An illustrated love letter to London and the vivacious & diverse independent shops that add colour to the Big Smoke.
When illustrator Joel Holland was yearning for all the spots in New York he couldn’t visit due to the Covid lockdown, NYC Shopfronts was born. Taking his artist’s palette to London, he’s now created London Shopfronts, an illustrated book which captures the vivaciousness and diversity of the many shops dotted across the city, immortalising them in print.
Complementing Holland’s illustrations are beautiful descriptions by Time Out London-based journalist Rosie Hewitson, offering a soundbite of the history, charm and culture unique to each shop. With a foreword by chef, restaurateur and author Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express, this book is a carefully crafted work of art and a keepsake for lovers of London everywhere.
Featuring over 200 drawings and accompanying descriptions, the illustrated shopfronts range from some of London’s most profiled shops – Hamleys, Fortnum & Mason, Beigel Bake and Daunt Books – to those more intimately known to locals such as Khan’s Bargains and the Peckhamplex cinema. From restaurants, to bookshops, tattoo parlours to florists, London Shopfronts showcases the sheer variety that London retail has to offer; it has something for everyone.
The book, like the city, is divided up as Londoners know it, into the areas of Central, North, East, South, and West, celebrating the rich heritage and mix of cultures within the capital. Whether it’s the smart monochrome tilework of Regency Café or the watercolour flora practically bursting from the windows of florist Bramble & Moss, no two shopfronts are the same, and Holland’s illustrations capture the essential charm of each store.
The perfect coffee table book to swoon over endlessly, as well as the illustrated guide to finding endless gems for eating, dancing, or whiling away the hours, this book is the perfect gift for those who love London and the independent shops which make the city what it is. It is an illustrated love letter to London’s most cherished shops.
