Tunbridge Wells Shopping

Don't be put off by the indow display, this is a great place to buy photographic equipment, have photos processed, sort out your camera problems...

The guys in here are down to Earth, no nonsense people who are not into pressurised selling.

I always use this shop.

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Tunbridge Wells has many shops which are not always obvious to a visitor.

The Royal Victoria Centre is basically a mall at the top (north) end of the town. Inside there are the usual shops plus a food hall (KFC, McDonalds etc), public toilets and disability centre and gym. There's a creche there too.

The shopping streets outside the RVC are the Calverley Precinct, Monson Road, Grosvenor Road and Camden Road. Obviously there are are other shopping roads off of these.

To the south, going down the hill, is Mount Pleasant with its shops, restaurants, Town Hall, library, bankbuilding societies.

This street becomes the High Street soon after it passes the main Tunbridge Wells railway station. The High Street is a narrow road with many interesting shops and restaurants.

At the end of the High Street you should walk through Chapel Place (more shops!) down the steps, around the corner, across the pedestrian crossing and in to the Pantiles.

This is the most touristy part of Tunbridge Wells. There are tea rooms and cafes , restaurants, a band stand, public toilets and plenty of Georgian architecture to enjoy.

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Just outside the Royal Victoria Centre (shopping mall) is the Caverley area which has a wide variety of shops including Waterstones for books, shoe shops, jewellers, Starbucks, building societies, phone shops and clothes shops.

There are benches upon which to sit, trees, flower beds and public phone boxes.

I like to have my best photos framed professionally. There are many places in Tunbridge Wells but I believe that this is the best for value, the quality of the work and the service provided.
Don't be put off by the window display!

Sir Terence Conran opened the first Habitat in London in 1964. They sell all things of a trendy homeware-ish nature but at affordable prices.

What to buy: I love popping in here and finding a bargain, particularly some of their photographic prints.
There's also loads of lovely bedding, soft furnishings and lighting as well as cookwear and candles etc etc etc! It's different to the kind of thing you would find in department stores. Definitely a favourite shop of mine!

What to pay: It's a little more expensive than traditional stores but it's also slightly off-beat. You can find bargains though - well worth looking!

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Breeds the Cutler was established way back in 1829 and - sad as I am to report the news - this might well be one of those 'last chance to see' moments. The fact that there is still a shop in evidence that still calls itself a 'cutler' is splendid enough, but find one that's been a going concern for 179 years are you are doubly blessed. In June 2008 I visited the shop to find what looked like a closing down sale in full swing. High shop rents and the increasing unwillingness of people to buy a long term quality purchase over a succession of short term cheap ones has tolled the death knell for many a specialist shop. In truth sets of cutlery and fine china are now the stuff of one off wedding purchases but it is a delight to see quality glassware, knives and other specialist cookware on view.

In the past Yuletide always saw the basement transformed into a rather magical Christmas shop with more decorations than you can shake a stick at. Certainly my own children always loved walking through the small colour-themed areas; small but perfectly formed as they say!

Just for the record, my wife and I left the shop having bought an oak chopping board, glassware and possibly the best pair of moustache trimming scissors I have come across - though that last purchase isn't one for the ladies unless they happen to be bearded!

The good news is that Breeds weathered the storm and recently located to new premises on the High Street. As of September 2010 things were looking good but you know what they say. Use it or lose it!

What to buy: Cutlery, glassware, scissors, knives, kitchenware, specialist cooking utensils and gadgets.

What to pay: From a little to a lot.

Well the Great Hall is arguably greater than the sum of it's parts. It is basically a very small but perfectly formed shopping arcade that hosts the wonderful Breeds the Cutler, Hoopers rather swish and rather expensive store for men, a furniture shop and last but not least the headquarters and shop of BBC Radio Kent - like a broadcasting zoo you can sometimes view the live presenters doing their shows through the window! You have a car park and Calverley Fields park behind the Hall but best of all you have the building itself. I must say I think it's rather magnificent and has a soupçon of La Belle France running through it's design. Even if you don't venture within it's certainly worth a snap!

Not everyone can claim to have idyllic well behaved offspring (have you seen some of the parents?!) and yet we can all aspire to getting as near the ideal as possible. If one was to mash up peoples misty eyed remembrances of what a perfect childhood might look like, it would I daresay have more than a dash of the Victorian/Edwardian Peter Pan/Mary Poppins-ish nursery - beautiful clothes, dashes of fairydust and plenty of wooden toys. Well this is exactly what's on offer a the Childrensalon.

Although my own children are now racing through teenagerdom, I still can't pass this shop without pausing to gape at their window. My last two utterances have been something like - "That Noah's Ark is absolutely gorgeous. I want it!" and "I wish I'd had a castle like that one!". My wife meanwhile ignores my plaintive blubbing and homes in on the girly dresses and nicknacks. Everything I've ever noticed in this shop seems to have been beautifully designed and beautifully made. If you're after a wonderful wooden toy then this is where to look for it. Everyday clothes, shoes, dressing up clothes, toys, pedal cars... The emphasis is on quality and that of course has never come cheap. But if you want to see things that your regular department store simply doesn't have then it's wort popping in here.

Needless to say it's a family run shop which has been in existence in Tunbridge Wells since 1952. It grew from a fascinating beginning in post war Vienna - but to read the whole story you'll have to head to their website. You know, if we want to avoid all high streets becoming depressing clones of one another, with the same chains offering the same goods in every town and city then we really need these 'one-offs' to swim against the tide and survive. Let's hope they continue to do so.

What to buy: I'd like the Noah's Ark please Santa...

What to pay: More than usual.