- If the thought of bringing something home
with London splashed across it that was made in China
is not your idea of a good souvenir from a trip,
then I'm going to tell you some alternative souvenirs
you can pick up that will be super special
and will help remind you of your trip to London.
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Now of course, tea is a very British thing
and it makes for a great souvenir,
and there's lots of shops that you can pick up
really nicely packaged British tea from.
However, I would actually recommend
that you go to a shop in SoHo called Algerian Coffee Stores,
which essentially is like a pick and mix
of getting coffee beans and loose leaf tea.
They have over 80 types of coffee to pick from and 120 teas,
so you'll definitely find something that will suit you
and you can just buy as much as you like
because they'll just pop it in the bag for you.
The shop has been there since 1887,
so they definitely know their tea and their coffee
and while you're in there, make sure you get an espresso.
It's probably the only espresso in London
that only costs one pound.
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Behind me is We Built This City.
This is one of the shops that I recommend the most
to people who want some Londony things
and it was started by a woman named Alice Mayor
and she's actually here, so let's pop inside and say hello.
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So Alice, what is We Built This City?
- So We Built This City is a store on Carnaby Street
that's on a mission to revolutionize London Souvenirs
and we do that by bringing together
the very best gifts, art, accessories
but all from London's creative community.
- [Interviewer] And why did you start the store?
- So I started the store five years ago,
mainly because I wanted to really, really help artists
to sell their work and showcase their amazing talents
in the heart of the West End in London
but also because I thought that we could tell
a much more contemporary, diverse
and much fresher story of London.
Sometimes the souvenir stores in London
can be a bit traditional,
so we wanted to freshen it up.
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- So the outside of the shop changes every few months
because they get a local London artist
to come in and pick a theme,
and paint something around that theme
so the shop looks completely different every few months.
I personally love shopping vintage whenever I travel,
because if I do pick up something,
then every time I wear it it reminds me
of what a great trip I had.
London has a ton of great vintage shops
and I actually have a video
that tells you about a few of them,
which you can watch by clicking the link
in the description box of this video.
Now, if you like shopping second hand
but you're not totally into the vintage vibe,
London has tons and tons of charity shops
which sell second hand clothing
and all the money goes to charities,
and I've found some really great finds in charity shops.
All you have to do to find them
is go to an area's high street,
usually you'll have to get out of
the center of London to find these places
and you should find some really great gems.
Honestly, I think photos make
for some of the best souvenirs for a trip,
but it can be really hard to get good pictures of you
and your entire travel group,
especially while you're in London,
when there is a lot of things going on in the background.
Plus, the weather is not always
very agreeable for nice photos.
So, if you would love some really nice photos
of you and your travel group,
you can book a professional photo shoot
and let the photographer handle
all the difficult picture taking stuff
and you guys just stand there looking nice
and then a few days later you'll have beautiful photos
from your visit to London.
If you're up for that, then check out our London...
Hair in my mouth.
If you're up for that, check out our London photo sessions.
That's exactly what we do.
We pair you with a photographer
who takes some amazing photos of you
and a few days later, you'll have these great pictures
that you can share and appreciate for the rest of your life.
Just click the link in the description box of this video
to find out more about that.
Gin is a huge part of British culture,
so if you like spirits I would recommend picking up
a bottle of gin to bring home as a great souvenir
and obviously, you'll want to get something
that is quite locally brewed,
so I'd recommend coming to the distillery
where they have their own bottle shop
where you can pick up their Portobello Road Gin,
most of which is distilled right here on Portobello Road,
or in South London.
They distill the typical dry gin of course,
but they also offer a bunch of different flavors
and I would recommend trying this one
that is called Yorkshire Cup.
They distill this one specifically with Yorkshire tea,
it is very British.
On top of being able to pick up a souvenir for yourself,
I'd recommend going to the distillery
and going to the bar called The Resting Room
on the ground floor,
and having yourself a nice gin cocktail.
The bartenders are really good
and the cocktails are fantastic.
In fact, I mentioned them in my video
about cool bars to visit in London I've never heard of,
which you can watch by clicking the box
that's popping up right below me.
(bleep) They also have a bunch of different flavors
that you can try, and... flavors?
Are they called flavors?