Shopping in London
London has some of the best shopping in Europe, and whatever you are looking for you should be able to find it here. Below are the main shopping streets and destinations you are most likely to visit.
One practical note before you start: since January 2021 the UK has not operated a VAT refund scheme for overseas visitors, so you cannot reclaim the 20% VAT at the airport on goods you carry home. Many luxury retailers will still sell VAT-free if they ship your purchase directly to an address outside the UK, so it is worth asking in store.
Oxford Street
Oxford Street remains the best-known shopping street in London, running roughly a mile and a half from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road. Almost every major retailer is represented, with clothing, shoes, accessories, cosmetics and souvenirs in abundance. Selfridges anchors the western end, and recent years have brought a wave of new investment, including a large IKEA at Oxford Circus, a returned HMV, and Uniqlo and Zara flagships.
If you would rather not struggle through the crowds, aim to arrive around 9am or 10am on a weekday. Saturdays and Sundays are busy at any hour.
The street is also changing shape. Works began in September 2026 to pedestrianise the stretch between Orchard Street, by Selfridges, and Great Portland Street, by IKEA. Traffic is due to be removed from that section during autumn 2026, with paving, planting, seating and wider crossings continuing into 2027. Some buses have been diverted onto Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place, so check before you travel.
The nearest Underground stations are Marble Arch (Central), Bond Street (Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth line), Oxford Circus (Bakerloo, Central and Victoria) and Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern and Elizabeth line).
Regent Street
Regent Street sweeps from Oxford Circus down to Piccadilly Circus and forms a dividing line between Mayfair and Soho. Owned and carefully curated by The Crown Estate, it offers everything from fashion and beauty to homewares and food, in grander surroundings than Oxford Street.
Its most famous shop is Liberty, just off Regent Street on Great Marlborough Street. The mock-Tudor building dates from 1924 and was built partly from the timbers of two Royal Navy ships. Liberty sells fashion, beauty, accessories and gifts alongside its celebrated fabrics, homewares and furniture, both in store and online.
If you have children, do not miss Hamleys at 188–196 Regent Street. Founded in 1760 and on this site since 1881, it claims to be the world’s oldest toy shop and spreads more than 50,000 lines across seven themed floors, with live demonstrations on every level. It draws around five million visitors a year and is fun for adults as well as children. Expect queues in December.
Bond Street and Mayfair
Just off Oxford Street, less crowded but far more expensive, are New Bond Street and Old Bond Street, home to the world’s leading fashion houses, jewellers and watch brands. Sotheby’s and Bonhams both hold salerooms on New Bond Street if you fancy an auction. Fenwick, long a fixture here, closed its Bond Street store in February 2024 after more than 130 years, though the brand continues at Brent Cross.
A short walk away is Savile Row, famous for traditional bespoke tailoring and known as the “golden mile”. Its houses have dressed Lord Nelson, Napoleon III and Winston Churchill among many others. A genuine bespoke two-piece suit starts at around £1,600 at the newer houses and runs from roughly £4,500 to £7,000 or more at the long-established names, with rare cloth pushing the figure past £10,000. Expect several fittings and a wait of around eight to twelve weeks rather than years.
Soho, Carnaby and Covent Garden
A few minutes’ walk east brings you to Shaftesbury Avenue, and from there to Soho, Carnaby Street, Covent Garden and Chinatown.
Soho, part of the City of Westminster and the West End, long had a reputation for being seedy, but that reputation is now well out of date. Since the 1980s the area has been thoroughly transformed and is today a district of restaurants, bars, cafés and media offices, with only a small remnant of its former adult trade. Soho rarely sleeps and there is something going on at almost any hour. Berwick Street still has its street market stalls and a cluster of independent record shops, and there are fabric merchants nearby.
Carnaby, immediately north, is now a pedestrianised quarter of more than 100 shops, bars and restaurants spread across fourteen streets, including the terraced courtyard of Kingly Court.
Covent Garden, managed by Shaftesbury Capital, is a trendy place to stroll, shop and have a coffee. The restored Market Building houses the Apple Market, which sells antiques on Mondays and handmade crafts and jewellery the rest of the week, plus the East Colonnade Market. Jubilee Market on the south side of the Piazza runs antiques on Mondays, a general market midweek and arts and crafts at weekends. Across seventeen streets there are more than 300 shops and restaurants: Long Acre and Floral Street for fashion, Neal Street for footwear, and Seven Dials and Neal’s Yard for independents, with Seven Dials Market a good stop for lunch. Street performers work the Piazza daily.
Bayswater Road
If you are interested in buying artwork directly from the artist, head to Bayswater Road on a Sunday. Licensed by Westminster City Council, the open-air exhibition runs along the railings of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens between Marble Arch and Queensway, with more than 150 painters and craftspeople showing work from mid-morning until early evening. Many are amateurs, but the standard of craftsmanship is often a pleasant surprise. Nearest Underground stations are Lancaster Gate and Queensway.
Knightsbridge and Harrods
Harrods is London’s most famous luxury department store, on Brompton Road right beside Knightsbridge Underground station. The red terracotta building, designed by C. W. Stephens and completed in 1905, is Grade II* listed, and its interiors include Art Nouveau and Art Deco flourishes alongside the famous Egyptian Escalator.
The business began in 1849 as a small grocer’s shop founded by Charles Henry Harrod and was expanded into a department store by his son, Charles Digby Harrod. In 1898 it installed England’s first moving staircase; nervous customers were reportedly offered brandy at the top. The store now occupies a five-acre site with around 1.1 million square feet of selling space and over 330 departments, making it the largest department store in Europe. It has been owned by the Qatar Investment Authority since 2010.
You will find womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, electronics, jewellery, sportswear, pets and pet accessories, toys, food and drink, beauty, stationery, homewares, furniture and a great deal more, along with more than twenty restaurants, bars and cafés. Roughly 15 million people visit each year, many of them window shopping, since most of what is on sale is very expensive. Harvey Nichols, a short walk away at the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street, is the other essential Knightsbridge stop.
Sloane Street and King’s Road
Sloane Street runs from Knightsbridge down to Sloane Square and is packed with designer flagships. In February 2025 it reopened after a £46 million transformation funded by the Cadogan Estate: the full kilometre is now a green boulevard with widened Yorkstone pavements, better lighting, new street furniture and more than 100 new trees.
At Sloane Square you will find Peter Jones, the John Lewis department store, and just off it Duke of York Square, with its Saturday food market and the Saatchi Gallery. King’s Road stretches west from here. It has fewer antiques dealers than in its heyday, but the further you walk from Sloane Square the more independent clothing, footwear and contemporary homeware shops you find. Nearest Underground station is Sloane Square.
Hatton Garden
The last of London’s luxury addresses is Hatton Garden, EC1, the historic centre of the UK diamond trade and one of the world’s best-known jewellery quarters. Dozens of retail jewellers sit alongside workshops, dealers and setters, and it is the obvious place to start if you are buying an engagement ring or having a piece made. Nearest stations are Chancery Lane (Central) and Farringdon, which is served by the Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Elizabeth lines as well as Thameslink.
Shopping centres
Westfield London is the largest shopping centre in Europe, covering 2.6 million square feet after its 2018 extension and housing more than 460 stores. It sits in White City and Shepherd’s Bush in west London and is anchored by John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Next and Primark, with a high-end quarter called The Village and around 90 restaurants, bars and cafés. Nearest Underground stations are Shepherd’s Bush, White City, Wood Lane and Shepherd’s Bush Market.
Westfield Stratford City in east London is the other giant, with around 350 shops across 1.9 million square feet, anchored by John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. Stratford station is served by the Central and Jubilee lines, the Elizabeth line, the DLR, the Overground and national rail, making it one of the easiest centres to reach.
Battersea Power Station is the newest addition to the map. The restored Grade II* listed power station at Nine Elms reopened as a shopping and leisure destination in October 2022, with around 150 units spread through the turbine halls and along Electric Boulevard, the pedestrianised high street outside. The mix leans towards premium high-street names, luxury fashion, watches and beauty rather than department stores, and there are cinemas, restaurants and a lift ride up one of the chimneys. Battersea Power Station station on the Northern line sits right beside it.
Brent Cross is smaller, with roughly 120 shops, restaurants and cafés including John Lewis, Fenwick and Marks & Spencer. Opened in 1976, it was the UK’s first out-of-town covered shopping centre and marked its fiftieth anniversary in 2026 with a major redevelopment by owner Hammerson that is adding new stores, restaurants and a cinema in phases through to 2027. It lies just off the North Circular. The nearest Underground stations are Brent Cross and Hendon Central on the Northern line, and Brent Cross West, which opened in December 2023, puts it around twelve minutes from St Pancras by Thameslink, with a short bus ride or fifteen-minute walk at the other end.
Lakeside is another very large centre, with over 250 shops, in West Thurrock, Essex, just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. Chafford Hundred station is a few minutes’ walk away via a covered footbridge, and c2c runs direct services from London Fenchurch Street. It is also connected to the M25 and to the A13, which links central and east London to Basildon and Southend-on-Sea.
Bluewater is an out-of-town centre at Greenhithe in Kent, around 18 miles south-east of London, set in a former chalk quarry with lakes and parkland around it. It has roughly 300 shops, more than 50 bars, restaurants and cafés, a 17-screen cinema and 13,000 free parking spaces, anchored by John Lewis and Marks & Spencer. Southeastern trains run to Greenhithe for Bluewater from Charing Cross, Waterloo East, London Bridge and Cannon Street, with a short shuttle bus from the station. By car, follow signs on the M25 for the Dartford Crossing, leave at Junction 2 for the A2, and then follow signs to Bluewater.