Time squeeze for London markets and other shopping questions for my 17 yr old girl
 

Our 17 year old girl will be with us when we stay 40 minutes south of London (by train) in the countryside. She is professing interest in fashion merchandising or something as a career and is excited to see new things: high end to look, low end to buy.

We'll shop one day at TopShop, H&M and other youth places I find. (First question: If you know of any other youth orientated London shops, a reply would be great.)

My other questions revolve around London Markets: We have one Sunday to visit Markets and look for youth, trendy, vintage, etc. clothing. (We could do this on Saturday, but we might be jet lagged.)

I have been told to get off at Angel tube, and that that part of Camden is best for clothes. ? Then I have been told a really good place to go for these kind of clothes is Brick Lane. ?

Third question: what's your opinion of shopping both Camden & Brick Lane Markets in one day? Would that be madness?

Fourth....my count may be off....question: Ladgrove tube end of Portobello for clothing? It was in a book. Will she at least have a chance of spotting Jude Law?

Fifth question: general opinion about clothing at markets. Where's the best bet to pick up the cheap and trendy? Or can one say?

I have bought Suzy Gersham's Born to Shop London and have two other London shopping books on hold at the library - but Fodor opinion has often steered me right.

Oh, and any favorites of the shopping books?

If anyone even answers one of these questions thank you so much in advance!

I suspect your daughter will be just fine with shopping on Saturday, despite any jetlag! The only market we ended up going to was Camden, four days in a row, because my daughter liked it so much.

To go to Camden you get off at Camden Town not Angel. Possible to do both marjets bTW in 1 day as Camden lasts all day (and most of the week)

The confusion is between Camden Lock market - aimed mainly at the young, and located close to Camden Town tube in the borough of Camden - and Camden Passage market, aimed at antiques and collectibles specialists and located near the Angel tube. Which, as every British monopoly player knows, is in the borough of Islington.

Islingtonians have thick skins. Thet have to, given the amount of flak thrown at Islington. But if there's one thing that raises their hackles, it's being accused of living in Camden.

Just thought you'd like to know.

spitalfields market (near liverpool street station) is where the likes of madonna and the topshop designers go to get fashion ideas. it is open on sunday (not saturday).

go to camden STABLES market (arches and catacombs area in particular). this is a short walk from camden town tube station. don't be confused...there are many markets in camden. as you walk up from camden town station, you will see inverness market and a few others...she might get excited but keep walking...the best is in the stables market. she might like stores like punkyfish and cyberdog.

you can do both spitalfields and camden in one day however it may be somewhat of an overload. camden definitely packs more of a "bang" for a young person but spitalfields has long been tied to its role in providing ideas to the fashion industry.

For shopping you will not need to go off Oxford Street:

TopShop, H&M, Zara, Mexx, New Look are just a few, plus there are all the franchises (Morgan, Jane Norman, FCUK, East, etc) in the department stores such as Debenhams and Selfridges.

My daughters are in seventh heaven on Oxford Street!

Carnaby Street (off Regent Street) was well-known for fashion in the 60's, but I have read quite a bit about it recently as being an up-and-coming place to go, and one daughter said to me the other day that we must go there next time we are in town. So you could bookmark that...

We have been to some of the markets, amd while you can get fun trendy items the quality tends not to be so good.

Our 19 year old daughter didn't shop much last June in London, only one morning. But I think she liked "Mango", which I believe was on Oxford Street. She also liked "Zara", on that same block.

>>>>
Carnaby Street (off Regent Street) was well-known for fashion in the 60's, but I have read quite a bit about it recently as being an up-and-coming place to go,
>>>>>

the first part of this statement is true but today, carnaby street has little edge left and is well known by us londeners to be little more than a suburban type shopping mall. i don't doubt that a teenager could have fun shopping there (as they would in any mall), it's just that "up and coming" and "carnaby street" together might sound a bit funny to locals.

i do agree that places like camden market are not known for their high quality goods (although you will find a range of quality levels). however, carnaby street has much more expensive shops and generally does not cater to the teenage crowd as camden markets do. it tends to be favoured more by young professional types with a bit more money to spend.

If I can piggyback a question (or two):
I will be in London next week with my 17yo daughter, and we will not be there on a weekend day. Are there shops/stalls at Camden that are open on weekdays? I don't really want to head out that way find it all shuttered. My understanding is that Brick Lane has lots of ethnic wares. Is that right?

Yes, noe, I would like a definitve answer about this, too!! It seems I read conflicting reports about how many clothing stalls are open during the week at Camden...I'm thinking it is Thursday and Friday. ? It would really be more viable for us, too, to see a market or two during the week days.

Thank you very much for the replies! The reason I said Angel tube for Camden is that on another board, on the fashion forum, some one kept going on about how I had to go to Angel - I would love it. Thanks for clearing it up...though I still don't know what this Angel is he is talking about. You can't believe everything people post on the internet or chalk it up to another miscommunication!

Yes, and the same person was on about Brick Lane as well. Anyone with knowledge about this market?

Brick Lane is a long street, the bottom end of which is mainly highly competitive Indian (actually Bengali) restaurants, the middle is trendy up-itself art (in and around the former Truman brewery) and lifestyle knick-knacks including some clothes, and the top end is a general market, food, cheap clothes of the kind you can get in any street market (even poorer, if anything - seconds of high-street names). Go a bit further and you get end-of-line and bankrupt stock bits and pieces - paper towels and sticky tape and bundles of dishcloths and panscrubbers and cheap screwdrivers and mysterious cables and batteries - you get the picture. From a fashion interest point of view (not that I'm an expert), I would stick to the middle area between Fournier St and the railway line. Last summer there was certainly an indoor market area with crafts and clothing, a bit like Spitalfields - but Spitalfields market would be better, I suspect.

I have done some reading about the markets also, but still am fuzzy on the details. If I were going to be in London on a Saturday, I think I'd try for Portobello Rd. Camden Lock is supposed to be younger and edgier, and I guess is Sat and Sun. Petticoat Lane, Spitalfields, and Brick Lane are near each other, and could, I think, be grouped. Petticoat and Spitalfields might have booths open all week?

No, Petticoat Lane is Sunday only. Spitalfields does have stalls in the week, but Sunday is the busiest and most well-stocked day.

http://www.visitlondon.com/city_guid...ets_intro.html

The Angel tube stop is in Islington, but if you are staying anywhere near Kew or Richmond, there is a wonderful aboveground train that goes from either of these towns to Islington (and on to Liverpool Station).

My first reaction to your post was to suggest Islington for vintage clothing. But I suggest that your daughter do a few internet searches of her own for what she is interested in. She'll find plenty of info on the web and she can zero in on her own heart's desires. London has always been a shopping-mad town, so she won't lack for choices.

Giselle...i don't think angel was wrong information. there was just confusion on angel vs. camden market. angel (islington really) is a fine destination in its own right and a nice place to stroll. it has a very different feel as compared to camden. there are some nice shops in islington but it is not known for its vintage clothing (unless there is something that i don't know). from what you describe, if you have limited time, you are better off in camden.

for myself, given the choice of an afternoon in islington or camden market,it would clearly be islington (but i'm not 17 years old).

for brick lane...forget the market...it is exactly as described by patrick. but you may be interested in some of the shops in this area as described in one of my earlier posts.

Tagging this thread for my early teenage daughter trip.

Just to update nessundorma, the North London Line doesn't go into Liverpool St. It used to terminate at Broad St (next door to Liverpool St), but that's long since become a swish new office development and the trains run east to Stratford. That said, you could take it to Highbury & Islington, walk all the way down Upper St and then take the tube or a bus to Liverpool St. Rather the long way round, though.

Thanks, Patrick. I should have stopped at suggesting it merely as an alternate route to Islington.

No problem. I pass by there quite often (and occasionally wonder how many American tourists have themselves photographed by the street sign for Old Broad St).