Published 2026-09-21 by the Rushxo team. More guides.
Short answer: Oxford Street for scale, Bond Street for money, Knightsbridge for Harrods, Westfield when it rains, and the markets on the weekend. Shops open late on Thursday, Sunday hours are short (12:00 to 18:00 in the big stores) and the Boxing Day sale is the only day worth queuing for.
Saturday: Portobello Road (antiques, from 08:00, Notting Hill), Borough Market (food, London Bridge), Broadway Market (Hackney). Sunday: Columbia Road flower market (08:00 to 14:00), Old Spitalfields and Brick Lane, Camden Lock (any day, busiest Sunday). Greenwich Market runs daily and pairs with the Cutty Sark.
Boxing Day (26 December) opens the winter sale; Harrods, Selfridges and Liberty are the ones people queue for. The January sale runs to the end of the month. Summer sales start in the last week of June. Black Friday is now a fortnight, not a day. If you are in London for the sales, book the car home before you go in: the taxi queues outside Harrods on Boxing Day are the longest of the year. See London at Christmas 2026 for Boxing Day transport.
The problem with a good day on Bond Street is the Central line at 17:30 with eight bags. A fixed-fare saloon from Knightsbridge or Oxford Circus to any central hotel is about £25 to £35, and a car to Heathrow is from £85 with a boot that takes six cases. Most department stores also offer same-day hotel delivery for a fee, and Harrods will ship overseas from the store. Related: where to eat, museums.
Oxford Street and Regent Street for the big brands, Bond Street and Mount Street for luxury, Knightsbridge for Harrods and Harvey Nichols, Westfield (White City and Stratford) for everything under one roof, and the markets (Borough, Camden, Portobello, Spitalfields) for the rest.
Boxing Day (26 December) through January, and the summer sales from late June. Harrods and Selfridges start theirs on Boxing Day morning and the queues form before 09:00.
No. The VAT Retail Export Scheme ended in January 2021, so there is currently no tax-free shopping for visitors in Great Britain.
A fixed-fare car from Knightsbridge or Oxford Street to any central hotel is about £25 to £35; to Heathrow from £85 with the boot for the bags. Several stores will also deliver to your hotel the same day.
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