The Big Smoke is a veritable treasure trove of quirky places to shop and eat and, this week, I made it my mission to explore the little known Newburgh Quarter.

Heading West – and back in time

Nestled between Oxford Circus and the indie stores of Carnaby Street, the Newburgh Quarter is London’s largest community of independent boutiques, restaurants and bars. Full of curios, including a barbershop, Pankhurst, where customers can enjoy a single malt scotch along with a straight razor wet shave, the Newburgh Quarter is at the sharp end of W1 shopping.

On a gloomy afternoon, I began my Newburgh Quarter quest with cocktails at Cahoots – a 1940s style bar with tube carriage seats and themed cocktails served in vintage hip flasks and milk bottles. After enjoying the sharing cocktail, ‘Meet Me Under The Station Clock’, we were ready for a bit of retail therapy.

Shop til we drop

First up was Levis Vintage which, as the name suggests, specialises in authentic Levis denim – needless to say, I had to buy a pair! We then made our way to RRL on Newburgh Street which is named after Ralph and Ricky Lauren’s ranch in Colorado and is known worldwide for its military and utilitarian style garments. Just a few doors down from RRL, we found ourselves in another vintage emporium, Raeburn – a fashion studio and store with eye-watering prices to match its expensive-looking interior and where we managed to get our hands on a special discount voucher.

You can’t set foot in the West End without visiting a shoe store and, so, the next leg of our journey brought us to Red Wing Shoes; a standalone store established over a century ago which still manufactures footwear to the same skill and craftsmanship as at its inception in 1905. From shoes to shaving, we visited Muhle; a brand which combines traditional craftsmanship with the latest technology to create its range of premium shaving brushes, wet shaving products and skincare. Our final retail stop was the divine Joy Everley Fine Jewellers at number seven Newburgh Street. Owned by jewellery designer, Joy, the store is, well, a joy to visit with its eclectic range of designs with romantic names such as Exotic Spices, Dark Baroque and Fairies and Angels. The store offers a wide range of ready to wear and bespoke jewellery and, specialises in precious pearls and wedding jewellery.

The perfect Antidote

After a couple of hours treading the cobbles of Newburgh Street, we stopped for dinner at Antidote – an unassuming looking restaurant with a big heart. As well as a comprehensive selection of classic French dishes including charcuterie, steaks and cheese, Antidote offers a choice of a staggering (quite literally) 300 organic, biodynamic wines for the perfect antidote to a day’s shopping.

If you’re heading into Central London and find yourself looking for something a little more unique than the big box stores of Oxford Street then head to Newburgh’s quirky, eclectic and eminently ‘grammable’ quarter.

This half-day out was a unique way of combining both shopping and good food under one umbrella – do try it.

Written by Rafa Zurita for Luxuria Lifestyle London and International