Shopping
Department stores, markets and the streets worth walking, with opening hours and what things actually cost.
Hatchards: 10% Back, and Editions You Cannot Buy Elsewhere
Booksellers since 1797. Rewards return 10% with no minimum redemption, and they publish their own Library and Signed Editions.
Daunt Books: Ten Shops, Three Without the Name
The Owl Bookshop, Hart's Books and The Marlow Bookshop are all Daunt shops. And the website is only a selection of the stock.
Harvey Nichols: There Is Only One in London
Six shops in the whole country and one in London. Hours, how it compares with Harrods five minutes away, and what the website footer says about who owns it.
John Lewis Oxford Street: One Late Night, and It Is Thursday
Thursday is the only night it runs to 9pm, the Sunday browsing window starts at 11.30, and the published phone number does not reach the shop.
Marylebone High Street: One Landlord, and Why It Looks Like That
The street is largely owned by a single estate, which chooses the tenants. That is the reason it has independents where everywhere else has chains.
Carnaby Street: Lights On 4 November, and the Courtyard Nobody Finds
The Christmas lights come on before Bonfire Night, Kingly Court holds three floors of restaurants, and the whole street is pedestrianised.
Westfield London: Open to Nine, Except the Six Hour Sunday
Hours, the Puttshack and bowling that stay open after the shops shut, and which of London's two Westfields this actually is.
Hamleys: Seven Floors, Open Till Nine, and Three Other Branches
The Regent Street shop runs to 9pm six nights a week, which is when to go. Plus the three quieter London branches almost nobody knows exist.
Bicester Village: The Marylebone Desk Nobody Notices
Hosts staff a kiosk inside Marylebone station seven days a week, parking is free, and hands-free shopping costs 35 pounds. Whether the day out is worth it.
Liberty London: An Extra Hour Every Night for a Month
Open to 9pm from 24 November to 26 December, the Sunday browsing window explained, and a student discount that only works online.
Elsewhere in the guide