50 of the best independent design shops in the UK
You’re probably reading this article – visiting this website in fact – because you have something in common with the House & Garden team: you’re hooked on the thrill you get from a new discovery. My job and my sense of curiosity take me all around the country, and one of my greatest pleasures is visiting a small town or a big city that I don’t know very well, and rooting around for a brilliant little shop. I’ve got nothing against the department stores, the big box stores and the chains which are convenient and usually serve their purpose; they are not evil in and of themselves. But they rarely have that special ingredient that the very best independent shops have in spades: soul. I love the idea that sole traders bring soul to a business.
Shops of all sizes have had a hard time since long before Covid. But successive lockdowns teamed with a cost of living crisis have meant an accelerated drive to online shopping, not to mention plenty of belt-tightening. It has wreaked havoc on bricks and mortar businesses. Last year, a BBC story about the state of the British high street revealed that a shocking 38 shops were closing every day. This unfortunate reality was illustrated to us when we began to put together this list of 50 brilliant independent shops: three of those that we wanted to feature had closed by the time that we finalised our selection.
So, this list. A few months ago we did an Instagram shout out asking you what your favourite small homeware shops in the UK were, and we were blown away with the feedback which helped us no end. More than 6,000 of you responded. Plenty of shopkeepers got in touch too, including Phoebe Clive of Tinsmiths in Ledbury. ‘Independent shops often lead the way with new ideas and approaches, we champion new makers, and strive to supply things with the criteria of quality and integrity, things that we believe are beautiful and excellent first and foremost,’ she wrote. ‘It can make for an eclectic mix but at least it has heart and soul and has not been selected by formula or accountants’. This is a round up of 50 brilliant one-off independent design shops - ones we have visited, ones that you, our brilliant readers, have recommended in droves.
One of these was designer Jessica Buckley’s little interiors shop which she has run in Edinburgh for the past eight years. ‘Business is small, but steady,’ she explains. ‘And not without its challenges. The majority of our sales are online and many of our customers are from abroad.’ Why should you make a beeline there? ‘I personally select everything so that all the items we have for sale are items I would happily have in my own home,’ she says.
Small shop owners are often really great at connecting and collaborating with local makers too, so they can be a fantastic place to discover the unusual or the one-off. That’s one reason I love Berdoulat, Patrick and Neri Williams' shop in Bath. It’s only four or five years old but already feels like an institution. ‘Most of what's sold here is unique to our shop,’ Patrick explains. ‘Not only that, but by authoring the pieces ourselves, and working with the makers to produce them, we gain an intimate understanding of the process involved in their manufacture’. They recently restocked their popular confit pots, made just five miles away. ‘And they were still warm from the kiln when we placed them on the shelves.’
This list also has some brand new shops, including Pascale, in Norwich. Pascale’s previous pop up shop was in Woodbridge, Suffolk and she only opened her new permanent space in a long derelict shop just a handful of weeks ago. ‘It’s been very positive so far,’ she says. ‘People are grateful to see such a beautiful building refurbished and back in use. It’s been great meeting customers who are like minded and care about beautiful, well made products of integrity.’
Early in December, we'll be announcing the winners of seven awards, chosen from this list. We'll name an Independent Shop of the Year, plus awards for social impact, lifetime achievement and more. What we need your help with is our ‘Readers’ Choice' award. You have until the end of November to nominate your favourite from our list of 50 to win this award – please read through the list and then click into the form below to make your choice.
Meet the winners of our first ever Independent Shop Awards