Small specialist shops can be found all over the country. The Lanes in Brighton are made up of a fabulous web of small streets with lots of quirky shops and boutiques. They’re a great place to discover original fashion, furniture and accessories…
But a shopping spree doesn’t have to involve visiting shops! British markets are really popular and sometimes in surprising places. This is Piccadilly Market at St James’ Church in central London, and not many people know it’s here.
Photographer Simon Weinstock runs a stall here.
Richard: Hi Simon. Tell me about your stall.
Simon: Well, I’ve been here 15 years on St James’ Market. This is my most popular image, I do lots of other images. This is a London bus going round Piccadilly circus with the old Underground sign, very iconic. I do the London Eye, I do the Houses of Parliament, terribly popular of course.
Richard: So who are your customers?
Simon: My customers come here from all over the world. I have Russians, lots of Americans, Chinese these days, Australians – you name it, they come here! Some of my work’s gone to Outer Mongolia, believe it or not.
Richard: And in your opinion, what makes Piccadilly Market so special?
Simon: It’s a very unique, small market. There’s only about 40 stalls here. It’s a very friendly market. Not that many people know about it – it’s a hidden gem! And there are lots of stalls that you can only buy the product here, they’re not available anywhere else in London, so that makes it very unusual.
Richard: What do you like about shopping in London?
Girl: I think, like, the variety of stuff and there’s always something different, there’s always something on the street, there’s always something new to buy.
Man: I like about shopping in London the old shop, like in Covent Gardens, the old shop.
Woman 1: I like the mixture of some expensive and some cheaper ones. I like.
Woman 2: Well, I think it’s just the variety of shops and places where you can go for shops.
Richard: Britain is great for shopping. There’s such variety, and there’s something for everyone. The only trouble is – there’s too much choice!
Comments
Oh my god, I really want to live in LDN, but the currency is the triple of mine, so I need gather loads of money... If I travel with £10,000 I must gather 30,000 to get the total.
I was impressed by their british accent , it's so clear and comprehensible.
Dear all, do you know how I can organise a trip to the UK to watch the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games? (I mean for accomodation, ticket for games, transportation, visa, etc....) I really want to experience shopping in the UK.
Dear Scherif,
You have left it quite late - I think most of the tickets have been sold and the hotels are already booked! I suggest you go to the official ticket website at http://www.tickets.london2012.com/ and check there to see whether there are any tickets for the events you are interested in. Note that there are different ticketing systems depending on which country you are resident in.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear Adam,
Thank you so much. i will follow your advices!!!
Regards, Scherif
Very interesting topic. I want to experience this!
Hi all,
My name is asmanto, I'm Indonesian, Great web, I hope improving my english from this web.
hello Guys
my name is abubakar I'm from sudan I study english in cambridge - sudan
oh
I really want to visit Britain
Great topic, and many thanks for good language tasks!
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