What can still only be bought locally? (London edition)
January 21, 2024 3:37 AM Subscribe
What's worth buying on a trip to London that couldn't just be easily ordered online from home instead?
Categories I tend to enjoy include: books, food (eg hot sauce, spice blends, pickled things, tinned fish...), art supplies, puzzles, toys (for kids and adults), clever devices (eg useful household items, tools, fidgets)...
but I'd love to hear examples from your areas of special interest too, whatever they are!
Categories I tend to enjoy include: books, food (eg hot sauce, spice blends, pickled things, tinned fish...), art supplies, puzzles, toys (for kids and adults), clever devices (eg useful household items, tools, fidgets)...
but I'd love to hear examples from your areas of special interest too, whatever they are!
Percy Pig gummie candies from Marks and Spencer. They are very special, and I bring them back (and have friends bring them back) at every opportunity.
posted by kimdog at 4:47 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
posted by kimdog at 4:47 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Crumpets.
posted by peanut butter milkshake at 5:00 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
posted by peanut butter milkshake at 5:00 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
Street food in any global city usually has cool stuff that you can't replicate or ship. Here's a generic list of best English street foods. Hard to beat jellied eel for novelty, I'd expect Scotch egg to be more reliably delicious. I'd get a Cornish pasty for sure, and highly recommend the US counterpart if you're ever in the region they are sold.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:22 AM on January 21
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:22 AM on January 21
A pint of real beer in a real pub.
posted by vincebowdren at 5:25 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
posted by vincebowdren at 5:25 AM on January 21 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Another vote for the Percy Pigs. They have a tail version that’s sour flavoured which are very addictive if you’re into that flavour.
While you’re there, also peruse the crisps (potato chip) aisle. 1) British crisp flavours are unmatched imo and 2) M&S do excellent quality crisps and you can only buy them there.
M&S in general is a good place to browse for things. You can only get their branded stuff at their own store but most food stuff would not be worth shipping but definitely worth buying and packing.
other things that I know Brits who moved abroad try and hoard to bring back but not sure of their universal appeal: HP sauce, “proper” tea bags (Tetley’s, PG tips, Yorkshire. Allegiance is highly variable), Dairy Milk chocolate of all kinds (people suspicious of quality since Kraft takeover but I haven’t noticed), domestic cheese (Wensleydale, mature cheddar, Leicestershire).
I’m having a hard time thinking of non-food things worth sourcing from the UK.
Actually here’s a random one. If you are in a grocery store, take a look at their selection of “bags for life”. They’re usually decent quality as far as reusable shopping bags go and the British label might make that fun. Some of them even do partnerships for nice designs.
posted by like_neon at 5:26 AM on January 21 [9 favorites]
While you’re there, also peruse the crisps (potato chip) aisle. 1) British crisp flavours are unmatched imo and 2) M&S do excellent quality crisps and you can only buy them there.
M&S in general is a good place to browse for things. You can only get their branded stuff at their own store but most food stuff would not be worth shipping but definitely worth buying and packing.
other things that I know Brits who moved abroad try and hoard to bring back but not sure of their universal appeal: HP sauce, “proper” tea bags (Tetley’s, PG tips, Yorkshire. Allegiance is highly variable), Dairy Milk chocolate of all kinds (people suspicious of quality since Kraft takeover but I haven’t noticed), domestic cheese (Wensleydale, mature cheddar, Leicestershire).
I’m having a hard time thinking of non-food things worth sourcing from the UK.
Actually here’s a random one. If you are in a grocery store, take a look at their selection of “bags for life”. They’re usually decent quality as far as reusable shopping bags go and the British label might make that fun. Some of them even do partnerships for nice designs.
posted by like_neon at 5:26 AM on January 21 [9 favorites]
When my uncle was posted to the British embassy in D.C. some years back, the thing I always had to bring when I visited was a box of Bendicks Bittermints. Apparently they went down a storm with his US colleagues at dinner parties (to be eaten at the end of the meal alongside coffee). You can get them in any big supermarket in the UK but they were seemingly impossible to source in the US!
posted by greycap at 6:23 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
posted by greycap at 6:23 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Fortnum & Mason has a good line of pickles/jams/tinned things/teas. They're good quality, shelf stable for transport, unique (so suitable for gifts if you want them) and actually fairly reasonably priced.
Farmers markets are always worth a visit for local produce if you're in an area with a good local one, or you could pop down to Borough Market and see what they've got. You might need to double-check the import rules for your own country in terms of what you can bring back with you. London has a fantastic food scene with many producers in the city, here's a good list (I can attest to Square Root soda being delicious!).
For non-food items you could collect tchotchkes from museums and galleries you visit. Most of the gift shops have branded art supplies and so on.
posted by fight or flight at 6:32 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Farmers markets are always worth a visit for local produce if you're in an area with a good local one, or you could pop down to Borough Market and see what they've got. You might need to double-check the import rules for your own country in terms of what you can bring back with you. London has a fantastic food scene with many producers in the city, here's a good list (I can attest to Square Root soda being delicious!).
For non-food items you could collect tchotchkes from museums and galleries you visit. Most of the gift shops have branded art supplies and so on.
posted by fight or flight at 6:32 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Honestly, most UK packaged food things can be had online from resellers, even Percy Pigs, and they're in so many airports. I'd spend the time going to food markets like Borough Market instead and spend on harder to obtain seasonal and speciality cheeses from eg. Neal's Yard Dairy, small producer pickles and chutneys, and so forth.
Things I can't get in the US at all that I always bring back are limited to Stornoway black pudding, which isn't straightforward to find in London.
posted by Ardnamurchan at 7:32 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]
Things I can't get in the US at all that I always bring back are limited to Stornoway black pudding, which isn't straightforward to find in London.
posted by Ardnamurchan at 7:32 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]
Kinder Eggs!
posted by cooker girl at 7:59 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 7:59 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Seconding Borough Market. Get the mushroom risotto, it's amazing.
And also seconding Fortnum & Mason. I got a ton of teas and biscuits there. I enjoyed the tea every day for months, which prodded memories of the trip, and I gave some as gifts to friends who seemed to enjoy it.
If you find yourself in a Starbucks, they have localized coffee mugs which look nice. I've never bought one because I already have too many coffee mugs, but they would make nice souvenirs. Even better would be to find a small shop selling locally made goods and get one there. Also check out places like Portobello Road. A nice tea mug could be even better since it's easier to find nice ones in London than in less tea-centric cultures like the US.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 8:12 AM on January 21
And also seconding Fortnum & Mason. I got a ton of teas and biscuits there. I enjoyed the tea every day for months, which prodded memories of the trip, and I gave some as gifts to friends who seemed to enjoy it.
If you find yourself in a Starbucks, they have localized coffee mugs which look nice. I've never bought one because I already have too many coffee mugs, but they would make nice souvenirs. Even better would be to find a small shop selling locally made goods and get one there. Also check out places like Portobello Road. A nice tea mug could be even better since it's easier to find nice ones in London than in less tea-centric cultures like the US.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 8:12 AM on January 21
Versus NYC, USA: all the Kinder chocolates, the multi-flavour Lindor chocolate balls, cheese (M&S does well if you can't get the above-mentioned Fortnum & Mason or Neal's Yard selections), coffee (both Italian-style espresso from Caffè Nero or fruity flavours from Monmouth Coffee -- either Borough Market or Covent Garden -- or Allpress or Grind or Redemption Roasters).
posted by k3ninho at 8:33 AM on January 21
posted by k3ninho at 8:33 AM on January 21
-paperback books in the UK use lighter weight paper than what's commonly used in the US, and bookstores are more common. i bought a dozen books at various museum shops and also at Harrods, because the book shop curation was great and the books don't weigh your bag down the way american ones do.
-basement of Harrod's has a great food stall that sells mangosteens & other exotic fruits
-DISHOOM
posted by wowenthusiast at 8:44 AM on January 21
-basement of Harrod's has a great food stall that sells mangosteens & other exotic fruits
-DISHOOM
posted by wowenthusiast at 8:44 AM on January 21
Irn-Bru!
posted by dudekiller at 9:38 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
posted by dudekiller at 9:38 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]
Books - a year or so ago Amazon bought and shut down a big reseller of British editions in the US, so if there are authors you like, picking up some cool UK cover editions is fun. And magazines too - this stuff is probably available to ship to the US, but may be easer to browse in person.
There is a Moomin shop in London.
posted by lizard music at 12:23 PM on January 21
There is a Moomin shop in London.
posted by lizard music at 12:23 PM on January 21
If you go to Borough: my usual gift when I visit the US is this Somerset cider brandy. It comes in 3, 5 and 10 years old. The 3 year old is my usual gift-- fresh and apple-y. I don't like the 5 year old as much, but the 10 year old is amazing for special occasions.
You can get it from the cider stall at Borough, which also does a nice mulled cider for winter days. There are a couple of other stores that stock it; the liquor store on Old Compton Street in Soho often has some.
If you go to Brorugh, go during the day on a weekday for fewer crowds. Or if you have to go on a Saturday, go as soon as they open in the morning.
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:49 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
You can get it from the cider stall at Borough, which also does a nice mulled cider for winter days. There are a couple of other stores that stock it; the liquor store on Old Compton Street in Soho often has some.
If you go to Brorugh, go during the day on a weekday for fewer crowds. Or if you have to go on a Saturday, go as soon as they open in the morning.
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:49 PM on January 21 [2 favorites]
Note that bringing cheeses back to the U.S. can be tricky--there's enough ambiguity in the regs that you might lose it at secondary inspection if a sniffer dog gets interested. I don't know that there's anything from Neal's Yard you can legally import into the U.S. that you can't get at Murray's or mail-order from Zingerman's. If you want to take a risk on one that's not street-legal because it's raw milk or something, that's another story, of course.
While you can get various English candy bars in the U.S., for some of them it's enough of a hassle that if you have a special favorite (e.g., the Timeout) it's worth picking them up over there. The Cadbury milk chocolate bars over here have a different formulation (sugar first instead of milk) and Cadbury has tried to crack down on importers--milk-first is better. These aren't high-end chocolates by any means but, if you like 'em, you like 'em. Same goes for Hobnobs.
If you're into textiles at all, Liberty of course carries its whooooole line of fabrics. U.S. stores sometimes carry a selection, but not the entire range. Similarly, the good English yarn stores will carry full lines of Rowan and other English yarns that are usually only offered piecemeal here.
posted by praemunire at 12:56 PM on January 21
While you can get various English candy bars in the U.S., for some of them it's enough of a hassle that if you have a special favorite (e.g., the Timeout) it's worth picking them up over there. The Cadbury milk chocolate bars over here have a different formulation (sugar first instead of milk) and Cadbury has tried to crack down on importers--milk-first is better. These aren't high-end chocolates by any means but, if you like 'em, you like 'em. Same goes for Hobnobs.
If you're into textiles at all, Liberty of course carries its whooooole line of fabrics. U.S. stores sometimes carry a selection, but not the entire range. Similarly, the good English yarn stores will carry full lines of Rowan and other English yarns that are usually only offered piecemeal here.
posted by praemunire at 12:56 PM on January 21
I'm going to repeat the beer in a pub suggestion but add some colour to the beer part.
You have no doubt heard British beer (actually, we'll go with 'real ale', here, because there are other beers) is supposed to be 'warm' - specifically cellar temperature - and 'flat' - the reason being that they open the barrel to air and either pump it out with the big lever pumps or, very occasionally, serve it under gravity, versus pushing it out with CO2 and fizzing it up like the rest of the world does. It's brewed to be drunk at this temperature, and it doesn't taste anything like as good at fridge temperatures because some of the flavours don't come across when it's cold.
What you might not know is that barrels of warm flat beer really don't travel. The handful of bottles and cans you might find in the US is a sad selection; there is a huge assortment of beer in the UK that you simply won't find anywhere else.
Go check the CAMRA website, find a pub they recommend, and drink something you haven't heard of that's served out of a pump. (Actually, there's a decent pub right by Borough market.)
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:59 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]
You have no doubt heard British beer (actually, we'll go with 'real ale', here, because there are other beers) is supposed to be 'warm' - specifically cellar temperature - and 'flat' - the reason being that they open the barrel to air and either pump it out with the big lever pumps or, very occasionally, serve it under gravity, versus pushing it out with CO2 and fizzing it up like the rest of the world does. It's brewed to be drunk at this temperature, and it doesn't taste anything like as good at fridge temperatures because some of the flavours don't come across when it's cold.
What you might not know is that barrels of warm flat beer really don't travel. The handful of bottles and cans you might find in the US is a sad selection; there is a huge assortment of beer in the UK that you simply won't find anywhere else.
Go check the CAMRA website, find a pub they recommend, and drink something you haven't heard of that's served out of a pump. (Actually, there's a decent pub right by Borough market.)
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:59 PM on January 21 [3 favorites]
Both the British National Library and the British Museum (which are within walking distance of one another) have interesting gift shops.
posted by dws at 9:09 PM on January 21
posted by dws at 9:09 PM on January 21
Strictly, none of the tea you'll buy in London is British-- it's all grown elsewhere, although some of it may be packaged and processed here. But the best tea shops tend to buy from small producers, which means the specific curated assortment of teas in a given shop is going to be unique. I particularly like My Cup of Tea and Postcard Teas.
The teas in both shops are of equally high quality. Postcard Teas pays a little more attention to the graphic design of their packaging, so they might make better gifts. However, last I checked, you can stop by on a random day and order an individual cup of tea at My Cup of Tea but not at Postcard Teas. (That said, both shops do have special pre-scheduled tea-tasting events, so check their website for the dates you'll be in town.)
posted by yankeefog at 12:54 AM on January 22
The teas in both shops are of equally high quality. Postcard Teas pays a little more attention to the graphic design of their packaging, so they might make better gifts. However, last I checked, you can stop by on a random day and order an individual cup of tea at My Cup of Tea but not at Postcard Teas. (That said, both shops do have special pre-scheduled tea-tasting events, so check their website for the dates you'll be in town.)
posted by yankeefog at 12:54 AM on January 22
Response by poster: To self-answer: I ended up buying a lot of local raw milk cheeses - afaict you can't buy them in the states unless they're aged, but you can bring them back through customs for personal use!
posted by 168 at 1:36 AM on January 31
posted by 168 at 1:36 AM on January 31
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So I'd just cast myself out into appropriate parts of the city (whatever those specifically are, ha) and do a shop. Have a lunch. Go to a park or gallery or bar or what have you. That'd imbue whatever acquisitions I'd found with that trip magic... for me, at least!
posted by rhooke at 4:46 AM on January 21 [4 favorites]