In this guide
💡 The Short Version:
- Under £10: a Fortnum & Mason pocket tin of Royal Blend or Earl Grey tea (£5.95), Postcard Teas single-estate tea from £9.50, or a pencil (£6) or pen (£7) from Papersmiths.
- £10 to £30: a Biscuiteers gift box (£10.25), Stanfords maps from £10.99, a Benjamin Pollock’s toy theatre (£25 to £30) or Neal’s Yard Dairy cheese from £13.95.
- £30 and over: a Fortnum & Mason hamper from £40, or a Liberty silk scarf from £95.
- No admission ticket needed: the London Transport Museum shop, the V&A shops, and from 13 November 2026 to 4 January 2027 the Royal Mews Christmas Shop. The British Museum shops are free to enter, but the museum asks for a timed ticket.
- No VAT refund for visitors on anything carried home; see tax-free shopping.
Prices, dates and shop details as of 1 November 2026.
Under £10
Fortnum & Mason
Piccadilly · pocket tin £5.95 · gift wrap £5 an item
Fortnum & Mason is a department store on Piccadilly with its food hall on the ground floor, where a Tea Counter blends tea to order. The way in is a Royal Blend or Earl Grey pocket tin (five whole-leaf silky tea bags, 12.5g) at £5.95. For more tea, a 50-bag pack of Royal Blend is £14.95, £15.95 in a tin, and a 250g loose-leaf caddy is £17.95.
The staircase at Fortnum & Mason. Photo: Mark from Brighton, CC BY 2.0.
Gift wrapping is £5 an item on the third floor, where the shop also arranges international delivery. Hampers are in the £30 and over section. The fourth-floor Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon is in our afternoon tea guide, and Fortnum’s Christmas opening hours are in the Christmas section below.
Postcard Teas
Mayfair · from £9.50 · closed Sundays
Postcard Teas at 9 Dering Street, a side street off New Bond Street, sells single-estate tea, each from one garden rather than blended. Prices start at £9.50 (Sparrow’s Tongue) and rise to £545 for Auld Tree. It opens at noon, closes at 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and is shut on Sundays. Charbonnel et Walker, below, is a few minutes away; the Mayfair guide covers the streets around both.
Papersmiths
Pavilion Road, Chelsea · pencil £6 · pen £7
Papersmiths at 170 Pavilion Road is a stationery shop. A pocket pencil is £6, a pocket pen £7 and a Primo pen £15. The 2027 diary is £38 and notebook sets run up to £48, so it also sits in the next two price bands.
Supermarkets
The cheapest edible gifts are on the shelves of Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s: Cadbury chocolate, McVitie’s biscuits and M&S’s Percy Pig sweets all go into a suitcase without fuss. The Royal Mews Christmas Shop has stocking fillers under £10 from 13 November 2026; it is in the museum and palace table below.
£10 to £30
Biscuiteers
Notting Hill · gift box £10.25 · An Iced Christmas Book £20
Biscuiteers, at 194 Kensington Park Road, is a shop and icing café selling iced biscuits. The 2026 Christmas catalogue lists a gift box at £10.25, a tote bag at £8.75 and An Iced Christmas Book at £20. The shop is in Notting Hill; the area guide covers the streets around it.
Stanfords
Covent Garden · maps from £10.99
Stanfords at 7 Mercer Walk has traded in the Covent Garden area since 1853. It sells maps of the UK and the world, including 1:50,000 walking maps, from £10.99 to £25.99. The Covent Garden guide covers the area.
Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop
Covent Garden · toy theatres £25 to £30
Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop at 44 The Market, Covent Garden, sells toy theatres: a miniature paper stage with cut-out characters, the Victorian children’s toy. They cost £25 to £30.
Neal’s Yard Dairy
Covent Garden and Borough Market · cheese from £13.95 · card only
Neal’s Yard Dairy is a cheese shop at 17 Short’s Gardens in Covent Garden and 8 Park Street at Borough Market. Cheese starts at £13.95. Both shops take card payments only. For the rest of Borough Market’s food gifts, see the best London markets.
Hatchards
Piccadilly · books £12.99 to £40
Hatchards says it was founded in 1797 and calls itself the oldest bookshop in the UK. It stands on Piccadilly a short way along from Fortnum & Mason, and books are priced from £12.99 to £40.
House of MinaLima
Soho · illustrated classics £28 to £35
House of MinaLima, at 157 Wardour Street, is the gallery and shop of the two designers behind the graphic props in the Harry Potter films. It sells illustrated classic books at £28 to £35. The gallery is down a flight of stairs with no step-free alternative, and the shop can run timed entry when it is busy. The Harry Potter guide has the rest. The Soho guide covers the street around it.
£30 and over
Liberty
Regent Street · silk scarves from £95 · closed Christmas Day
Liberty sells scarves in its own prints from a mock-Tudor building on Regent Street. Silk scarves start at £95 for the 45cm sizes, such as John’s Ditsy Silk Scarf 45. Most 70cm to 90cm silk scarves cost £185 to £245 and the 140cm size is £265. Wool and wool-silk scarves start at about £95, and The Liberty Scarf Book is £50.
Fortnum & Mason hampers
Piccadilly · £40 to £250 · delivery arranged on the third floor
Fortnum & Mason’s hampers start with the Bellini Box at £40 and the Cream Tea Selection at £50. Next come the Taste of Fortnum’s Hamper at £75, the Piccadilly Hamper at £120, the Fortnum’s Hamper at £200 and the Burlington Hamper at £250. The shop’s third floor handles international delivery.
Twinings, 216 Strand
Strand · limited First Flush Darjeeling £65
Twinings says its flagship at 216 Strand is the oldest tea shop in London, on the site where Thomas Twining bought Tom’s Coffee House in 1706. A wall of tea-bag envelopes lets you pick your own mix, alone or in a wooden box, and there is a loose-leaf sampling bar. The splurge is the limited 2026 First Flush Darjeeling, 90g, at £65. The shop opens at 11am, and on Thursdays at 11.30am, and closes at 6pm (6.30pm on Thursdays).
Museum and palace shops you can enter without an admission ticket
The London Transport Museum, the V&A and the Royal Mews shops let you in without a ticket. The British Museum’s shops are inside a free museum that asks for a timed ticket.
| Shop | Entry | What to buy, and what it is like |
|---|---|---|
| London Transport Museum Shop, Covent Garden Piazza | Shop-only visitors do not pay the museum admission fee | Two floors. The ground floor has souvenirs, designer gifts and accessories in moquette, the patterned seat fabric of London’s trains and buses. The first floor has books and more than 5,000 posters and 700 original artworks, many of them Underground posters by named artists, all for sale. Lonely Planet’s guide to London’s independent shops names it the best place to buy a souvenir. |
| British Museum shops, Great Russell Street | Museum entry is free; book a free timed ticket, or entry depends on capacity and queues | Four shops inside the building: the Bookshop, the Family shop, the Collections shop and the Grenville Room. They stay open until 8.15pm on Fridays. More in the British Museum guide. |
| V&A shops, South Kensington | Free, no booking | The Main Shop, the Fashion Shop and the Exhibition Road Quarter Shop. They stay open until 9.45pm on Fridays. More in the South Kensington guide. |
| Royal Mews Christmas Shop, Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 0QH | No ticket; open 13 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, closed 24 to 26 December | A pop-up inside the Royal Mews gift shop, entered from Buckingham Palace Road while the Royal Mews itself is closed to the public for the winter. Stocking fillers under £10 include plush toys, keyrings made from recycled materials and confectionery from the Royal Sweet Shop range. There are necklaces with corgi or crown pendants and a reusable, fillable Buckingham Palace advent calendar. Its hampers are online only and delivered in the UK. |
| Design Museum High Street Shop, 224 to 238 Kensington High Street | No ticket: it stands outside the main building | Stock follows the exhibition, and as of 1 November 2026 it is NIGO product. It closes at 5pm Monday to Thursday and 6pm Friday to Sunday, takes card payments only and is shut 24 to 26 December. |
The London Transport Museum shop. Photo: Cityswift, CC BY 2.0.
Gifts by who they are for
Children and fans
Hamleys
188 to 196 Regent Street · seven floors of toys · free delivery over £45
Hamleys is a toy shop over seven floors, also on Regent Street. Delivery is free over £45.
The Paddington Bear Shop
Paddington station · plush bears, books and jars of marmalade
The Paddington Bear Shop is at The Lawn in Paddington station. It sells plush toys, picture books, stationery, clothing for adults and children, and jars of official Paddington marmalade. It is worth a visit only if you are already at the station; the Paddington guide covers the area.
The Paddington Bear Shop. Photo: eebAMDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
For Harry Potter fans, the official Harry Potter Shop at King’s Cross station and the shop at The Ribbon on Oxford Street are in our Harry Potter guide, with the King’s Cross guide for the area. Benjamin Pollock’s toy theatres (£25 to £30 above) and the London Transport Museum shop also suit children.
Readers and travellers
Daunt Books
83 to 84 Marylebone High Street · opens 11am on Sundays
Daunt Books occupies a galleried Edwardian room on Marylebone High Street. It opens at 9am Monday to Saturday and 11am on Sundays. The Marylebone guide covers the street. Hatchards, Stanfords and House of MinaLima are in the £10 to £30 section.
Tea, chocolate and food
Charbonnel et Walker
Royal Arcade, 28 Old Bond Street · chocolates · Sunday 12pm to 5pm
Charbonnel et Walker says it was established in 1875, and sells chocolates from a shop in the Royal Arcade on Old Bond Street. It is open from 10am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and from noon to 5pm on Sundays. Postcard Teas is a few minutes away.
Harrods Food Halls
Brompton Road, Knightsbridge · Harrods tea and biscuit tins
The Food Halls on the ground floor of Harrods, by Knightsbridge station, are the part of the store to head for if you want a gift. They are a run of grand food rooms selling chocolate, tea, biscuits and hampers, and the one to take home is Harrods’ own tea or biscuits in a tin printed with the shop’s frontage. If Harrods ships a purchase to an overseas address, the VAT comes off at the till, which is covered in the tax-free shopping guide.
For the rest, Fortnum & Mason, Postcard Teas, Neal’s Yard Dairy, Biscuiteers and Twinings are in the price sections above.
Someone who will use it for years
James Smith & Sons
53 New Oxford Street · umbrellas, walking sticks and seat sticks
James Smith & Sons, New Oxford Street. Photo: Justinc, CC BY-SA 2.0.
James Smith & Sons sells umbrellas, walking sticks and seat sticks from a Victorian corner shop, Hazelwood House, with a fascia that reads Established 1830. It also sells gifts such as cufflinks and books. The address is New Oxford Street, near Tottenham Court Road station and a short walk from the British Museum; it is not on Oxford Street itself. See the British Museum guide for the museum.
Design-minded people
The London Transport Museum’s Underground posters, the V&A’s three shops and the Design Museum shop are in the museum table above. Liberty’s scarves are in the £30 and over section, Papersmiths stationery is under £10, and House of MinaLima’s illustrated books are in the £10 to £30 section. For prints, ceramics and food from the people who made them, see the best London markets.
Christmas gifts in 2026
The dates below are for 2026.
- Royal Mews Christmas Shop: 13 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, closed 24 to 26 December. Details are in the museum and palace table.
- Fortnum & Mason: open 9am to 10pm from 14 to 23 December, 9am to 6pm on 24 December, and closed on 25 and 26 December. Its Christmas hampers include The Nice List Gift Box at £50 and the Burlington Hamper at £250.
- Liberty: a Christmas Shop on the fourth floor and online. The shop is closed on Christmas Day.
For gifts from the stalls, see Christmas markets in London. The lights, grottos and shows are in Christmas in London.
What to skip
Union Jack goods and novelty royal items are the main stock of the souvenir shops on Oxford Street and around Piccadilly Circus. Our Oxford Street guide covers the street’s other shops, and Shopping in London covers the streets, department stores and markets.
Continue planning your London trip
- 🛍️ Shopping in London — the streets, department stores and markets
- 🏪 The Best Markets in London — makers’ stalls and food, by day
- 🎄 Christmas Markets in London — where to buy gifts from stalls in 2026
- 💷 Tax-Free Shopping in London — what you can and cannot get back
Common questions
What is a good souvenir from London under £10?
Fortnum & Mason's Royal Blend or Earl Grey pocket tin is £5.95 for five whole-leaf tea bags. Postcard Teas sells single-estate teas from £9.50, and Papersmiths in Chelsea has a pocket pencil at £6 and a pocket pen at £7. Prices as of 1 November 2026.
Can you go into London museum shops without a ticket?
At the London Transport Museum, shop-only visitors do not pay the museum admission fee. The V&A in South Kensington is free with no booking. The British Museum is free too, but the museum asks visitors to book a timed ticket, and entry without one depends on capacity. The Royal Mews Christmas Shop needs no ticket and runs from 13 November 2026 to 4 January 2027.
How much is a Liberty silk scarf?
Silk scarves start at £95 for the 45cm sizes. Most 70cm to 90cm silk scarves cost £185 to £245 and the 140cm size is £265, as of 1 November 2026.
Can tourists get the VAT back on gifts bought in London?
Not on anything carried home in luggage. The one route is a shop that ships your purchase to an overseas address, which takes the VAT off at the till. Our tax-free shopping guide lists the shops that do it.
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