can just go into the shop and buy a bag. They run quite a few slots throughout the day and I’d go for the one just before lunch so you can get a sip of wine. Book the workshop online before you go.

• Address: 29 Short’s Gardens, London WC2H 9AP
• Tube: Covent Garden, two minutes

The shop ships abroad.

Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop

Benjamin Pollock’s is a toy shop in Covent Garden Market famous for its paper toy theatres and it has very classic literature on its shelves too, Lewis Carroll included.

I’m a massive Alice in Wonderland fan so the shop tempted me a lot and I walked out with a pop-up card for £10, which now sits on my bookshelf reminding me because I really wanted a bit of Alice in my room. The cards come in different versions and it’s something unique in Covent Garden so it was nice to support a shop like that.

My recommendations

• A pop-up card, small enough that you could send it home as a card.
• A paper toy theatre, the thing Pollock’s is famous for, like the Shakespeare one or the pantomime one with Cinderella, which are kits you put together at home.

Good to know: if you love Alice as much as me, Lewis Carroll made her up while he was at Christ Church in Oxford and my day in Oxford takes you past the Alice figures hanging in the Covered Market.

• Address: 44 The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8RF
• Tube: Covent Garden

Ships abroad.

London Transport Museum shop

As soon as you step into London and board transport you’ll be welcomed to the saying “mind the gap”. It’s one of those tell me you’re in London without telling me you’re in London kind of phrases. Not only that but you’ll likely be getting it whilst visiting and whether it’s a map, a poster or a mug it’s the souvenir of how you got around.

I’d love a poster of the Tube lines to put in my flat because I’ve lived across London and it’s one of those iconic things to add to your decor.

My recommendations

• A London Transport poster for your flat, to bring those elements of London into it.
• A Tube map poster or a mug. The map was drawn in 1931 by Harry Beck, an electrical draughtsman for the Underground who saw it first printed in 1933. Now it’s how you look back at all the places you went on the Tube while you were here.

Good to know: the shop sits at the front of the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden with over 5,000 poster designs and you don’t need a museum ticket to go in.

• Where: Covent Garden Piazza, London WC2E 7BB
• Tube: Covent Garden, two minutes

Delivers in the UK only.

Columbia Road Flower Market

Columbia Road turns into a flower market every Sunday and it’s the perfect way to spend one, with a coffee in your hand and the flower stalls down the street.

The little shops around it sell vases, furniture, candles and unique vintage pieces that aren’t all generically priced so it’s something really classically London and a place to browse souvenirs on the same day. When my friends come to visit it’s one of the places I like to take them and I’ve got furniture and a vase from the local stores there.

My recommendations

• Cut flowers for the time you’re here.

• Something from the shops around it, a vase, a candle or a vintage piece that isn’t generically priced.
• Bulbs or seeds for your garden, as a piece of London where you live.

Good to know: go slightly later in the afternoon for plant discounts. If you’re buying seeds, bulbs or plants, check with customs whether you’re allowed to bring them back.

• Where: Columbia Road, London E2 7RG. Sundays, from 8am until about 3pm.
• Station: Hoxton, about seven minutes’ walk

• Buy online: there’s no online shop. Watch my Columbia Road video

Oyster Card

An Oyster is London’s travel card that you top up and tap in and out with on the Tube and you can pick one up at stations.

People typically use their bank cards these days and contactless pays the same fares as an Oyster, though an Oyster is still a perfect way to pay for the Tube and it’s a practical souvenir too.

Good to know: some Railcards can go on a registered Oyster so you pay cheaper fares.

• Buy it: at stations. How TfL pay as you go works

Paddington Bear

Paddington is such a classic icon of London and the only shop in the world just for him is at Paddington Station, where his statue sits on Platform 1 under the station clock. Paddington The Musical is on at the Savoy Theatre on the Strand as well.

He’s a good gift for the little ones you buy for, your nieces, your nephews, the kids in the family because you can sit down together, watch the movies and explain how London works. Having the toy of the movie is so cute too.

My recommendations

• A Paddington bear, the gift for the kids back home.

• Where: Paddington Station
• Tube: Paddington

Ships abroad.

Houses of Parliament shop

It’s the official shop of the Houses of Parliament on Bridge Street and you don’t have to go into Parliament to use it, with notebooks and the Big Ben and Votes for Women ranges on the shelves.

It would be cool to go to Parliament, right? A tour is on my bucket list and afterwards I’d buy a notebook because I love writing down my goals and when I’m sitting by a poolside I’m planning out my life in one, away from a computer.

My recommendations

• A notebook, for planning your goals away from a screen.
• Something from the Big Ben or Votes for Women ranges, two of the shop’s own collections.

• Address: 12 Bridge Street, London SW1A 2JX
• Tube: Westminster

Ships abroad.

Harrods

Harrods is its own thing in London. It started as a grocer’s shop in 1834 and has sat on the same Brompton Road site since 1849. The terracotta building you see today was finished in 1905 and before that, in 1898, Harrods put in England’s first escalator and offered nervous customers a brandy at the top.

The family that bought it in 1985 and owned it until 2010 turn up as characters in The Crown so the family behind it has a story of its own too. It’s a historical place to visit and at Christmas the whole place has the vibes.

The former Meat and Fish Hall, now a dining hall, still has the tiles Royal Doulton made in 1902. When I went to the Food Halls they had a whole supermarket and deli part and the cakes and deli pieces just looked so good to eat.

My recommendations

• The Food Halls, to stop by and see the amazingly created cakes.
• Christmas decorations if you’re here near Christmas, because they have great ones.
• The classic biscuit tins that look like London, since the ones I saw there came with London tea tins to go with them. I don’t actually know how long the biscuits last but it’s a snack you can take home.

• Address: 87 to 135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7XL
• Tube: Knightsbridge

Ships to some countries, though not every product can go.

Football club shops and stadium tours

If you’re a fan of one of the London clubs there’s no better place to have a tour and buy a souvenir from the club shop and then say you’ve been to the stadium and picked out your jersey there.

Men’s matches are way harder to get tickets for so the tour is the easier way in, or watch a game if you’re lucky enough to get tickets.

I’ve done the Arsenal tour and been to an Arsenal men’s game at the Emirates but I became a Spurs Women supporter and I’ve watched them at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, including a derby against Arsenal. They’re big rivals which is funny to put in one sentence and I’ve been to both stadiums.

My recommendations

• A stadium tour. Arsenal’s runs seven days a week, though it closes on some match days and you go round at your own pace. For Tottenham’s, check the site for tour days.
• Your jersey, from the club shop at the ground.

Good to know: you do have to book the tours ahead.

Arsenal

• Address: Emirates Stadium, Hornsey Road, London N7 7AJ. The tour starts inside the Armoury Store.
• Tube: Arsenal, on the Piccadilly line

Tottenham Hotspur

• Address: Lilywhite House, 782 High Road, London N17 0BX
• Station: White Hart Lane, about five minutes’ walk

Ships abroad.

London perfumes

A scent is a souvenir you wear every day and here are three London-based companies you can look at picking one up from, two with their roots on Jermyn Street and one where you blend your own.

I have a goal in life to smell good, the kind where people walk past and say you smell really good, which is why perfume would be right up my alley as a gift. After our Islander bags my friends and I lined up our next experiences with a perfume class and a make-your-own lipstick class on the list so Experimental Perfume Club is the one I 100% plan on doing.

My recommendations

• Penhaligon’s. It goes back to a barber on Jermyn Street and you can pick up its perfumes in Liberty or at its own shop in Covent Garden.

• Floris. It’s made perfume at the same Jermyn Street address since 1730 and it can make a bespoke scent just for you. It’s definitely on my list.
• Experimental Perfume Club in Marylebone, where you blend your own perfume in the shop.

• Penhaligon’s: 41 Wellington Street, London WC2E 7BN. Tube: Covent Garden.

• Floris: 89 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6JH. Tube: Piccadilly Circus or Green Park.

• Experimental Perfume Club: 9 Gee’s Court, London W1U 1JJ, in Marylebone.

London tea

Tea is such a British thing that you can’t go to a British person’s house, or into a workplace, without being asked if you’d like a cuppa and how you take it. There are specific terms for how you brew it too, a cuppa with milk and sugar or what they call a builder’s tea.

All that tea has to come from somewhere and two of the big names to buy it from started right here in London.

To the controversy I’ve never been able to get into English breakfast tea which is so ingrained in the culture. Even to the point where afternoon tea is a full-on experience. Might as well try learning to make tea at an iconic brand like Twinings and maybe it’ll convert me 😅

My recommendations

• Whittard. It started in London in 1886 and its Covent Garden Blend is a loose leaf tea named for the area. The tea is nice.

• Twinings. It’s been at 216 Strand since 1706, with a tea bar to sample at, a pick and mix wall to fill a box from and masterclasses to book.

Good to know: Twinings does green, fruit and herbal teas too, if English breakfast isn’t your thing either.

• Whittard: 9 The Market Building, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8RB. Tube: Covent Garden.

• Twinings: 216 Strand, London WC2R 1AP. Tube: Temple, two minutes.

London gin

Gin and London go back a long way because in the 1700s the city went through a gin craze with about 10 million gallons distilled a year by 1730, until the Gin Act of 1751 helped bring it to an end by 1757. London Dry is a style of gin and not a place so look for one made here.

Gin has always had a history with London and it goes in and out of fashion, though a classic gin and tonic is always good. I’ve had Sipsmith before but I’ve never done the experience and at one point I was a really big gin lover so it’s one of those things that’s fun to see how things are made.

My recommendations

• Sipsmith. It was established in 2007 and opened the first new copper pot distillery in London in nearly two centuries. You can buy a bottle at the distillery or book a tour with a tasting.

Good to know: Sipsmith tours are booked ahead.

• Sipsmith: 83 Cranbrook Road, London W4 2LJ. Tube: Stamford Brook.

The online shop delivers in the UK only.

London wine

London Cru makes wine from English grapes in an urban winery in Fulham and Berry Bros. & Rudd has been in St James’s since 1698 and sells from Pall Mall today, so you can do something local with wine in London whether you want to see it made or pick a bottle from a merchant that’s been here for over three centuries.

I love wine, I run a wine club and I love nothing more than when people make their own wine. Being a winemaker for a day could be really fun because it would be another wine outing and something interesting to take home with you, especially if you’re a wine lover.

I’ve already sent London Cru to the girls and we just need to sort a date. I actually think I’ve been into Berry Bros. before but I can’t remember. We like to do themes at wine club so a bottle from there makes a London one nice and easy.

My recommendations

• London Cru. It only makes English wine and you can book a winery tour or a winemaker for a day.
• Berry Bros. & Rudd, the merchant to pick a bottle from.

• London Cru: 21 to 27 Seagrave Road, London SW6 1RP. Tube: West Brompton.

• Berry Bros. & Rudd: wine shop at 63 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HZ. Spirits shop at 1 St James’s Street. Tube: Green Park.

London beer

London’s breweries are born and made here so if you’re a big beer lover you get to taste the different types where they’re brewed. Cask beer is really popular in the UK because real ale from the cask is a British tradition.

I’ve been down the Bermondsey Beer Mile, where twenty-odd breweries sit under the railway arches of SE1 and you can walk from one to the next.

My recommendations

• Crate. It opened in Hackney Wick in 2012, the year of the London Olympics, in an old print factory by the River Lea and it has a canal-side bar and pizzeria on the ground floor.

• The Bermondsey Beer Mile, for a few breweries in one go.

• Crate Brewery: Unit 7 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, London E9 5EN. Station: Hackney Wick.

• Bermondsey Beer Mile: under the railway arches of SE1, start from the Beer Mile’s own map.

Christmas ornaments

A London tree decoration is the souvenir that comes back out every December so each year you hang a bit of your trip on the tree. Each of the big London shops does its own so you can pick one from the shop you liked most.

Get an iconic one, a telephone box or a London taxi or something like that.

My recommendations

• Liberty, for glass telephone boxes, buses and Big Bens from its own Christmas shop.

• Harrods, for the London icons, since the ones I saw at Harrods had post boxes and buses alongside the telephone boxes.
• The Houses of Parliament shop, which has a Santa in a telephone box bauble.
• Fortnum & Mason, which does a hand-painted bauble of its Piccadilly shop.
• Paddington, who comes sitting on his suitcase.

Houses of Parliament shop:

Fortnum & Mason:

Liberty:

Paddington:

Natural History Museum shop

The Natural History Museum is a great building where you can go for the museum itself and not just an exhibition, with a shop that’s there all year. I’ve gone there so many times and I love it, with the photography awards every year as my favourite.

Every year the museum runs the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards where you can see the incredible photos! Leaving you wondering how a 15 year old could capture an amazing animal moment. Afterwards you’ll be put through the gift shop (of course) but this is one of the few times I’d recommend purchasing something because you get to take the photo home with you.

My recommendations

• A print of the photo you couldn’t stop looking at.
• A coffee table book or a magnet, which is what I always tend to get.

• Where: the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
• Tube: South Kensington, about five minutes

Delivers abroad but not to EU countries.

Food gifts

The London food worth buying is mostly the food you eat while you’re here, like cheese for a picnic with bread from St. John in Neal’s Yard, plus one place where you learn to ice biscuits yourself. The souvenir you end up eating instead of taking home is something I’d buy a hundred times over.

I’ve tried tons of Neal’s Yard cheese and when you get a cheese board at a restaurant in London they’ll sometimes mention it’s Neal’s Yard cheese so pick some up if you’re having a picnic.

Biscuiteers is the one on my list and an icing session could become a tradition you do for Easter or Christmas. I’ve never done it and as someone who loves to cook and has been learning to bake since I was three, decorating is something I need to sharpen my skills on and this is the perfect option to do so.

My recommendations

• Neal’s Yard Dairy. It selects and matures cheese from about 40 cheesemakers and sells it from its shop in Covent Garden.
• St. John in Neal’s Yard, if you want to eat the cheese that day, since it’s famous for its bread and doughnuts.
• Biscuiteers. It makes biscuits decorated by hand with icing and you can book an icing session at its Notting Hill shop.

• Neal’s Yard Dairy: 17 Short’s Gardens, London WC2H 9AT. Tube: Covent Garden. Card only.

• Biscuiteers: 194 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill, London W11 2ES. Tube: Ladbroke Grove or Notting Hill Gate. Icing sessions booked online.

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