Shopping in Britain

High on many people's agenda when visiting Britain is shopping, so here is our guide to the best places to splash the cash.

There's no better place to start than the capital. London's shopping is legendary and includes some of the world's top names in fashion and retail, and famous department stores such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Liberty's and Selfridges. London's range of shops cover a wide spectrum from the well heeled boutiques of Piccadilly, Soho, Regent Street, Oxford Road, Bond Street and exclusive districts of Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Kensington to the colourful character of London's street markets like Portobello Road, Camden Town and Spitalfields.
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Outside of London, the city of Bath, renowned for its beautiful architecture and rich history offers some of the finest shopping in the Britain. Here you'll find a wealth of exclusive boutiques selling clothing, jewellery and accessories from some of world's best designers, while antique hunters can unearth some real treasures in the city's many shops and galleries. Bath also has a fine collection of gourmet restaurants and cafes in which to take the load off your feet and this ancient spa town has a rejuvenating and picturesque quality that makes it a far more relaxing shopping destination than the capital.
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Travelling to the north of England and Chester, once the largest Roman settlement in Britain and now a thriving shopping hub set with black and white timber fronted buildings, encased within city walls. Known as ‘the Rows', these shops are unique in Britain, a selection of fashionable galleried shopping arcades set on two tiers and styled in Georgian and Victorian mock Tudor. The original rows were built in the 14 th Century on top of earlier Roman buildings, though the present ones date to the 19 th Century, they make an attractive setting of decorative timberwork and oriel windows, while the shops and boutiques sell a range of fashionable designer goods.
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Close by is Manchester, the self styled capital of the north and a centre for urban chic. This contemporary city boasts some of the best names in fashion outside of London, with branches of Harvey Nichols and Selfridges residing besides stylish boutiques in the ultra modern shopping district of Exchange Square or Manchester's out of town shopping mall, the Trafford Centre. Of course you can't mention Manchester without mentioning its most famous landmark Old Trafford, the ‘Theatre of Dreams', home to the famous Manchester United football team, and if you need a break from shopping you could take a tour of the stadium.
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Further north to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, where you can shop along the old streets of this historic city overlooked by its awesome castle. This compact city offers some real gems from districts like Stockbridge and the exclusive Princes Street where you'll find that Edinburgh institution Jenners, the oldest department store in the world. Close by is Georges Street, lined with exclusive boutiques and auction houses. While in Edinburgh's Old Town is the Grassmarket, a trading area since the 15 th Century, filled with historic buildings and obscure boutiques.
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