Carnaby Street

Famous for being a centre of youth culture back when London burst onto the international fashion scene in the swinging Sixties, the street and surrounding area still have a vibrant, insouciant and youthful feel that makes for a suitably fun shopping experience. The street is a mix of independent stores and shopping courts (like Kingly Court) with numerous boutiques, spas and salons, and larger and more familiar brands like Vans, Converse, The Kooples, WESC and David and Goliath. The key word here is youth, and you won’t find a fuddy-duddy store or shopfront within a hundred yards of the street. Excellent shoe store Irregular Choice is also on Carnaby Street.

Neighbouring Kingly Street runs parallel to Carnaby and has excellent bars and cafes, for post-shopping relax-time, and Kingly Court houses several levels filled with vintage stores, boutiques and spas specialising in everything from hard-to-find jewellery and accessories to manicures and hot-stone massage, as well as a ground-level food court and skylight. The surrounding streets to the east of Carnaby Street also have some excellent independent stores selling a youthful mix of high-class lingerie, delicate womenswear and punky British clothing. The street has a vigorously independent spirit and often houses art installations and interesting decorative flourishes, making it a breath of fresh air from the maze of streets in the rest of Soho and the commercial hustle of neighbouring Oxford and Regent Street.

Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus