London is the shopping capital of the world. Every year millions of overseas visitors shop here. But what makes shopping here so great? There’s only one way to find out. I’m off to do some shopping – follow me!
At Harrods
Knightsbridge is famous for upmarket shopping. This is where the rich and famous come to buy… their socks. And this is the one and only Harrods… the ultimate in luxury. Even royalty shop here. If I’m lucky, I might see someone famous.
If only they had it in my size. Lovely! Thank you!
Done quite well there – what’s next? Taxi! Harvey Nichols, please.
At Harvey Nichols
Harvey Nichols – or ‘Harvey Nicks’ for short – is a great place for designer fashion.
Well, I had to buy couple of things… What?
At Hamleys
The biggest toy shop in the world – now you’re talking!
So cute… err… it’s not for me.
Oxford Street
London’s Oxford Street is retail heaven. It’s got over 2 kilometres of shops to choose from… and, of course, Selfridges for shopping with style. Taxi!
Could you drop all this off home for me, please? I’m off to explore a different sort of shopping in Britain.
If you like shopping all under one roof, then there are big shopping centres all over Britain. The Olympic-sized shopping centre at Westfield, Stratford, is huge. With over 300 shops, it’s one of the largest shopping centres in Europe.
At Lock's
Great shopping isn’t just about big shops. Smaller shops can offer something special too. Tucked away in the heart of Piccadilly is a great shopping gem. Lock’s sell that must-have in gentlemen’s fashion: the hat! Lock’s opened in London in 1679. Their hats can be seen across the world. They pride themselves on their personal service.
Richard: Sue Simpson is a hat specialist. Hi Sue.
Sue: Oh, hi Richard.
Richard: Wow, a bowler hat, you don’t see many of those these days, do you?
Sue: Well, we don’t call it a ‘bowler’ here at Lock’s, we call it a ‘coke hat’ because it was invented in 1850 for Thomas Coke…
Richard: …by this very shop.
Sue: …by this very shop and we still call it a ‘coke’ to this day.
Richard: Ah, the classic top hat. When would I wear that?
Sue: That’s a beautiful silk top hat. You would wear that for a society wedding, or the time you see most of them is at Ascot, which is the famous race meeting in June.
Richard: So what’s your best-seller here at Lock’s?
Sue: Our best-seller would be a classic tweed cap or this trilby here, which is called a ‘Voyager’, and the novelty of this one…
Richard: …is it folds up so you can pop it into your luggage.
Sue: …pop it into your luggage.
Richard: Excellent. Is that a deerstalker?
Sue: Similar to a deerstalker, but this is a country cap with a fastening that goes over the top. And this was invented originally for wearing in open-top cars, but now it’s more commonly worn on the hills out shooting and this keeps the ears warm and stops it blowing away.
Richard: I like it; I’ll take this one.
Comments
Hi Rocky542,
I'm sorry to hear you're have problems with the videos. It may be related to your location, as you say. On the other hand it may be a technical issue concerning the compatibility of your system. I suggest trying to access the videos via a different device (not a mobile device) and/or browser to see if this helps. Certain devices may not play certain media, so this is definitely worth trying.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
I have been trying watch the videos available at your website and so far I couldn't succeed. There is this message on the screen : CONNECTION ERROR. I tried three different computers and three different navigators ( chrome, mozilla and explorer all them quite updated). I saw a comment here from another person that has having the same problem and coincidently she was from Brazil too. Would we need to change some settings in our computers in order to be able to watch the videos?
Hello Eli,
Usually a 'connection error' means that there is a temporary problem with the server that hosts the video. Right now it's working for me, but I'll check with our technical team to find out if your location could be a factor. If you find that the videos start working, please let us know!
Sorry for the inconvenience.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi , In my little city luxurious stores are not common,and there is a few mall. Here open market is more common and prevalent. The excitement thing in market is that the prices are not fixed so you should bargain for lower price and i like that.
hi! thanks for the video. shops in my town are not so luxurious as in London but there still are different types of them : little shops,supermarkets,open markets.As for me, i don't like shopping, I think it's boring.
I don't know why the free dictionary on here has been disappeared? I'm very sad because that was very useful! Can you set that again? Thank you so much!
Hello lekimkhanh0109,
The dictionary has disappeared because of a change in the way that Cambridge Dictionaries operate their pages. I hope we'll be able to bring it back soon.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
oh! Thank you very much!
I don't see video files, how to take these tests with out listening to the videos, please provide the path for videos.
Hello sushma,
I can see the video on this page, so it may be that your device or browser doesn't have the right configuration to view it. I'd suggest that you first try viewing the page in a different browser. If that doesn't work, you might want to try using a different device, i.e. another computer, phone or tablet to view it.
If you still can't see the video, please let us know what kind of device you're using, what operating system it has, and what browser and browser version it has. That might help us figure out what's wrong.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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