Join former museum director Mr Londoner to discover the capital’s hidden retail gems.

Stylish stationery from the delightfully named Choosing Keeping @meetmrlondoner

London is one of the world’s finest shopping cities. Bond Street is home to every luxury brand you can imagine - from Prada’s Italian threads to Patek Phillipe’s Swiss timepieces. Although retail has moved online, quirky one-off shops and age-old independent businesses are still going strong. Unlike Prada, elegant as it is, you can only find these truly special places right here in London. But you do need to know where to look.

London undercover. James Smith & Sons on New Oxford Street @meetmrlondoner

What could be more British than a London-made silk tie - at Drake’s in Savile Row - or a brolly? Mr Londoner loves the traditional hand-made umbrellas from James Smith & Sons. Hazelwood House is the company’s gorgeous Bloomsbury HQ, seemingly untouched by time. Its quality umbrellas can take all that the British climate can throw at them. They feature characterful woods, like whangee, derived from bamboo - the choice of that ultimate Englishman, John Steed, from the cult 60s TV series The Avengers.

John Steed, from the cult classic The Avengers

Just up the road from James Smith, near the British Museum, is Thomas Farthing. You can’t miss it - there’s a Penny Farthing bike parked right outside. This is a great shop for tweed and linen suits, silk ties and ‘baker boy’ flat caps - made of six or even eight separate triangles of cloth.

Scrubbing up nicely at Bloomsbury's Thomas Farthing @meetmrlondoner

London is blessed with shops selling hand-marbled paper, exquisite art cards and beautifully-weighted pens and self-propelled pencils. The delightfully-named Choosing Keeping, is a firm favourite. It’s situated in a quiet Seven Dials backstreet - the more bohemian and lesser-known northern quarter of Covent Garden.

The sweet smell of success

London’s oldest hatter and its oldest perfumier are just round the corner from each other - in gentlemanly St James’s. Floris opened in 1730 and occupies a gorgeous wood-lined shop on Jermyn Street - another of London’s exclusive thoroughfares. James Bond author Ian Fleming favoured the masculine and woody tones of Floris 126 and Bond novels Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker reference the brand’s fragrant products. Winston Churchill wore Floris 127 to mask the overpowering smell of his cigars.

Floris is London’s oldest perfumier – and the most elegant

A few doors down is Turnbull & Asser. This famous tailor made up Churchill’s siren suits (a sort of superannuated onesie). There’s an original sumptuous bottle green example in the basement. New & Lingwood, another traditional supplier of upmarket menswear is over the road. This establishment is pure old school. Its military-inspired smoking jackets in lustrous shades of claret and inky blue velvet are pure luxury.

Detail from a velvet smoking jacket from New & Lingwood @meetmrlondoner

Get ahead. Get a hat

London’s oldest hat shop at 6 St James Street is Lock & Co, dating back to 1676. It has a long-standing relationship with James Bond. On display is the 007 hat collection, launched in 2022 to mark the 60th anniversary of the world’s top secret agent. There’s Bond’s black trilby, from the opening titles of the gun barrel sequence of the early films. There’s Oddjob’s ‘bowker’ - used with such devastating effect in 1964’s Goldfinger. Oh, and tweed features too. ‘The Auric’ is Goldfinger’s flat cap. It’s modelled on the one worn by German actor Gert Frobe in the golf club scene of the eponymous movie.

Get ahead. Get a Hat. Thomas Farthing in Museum Street @meetmrlondoner

And if you’re after London’s best department store, instead of the more obvious (and blingier) Harrods, opt for the carefully-curated delights of Liberty of London. Worth it for the incredible 1920s building alone - built in a prime example of (once unfashionable but now lovable and quirky) ‘Tudorbethan’ architecture.

Liberty of London

Mr Londoner works closely with exclusive English shoe makers and some of the city’s finest tailors. He knows where to locate the best old-fashioned household objects, artisan cheeses, high-end handbags, vintage accessories and much, much, more.

Mr Londoner’s hat collection has become more significant as his hair has become less so!

Mr Londoner, aka Antony Robbins, is a former director of the Museum of London and a writer, broadcaster and specialist guide. If you or your group would like to discover some of the lesser-known but intriguing attractions on a tailor-made tour of London, please contact the friendly team at Janet Redler Travel. Read more about our recommendations for the best shopping in the UK and Ireland.