REDCHURCH STREET
There are many preconceptions surrounding this street, the highest rung of hipster-cool in Shoreditch: there’s the dogs more groomed than show day at Crufts; the freelance graphic designers with Macbook Airs tucked under their tattooed arms; and the denim-clad coffee breakers enquiring as to the provenance of their £5 pour over. And then there’s beards. So many beards. And while Redchurch Street lives up to expectation, hipster haters should write this Vogue-endorsed shopping street off at their peril. As London’s premier design district, it’s a magnet for cult labels that have enough of a following to fend off rising rents, as well as big brands with the clout required to cash in on its cool. Just ask Donatella Versace, who opened an outpost for her diffusion Versus label here. It’s also home to the emerging London trend for coffee bars in shops, meaning that for keen beans intent on stopping by, a serious shopping buzz is guaranteed.
LABOUR AND WAIT
The Labour and Wait story sprung from an unlikely source: a dustpan and brush. Disillusioned by their jobs as menswear designers, founders Rachel Wythe-Moran and Simon Watkins decided instead to turn their creative nous into perfecting everyday household objects for the twenty-first century home. Their simple and stylish approach to practicality has turned shopping for doorstops and dishcloths into a wholly pleasurable pursuit. Behind the shop’s green brick façade (the former home of Truman Brewery pub The Dolphin), lies a cornucopia of ostrich-feather dusters, non-drip French candles and beautifully-packaged screwdriver sets, the likes of which no self-respecting Shoreditch homestead would be without.
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85 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ.
020 7729 6253
ELEMENTARY
More like an art gallery than a shop, Elementary deals in aesthetically-pleasing objects for showroom-worthy homes. Designs from Japan and Scandinavia with a distinctly clutter-repellent air are displayed next to the store’s own handcrafted Editions range. Expect impeccable taste, eye-watering prices and a sudden urge to throw out all of your possessions and start again.
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77 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ.
020 3487 0980
HOSTEM
Part uber-luxury menswear boutique, part feat of architectural brilliance, Hostem’s behemoth five-storey HQ has become a cult retail destination for the world’s most discerning shoppers. Head downstairs to the low-lit basement for one-of-a-kind investment pieces, or venture up to the lofty, light-filled galleries to take your pick from next season’s Comme des Garçons and Loewe.
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28 Old Nichol Street, E2 7HR.
020 7739 9733
MONOLOGUE
Despite occupying just 50 square feet of Redchurch Street, it’s easy to get lost in interior designer Pavel Klimczak’s dinky concept store. Brimming with stylish accessories with a Scandi slant – think HAY stationery and strokeably soft throws by Mae Engelgeer – each item invites close inspection, resulting in a high-end design store which is as accessible as it is aspirational.
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93 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ.
020 7729 0400
MODERN SOCIETY
This luxury general store is home to two of East London’s most prized possessions: good clothes and great coffee. Browse the ever-expanding roll-call of emerging designers (particularly the embroidered leather jackets by Sandy Liang), or pull up a pew at the tiny four-stool café bar, which gives shoppers a place to perch and admire the brilliant edit of photography prints on the walls.
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33 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ.
020 7729 0311
LOWER CLAPTON ROAD & CHATSWORTH ROAD
As far as radical transformations go, few places can compete with Clapton. Chatsworth Road, together with the parallel Lower Clapton Road, was once considered among the most dangerous areas of London. Now it’s a haven of galleries, cafés and brilliant boutiques frequented by the edgiest of East London dwellers, as well as young families who got in before the prices sky rocketed. As one of the capital’s longest high streets, Chatsworth Road is marked out by its large concentration of independent shops, many of which are run by passionate locals. Among the finest feathers in its cap are tequila den Brahms & Liszt, the great jeans at Bad Denim and a Sunday food market which is good enough to compete with the popular Broadway Market as Hackney’s finest.
BOTANY
This charming plant and homeware store brings together city-friendly foliage and fair trade ceramics. With an ethical and community-minded emphasis, the shop also offers wildflower arranging workshops and stocks supplies from local makers including Pip Hartle pottery and bags by Bramble & Mr Twigg.
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5 Chatsworth Road, E5 0LH
020 3759 8191
TRIANGLE
Conceived by three friends – Tori, Mary and Matthew – with a shared love of good design, Triangle stocks all the barometers of taste (HAY stationery, Fig + Yarrow bath soaks, Form & Thread striped tees) alongside a constant flow of quality mid-century vintage furniture, all of which makes for the sort of shop you could snap up in its entirety.
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81 Chatsworth Road, E5 0LH.
020 8510 9361
BRAHMS & LISZT
Vying for attention amongst Hackney’s many independent bottle shops is no easy task, but Brahms & Liszt has a particularly distinctive USP: tequila. And lots of it. Owner Melanie Symonds – the brains behind small batch brand Quiquiriqui Mezcal – and her liquor-loving team know everything there is to know about Mexican spirit and this off-licence with a difference flogs rare mezcal and tequila in decadent prohibition-style surroundings. But there’s much on offer for any discerning drinker. The shop also boasts wine-on-tap and ready-made cocktail stations alongside a wide range of ingredients and equipment for budding mixologists. For a crash course in all things intoxicating, sign up for one of their legendary tasting sessions and you’ll soon discover why it shares its name with the cockney rhyming slang for drunk.
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10 Chatsworth Road, E5 0LP.
07946 461 616
LION COFFEE + RECORDS
Cool vinyl and hot coffee combine in this café-cum-venue-cum-record-shop. Set up by a group of music aficionados, including Florence & the Machine drummer Christopher Lloyd Hayden and record label owner Mairead Nash, Lion Coffee + Records is as good for spinning records as it is for spotting newly signed acts.
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118 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0QR.
020 8986 7372
BAD DENIM
Don’t be fooled by the name, this specialist denim den sells anything but. Owner Erin McQuinn – who honed her knowledge of great jeans at brands including MiH Jeans and Victoria Beckham – arranges her edit by style rather than brand and stocks high-end labels alongside rare vintage finds that she sources herself.
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82 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0RN.
020 7993 9019
COLUMBIA ROAD
For a snapshot of East London during Queen Victoria’s reign, take a walk down Columbia Road. With its cobbled side streets and chocolate box shop fronts, it is the ultimate stroll down memory lane. In its previous life the street was a pathway along which sheep were driven to the abattoir at Smithfield. Nowadays, Columbia Road is best known for its famous Sunday flower market that transforms the thoroughfare into a tangle of tulips and tourists. During the rest of the week things are just as picturesque. Behind the antiquated exteriors are a diverse selection of retailers – some traditional, others markedly modern – which makes this pocket of Hackney an essential stop for visitors and locals alike.
ANGELA FLANDERS
The late, great Angela Flanders opened her first artisan perfume shop on Columbia Road in 1985, and her legacy lives on in the beautiful boutique now run by her daughter Kate Evans, who also owns chic Shoreditch fashion boutique Precious. The lovingly restored and delightfully chintzy nineteenth-century shop stocks the full range of 40 scents that the self-taught perfumer created during her lifetime. Captivating, woody fragrances are an Angela Flanders signature, such as the spicy Bois de Seville or her newest scent Columbia Rose, created in homage to the old East End. Angela also opened a second store in Spitalfields’ Artillery Passage in 2012. Open only at weekends.
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96 Columbia Road, E2 7QB.
020 7739 7555
www.angelaflanders-perfumer.com
CHOOSING KEEPING
This quaint little shop is catnip for stationery fetishists, gift-hunters and digital-refuseniks. Proprietress Julia, who spent her early years in France and Tokyo, has a keen eye for all things miniature, from the practical (leather-bound notebooks, wooden pencil trays) to the pretty (ceramic bird paperweights, hand-blown hourglasses). It’s near impossible to leave without a new desk mate.
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128 Columbia Road, E2 7RG.
020 7613 3842
B SOUTHGATE
Furniture restorer Ben Southgate has amassed a loyal following among East London’s design elite. Open 9am–4pm on Sundays only, this stylish man cave is filled with sumptuous leather armchairs and handsome oak chests, which he tends to from his workshop barn in East Sussex. Vintage board games and German anatomical models are also worthy points of interest.
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4 The Courtyard, Ezra Street, E2 7RH.
07905 960 792
NOM LIVING
Working directly with artisans in Vietnam and Cambodia, Nom Living offers beautifully rustic kitchenware for eco-conscious homes. Bamboo placemats, coconut wood spoons and hand thrown clay bowls are among its signature sustainable essentials. Its cinnamon bark boxes not only offer a stylish storage solution for sugar and coffee, they also infuse their contents with a spicy aroma.
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102 Columbia Road, E2 7QB.
07976 917 265
DANDY STAR
Thanks to Dandy Star’s rainbow-painted front, the latest addition to Columbia Road is also one of the brightest. Venture inside this kids’ boutique and things are just as vibrant. Its trademark graphic tees are cult among London’s style-conscious parents and their achingly cool offspring, while its growing homeware offering decorates the bedrooms of kids who prefer Bowie to Bieber.
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126 Columbia Road, E2 7RG.
020 7613 1510
