Where do ordinary folk buy Wellies in London?
 

I see in the NYT Style section that the Duchess of Cambridge prefers Le Chameau wellington boots. I don't want to lug rain boots over there if I might not need them, or spend $200 for something I rarely need at home. Where in Central ish London do the thrifty buy such things? I'm planning to go to Brixton Market one morning; should I look around there?

Garden centers, possibly large Tescos.

Oops, not too many garden centers in central London which is too bad because they're usually around £20 for bog-standard green ones.

Hunters are more upscale, starting at around £45.

Here's the store locator:

http://www.hunter-boot.com/store-finder

Lots of London locations.

DIY shops, ironmongers, shoe shops. Cheap wellies should cost you somewhere between £5 and £15.

Excellent. Thanks. My daughter got a pair of Hunters delivered to her there by Amazon, loves them.

I have to ask, why do you WANT wellies in the first place?

Put it this way, the only time I have worn wellies in London was (a) back when I was rowing (b) on the rare occasions snow has settled to several inches of depth (c) once when I joined a litter-pick on the river foreshore.

Whether you need special shoes for rainy days is another matter, but fullscale wellies are highly unlikely to be needed.

(PS: "Outdoor" shop chains: Blacks, Cotswold or Millets).

Oh, why not. They'll be a souvenir of your trip. And, from what I've read, the really bad weather and the flooding are supposed to continue thru March.

I love my Chameaus. with the deep snow we have had here, they are worth the price.

Primark

Thanks, all. I appreciate the tips.

dulcius, go ahead and assume I want to be mistaken for a duchess.

"fullscale wellies are highly unlikely to be needed."

In London, they're bought only by Bright Young Things to wear at summer music festivals in the country. Last year (when we had a very dry summer, most of the time) they were almost de rigueur among all festivalgoers who were:
- under 25, and
- from London.

In the country, there's a very tiny spectrum of circumstances in which they make any sense at all - and a very wide spectrum in which they're just blister-guaranteeing, painful nuisances.

As a rule of thumb, wellies should never be worn unless either:
- your feet are hardened to them, or
- you've got a decade's worth of Compeed with you, and the sure knowledge you're going to be able to get the wellies off to put the Compeed on before your feet fall apart. Getting wellies off, in the rain, in open country requires skill and specialist equipment.

In London or other bits of urban Britain you only ever need stout shoes. In the countryside, most people who don't normally live in English countryside just need stouter shoes.

Right now, there are no bits of urban Britain with wellie-requiring floods, or any serious prospect of any. And no point whatever in visiting those swathes of SE suburbia where wellies are currently essential.

Hum, OK.

January a year ago, many people in Hampstead -- bright, young, neither -- were wearing rubberized rain boots enroute to and away from the Heath. The three of us started a short way down a couple of Heath paths, realized that our usual city walking shoes were not up to the job, turned back.

So since I have to come right out in public and admit to being not young, duchessy, from London or particularly bright, I withdraw my question.

Here in south Texas a number of teen girls are wearing decorated wellies to church. *sigh*

Haha it depends what you want to do and when you are going to be here...if you are going to hike/walk on heaths or in the countryside in the spring fine, if you are going to be walking around London...no need at all.

FYI - I found Hunter's to be quite a bit cheaper in the UK than in the US.

My wife needed wellies to help a friend in her garden while we visited last year. She found a pair with no visible wear in a charity shop for £2. She also bought a pair of sturdy trousers for £1. When we left, she donated them back to the charity shop.

>>if you are going to hike/walk on heaths or in the countryside in the spring fine<<

Except as I think Flanner already pointed out, wellies are <i>incredibly</i> uncomfortable for long walks/hikes in the countryside. I live in the countryside and really only ever wear my wellies when clearing debris out the stream at the bottom of my garden. I have a selection of stout walking boots and shoes for country walks and insulated snowboots for when it's snowing. Aside from their questionable status as a fashion statement among Guardian-reading urbanites, wellies are suitable for specialised use only.

People who find wellies uncomfortable need to pay more for better ones. I bought a pair of Aigles after the recommendation of a garden-designer friend (who wears them for work), and they are the most snuggly warm, cushion-soled, boots of loveliness you could imagine. Might not want to climb Everest in them but perfect for a ramble with the dog.

Not Hunters though, apparently, they are prone to leekage.