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The King's Road
London
Famous for being a centre of 1960s counterculture and associated youth culture, punk scene and fast fashion, the King's Road has since been gentrified but retains some of its youthful charm to this day, though the youthfulness you’ll find now is more likely to be of the chichi variety than the kind associated with Malcolm Maclaren and Mary Quant.
It now serves as the main high street and thoroughfare through Chelsea, with traffic feeding in from Sloane Square and siphoning off Sydney Street and the various side streets. However much today’s King's Road differs from its historical past, this still being Chelsea and populated by a very affluent set, a trip here still makes for a worthwhile afternoon of shopping. The main stretch to Sydney Street is bookmarked by two large stores, Peter Jones (partner of John Lewis) at the Sloane Square end and a huge Heal’s furniture and homeware store at the junction between Sydney Street and the King's Road.
There are numerous big names like Marks and Spencer and Habitat, and familiar high street brands, but what separates it out is the number of high-midmarket stores – LK Bennett, Space NK, Wolford, Myla and Folli-Follie are all present, and gems like the Arrogant Cat and Anthropologie give the street a wonderful appeal to the shopper who desires something a little more upmarket than the usual high street fashion chains but doesn’t necessarily want to splash the cash on Bond Street.
Nearest Tube: Sloane Square or South Kensington.
