Puzzle shops in
London
Frequently I print out maps
and various info for visitors to London so that they can find the best (only?)
puzzle shops in London. This information is now here. It includes addresses,
URLs to location maps, my comments on their stock, opening hours and details of
the nearest underground station. Each location has two links to maps. The exact
location of a place is marked by an arrow on the first link in each pair. The
second link is only provided in case the first site is unavailable.
I
have also added directions for the two major street markets in London.
I
am always happy to provide up-to-date details for any puzzlers visting London.
Shops
Village
Games
Not only is Village Games the best and
most varied puzzle shop in London, it is possibly the smallest shop in London.
Go to Camden Town underground station, leave by the exit to the right at the top
of the escalator and walk up Camden High Street, which soon becomes Chalk Farm
Road. This whole area is packed with trendy shops of all varieties. Continue
over the canal bridge, and turn left immediately before the railway bridge over
the road. Go up the cobble-stoned lane, right to the top, and pass under the
archway to your left. Village Games is immediately on the right in Camden Lock
craft market..
You will receive a warm welcom from Ray or Barbara. The
shop is usually closed on Monday and Tuesday, but open at the weekend. They
carry an extensive and constantly changing range of puzzles and books on maths
and puzzles, as well as a large selection of chess, go, and magic products.
Note that during peak periods, Camden Town station may not allow people
in, only out. It is advisable to check before leaving the station. If this is
the case, to get back to an undergound station, go back down the cobbled lane,
turn left under the bridge, and continue for 5-10 minutes and you will arrive at
Chalk Farm Station.
Village
Games location from www.streetmap.co.uk
Village
Games location from www.multimap.co.uk
Trench Puzzles
Kevin
Holmes has a puzzle stall in the covered craft market at Covent Garden, nearest
station, Covent Garden. Come out of the station and turn to the right and follow
the almost traffic-free street downhill through numerous street entertainers.
The craft market is immediately in fron of you at the bottom of the hill. Kevin
is stall 29. He is there on Fridays, from 1000-1900, and his partner is there on
Saturdays. Kevin sells an amazing range of mostly non-interlocking cube assembly
puzzles, and he always seems to have something new. He also stocks most of the
Pentangle range.
Trench
Puzzles location from www.streetmap.co.uk
Kevin
Holmes
Playing Games
Playing
Games is a shop which specialises in Role-playing games and chess, but does have
a small puzzle stock. Go north up Tottenham Court Road from the underground
station, take the first right and follow along until you are opposite the
British Museum. The shop is about the third shop on the right down one of the
side streets opposite the museum.
Playing
Games location from www.streetmap.co.uk
Playing
Games
Hamley's
Hamley's is
in Regent Street, 2-300 yards on the left, south of Oxford Circus station.
Puzzles are usually on the 4th floor, but as of May 2000 they are redecorating
and it is chaos in there. The stock is largely Meffert and Binary Arts and
neo-Rubik, but there are often end of line bargains, and occasional oddities.
Every time I go in, I tell myself never again! Hell at Christmas. Rarely the
cheapest source for anything. They have a prime site, which they outgrew long
ago.
Hamley's
location from www.streetmap.co.uk
Hamley's
Markets
Portobello Road Market
Portobello
Road Market on Saturdays in West London, running north from Notting Hill is
London's premier street market. Roughly the quality and cost of stock goes down
as you walk north. Initially there are a lot of jewellery and antique shops,
then bric-a-brac and greengroceries, intermingled with arts and crafts and
street food. It's an absolute paradise for junk junkies. Nearest Tube Station is
Notting Hill Gate. After walking a mile or so through Portobello Road, and under
the WestWay Elevated road, you eventually rach the Regent's Canal. It is a
pleasant walk eastwards towards Camden Lock and Village Games, see above.
Portobello
Road, southern end location from www.streetmap.co.uk
Portobello
Road Market
Brick Lane
Brick
Lane, Club Row and Petticoat Lane on Sunday mornings in London's East End could
be the source of just about anything you could possibly want to buy. The quality
is lower than Portobello Road Market, but then so are the prices. The area is a
warren of side streets, lock-ups, car parks, bomb sites, all used for a variety
of goods. Nearest Tube Station is Shoreditch, or Liverpool Street (Mainline).
The area is known for its bagels, especially smoked salmon and cream cheese.
Also try Spitalfields craft market, just to the south west.
East
End markets location from www.streetmap.co.uk
Brick
Lane and Petticoat Lane
Out of London
In the Bentall Centre in Kingston-upon-Thames is a shop called
Fun Learning. It is a cross between a educational toy shop and a learning aids
shop. They stock Binary Arts, and other puzzles, nothing out of the ordinary,
but they do stock 2cm interlocking cubes and pieces for making plastic
polyforms.
Colchester in Essex, and Norwich in Norfolk each have a shop
called Lingard's Puzzles & Games, which are worth visiting if you are near
by. I haven't been recently, but 3 years ago the Colchester branch had the
remainders of some Toyo Glass and Ishi Press puzzles. They didn't sell well.
Polzeath on the North Cornwall coast has a small shop, just off the
corner of the main sea front carpark, run by Jim King, who sells his own puzzle
designs.
Some towns have branches of shops called 'Globe' and 'Natural
World', both of which sell a limited range of puzzles, but don't go out of your
way.
PLEASE ADVISE ME OF ANY SUGGESTED ADDITIONS OR CHANGES
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