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DR Harris & Co

DR Harris & Co
DR Harris & Co is one of London’s oldest pharmacies and has been operating in St James’s Street for over 200 years. It was opened in 1790 at No 11 by Daniel Rotely Harris, a pharmaceutical chemist, and it specialised in selling lavender water, classic cologne and English flower perfumes to the fashionable quarter of St James’s and Mayfair. Being in the heartland of gentlemen’s clubs, customers have ranged from ambassadors and statesmen to field marshals and admirals. In 1938, it was granted the royal warrant as chemist to Her Majesty the Queen, and in 2002 it received a further royal warrant as chemist to the Prince of Wales. Harris’s moved several times within the same area before arriving at its present site at No 29 in 1963, its Victorian interior faithfully restored to remind customers of its credentials. The long shape of the shop provides maximum space to display a fantastic range of products, all in glass-fronted cabinets, along the counters and walls.
DR Harris & Co, 29 St James’s St, W1 (020 7930 3915) Green Park tube.

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L Cornelissen & Son

L Cornelissen & Son
Since its establishment in 1855, L Cornelissen & Son has enjoyed an international reputation as a specialist supplier of niche art materials. The shop was originally based at 22 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden. It moved to Great Russell Street in 1987, bringing with it all the original fixtures, fittings and cabinetry. Nicholas Walt, who took over the family business in 1978, reports that his older customers say it looks just the same but without the gaslights. Reminiscent of an old apothecary, the shop’s towering shelves sweep up to the ceiling, lined with glass jars of pigments and pastels. Black-painted wooden drawers and antique cabinets are filled with brushes, papers, gold leaf, pots and tubes of paint. Cornelissen’s customers vary from great artists to students, but as Nicholas explains, ‘The more peculiar the request is, or the more serious the artist, that’s when our true expertise comes into play.’
L Cornelissen & Sons, 105 Great Russell St, WC1 (020 7636 1045) Tottenham Court Rd.

Lina Stores
With its pistachio-coloured façade and 1930s lettering, this shop is an unmistakable old-timer. It was first opened around the corner, and relocated to its current site after World War II. The Filippis, from Piacenza, near Milan, bought the shop in 1974 when the original owner (the eponymous Lina) retired and it’s now run by Tony and Gabriella Filippi as a family business. They have not altered the decor, and its layout remains as it was in the ’40s, with long counters stretching the length of the shop, behind which are shelves piled high with wonderful Italian delights. Tony makes fresh pasta on-site daily, and sells it on to restaurants in Soho. The recipe for his popular garlic and wine sausages comes from his home town in Italy and was handed down to him by a local butcher when he was ten years old. The delicatessen is well known and much loved, and used regularly by TV chefs Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson.
Lina Stores, 18 Brewer St, W1 (020 7437 6482) Piccadilly Circus tube.