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Bookshops | Fashion boutiques | Department stores | Erotica and Lingerie Gifts | Health & beauty | High street | Interiors | Jewellery | Menswear | Shoes Specialist | Sports & Technology | Vintage fashion | Shopping Awards 2008

Twentytwentyone
Twentytwentyone is beloved of, and frequented by, Islington’s substantial coterie of architects, designers and other assorted trendies. You don’t have to be minted, however: a Le Corbusier leather sofa might cost £4,917 but a Lucienne Day tea towel is just £16.
Best buy Tom Dixon aluminium table light £245.
274 Upper St, N1 (020 7288 1996/www.twentytwentyone.com) Angel tube/Highbury & Islington tube/rail.

Labour & Wait
In 2006, L&W deservedly bagged the No 1 spot in our inaugural 100 Best Shops guide. Two years on, owners Simon Watkins and Rachel Wythe-Moran continue to supply Londoners with timeless, stylish and durable goods for the home.
Best buy Black-and-cream enamel egg pan £22.
18 Cheshire St, E2 (020 7729 6253/www.labourandwait.co.uk) Algate East tube or Liverpool St tube/rail. Feature continues

Mint
Mint’s store feels like a Dalí painting come to life with handpicked and specially commissioned designer furniture, glasswear, textiles and ceramics arranged like an avant-garde curiosity shop. The latest design coup is Maarten Baas’s smoked chairs set designed exclusively for the store.
Best buy Baroque mirror £500.
70 Wigmore St, W1 (020 7224 4406/www.mintshop.co.uk) Bond St tube.

Aria
Since closing its doors on Upper Street, Aria has settled into an atmospheric new space around the corner in Barnsbury Hall. The range of stylish and experimental furniture and home accessories is as diverse as ever, and includes big names such as Philippe Starck and Verner Panton.
Best buy Dining chair £79.95.
Barnsbury Hall, Barnsbury St, N1 (020 7704 6222/www.aria-shop.co.uk) Highbury & Islington tube/rail.

SCP
Since 1986, SCP has been manufacturing furniture by some of the leading names in British design, including Matthew Hilton, Jasper Morrison and Terence Woodgate. The SCP flagship store on Curtain Road sells furniture, lighting, kitchenware, rugs, books and accessories by some of the most famous design names.
Best buy Ron Arad Voido rocker (Magis) £338.
135-139 Curtain Rd, EC2 (020 7739 1869/www.scp.co.uk) Old St tube/rail.

Paul Smith
Paul Smith’s newest London shop in Mayfair sells art, antiques, jewellery and curiosities sourced from around the world. The eclectic shop changes constantly. Far from simply being a Paul Smith home store, expect to find rarities such as 1960s Murano glass chandeliers (£1,850), or vintage screen-printed friezes from £35.
Best buy Gian Paolo Barbieri prints from £3,800.
9 Albemarle St, W1 (0207 493 4565) Green Park tube.

Heal’s
Despite its venerable 200-year heritage, Heal’s keeps it fresh by showcasing emerging British design talent alongside established and classic brands. Consistently elegant furniture and home accessories are matched by reliably knowledgeable staff, while the well laid-out shopfloor never seems overrun with shoppers.
Best buy White cuckoo clock £120.
196 Tottenham Court Rd, W1 (020 7636 1666/www.heals.co.uk) Goodge St tube.

The Cloth Shop
Now in its fifteenth year, Portobello Road’s only fabric shop sells an extensive range of natural furnishing fabrics, beautiful Swedish linens, antique household goods from Europe and a wide selection of old and new woollen blankets.
Best buy Swedish furnishing linen in 24 colours £15 per metre.
290 Portobello Rd, W10 (020 8968 6001) Ladbroke Grove tube.

Bermondsey 167
The brainchild of ex-Burberry designer Michael McGrath, the store houses slick, contemporary homewares, many sourced from
South America, alongside men’s fashion (and a tiny selection of women’s) including own-range (M2cG) men’s shirts and fine merino sweaters from Italy.
Best buy The new M2cG swimwear from £50.
167 Bermondsey St, SE1 (020 7407 3137/www.bermondsey167.com) London Bridge tube.

James Worrall Antiques
Here is a diverse and splendid collection of European furniture from the nineteenth century onwards. The theatrically minded will enjoy cast-iron half-heads from the front of a theatre in Leeds, and there’s a strong selection of painted Swedish furniture and early twentieth-century Italian chandeliers, station clocks, leather club chairs and a set of 1920s Champagne glasses.
Best buy Trollopes armchairs made in 1910 £1,750 each.
2 Church St, NW8 (020 7563 7181/www.jamesworrall.com) Marylebone tube/rail.

Treacle
A favourite with visitors to Columbia Road’s Sunday flower market, Treacle’s frou-frou-loving customers excite over the bakery-cum-homeware store’s tea towels and oven gloves, retro-looking blenders, cake stands and ’50s dressers.
Best buy Contemporary three-tier cake stand £65.
110-112 Columbia Rd, E2 (020 7729 5657/www.treacleworld.com) Old St tube/rail or Bethnal Green tube.

Bookshops | Fashion boutiques | Department stores | Erotica and Lingerie Gifts | Health & beauty | High street | Interiors | Jewellery | Menswear | Shoes Specialist | Sports & Technology | Vintage fashion | Shopping Awards 2008