London, Photo Credit: iStock & sborisov
London is packed with shops and stalls selling touristy trinkets that typically involve red telephone boxes, black cabs or royal post boxes. Here are Forbes Travel Guide’s suggestions for more memorable souvenirs to bring home from London.
Food hampers
Luxury English food hampers can be found in many London shops — including luxe department stores like Harrods or Fortnum & Mason — and will usually contain traditional English preserves and chutneys, tea and coffee, cheese and biscuits, Belgian chocolates and perhaps some fine wine.
Children’s toys
A trip to the world’s largest toy shop, Hamleys on Regent Street, is a thoroughly unique shopping experience, and the perfect place to pick up a quintessentially English toy for a souvenir.
Games like Subbuteo, hobby models like Airfix and teddy bears like Paddington are all hard to find in other countries.
Museum trinkets
Probably the best places to pick up meaningful mementos of your trip to London are the varied gift shops in its museums and tourist attractions. Along with selling the same typical tourist tidbits, these stores are also home to a wide variety of more upscale items directly related to the venue — whether it’s watercolor paintings, photographs, biographical books or historical reproductions.
Unusual food
Despite the huge improvements in British gastronomy over the last 30 years, there are still some favorite local foodstuffs that baffle visitors. Why not share your bewilderment with friends and family?
A jar of Marmite, a pork pie, a black pudding, a tin of treacle — the options are endless. You can find these at the same locations as the above mentioned food hampers, namely Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges.
Sports memorabilia
Walk around London and you’ll see Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham football shirts sold everywhere. But if you really want some sports memorabilia to remind you of England, why not try choosing a lesser-known sport: a national rugby shirt or cricket bat are ideal souvenirs. Find them at Piccadilly Circus’ Lillywhites.
