Ceramica Blue was founded by a lady who grew up on a remote farm in New Zealand, twenty miles from the nearest shop, moved to London, and spent nearly four decades hunting down the most beautiful, unusual tableware and homeware she could find from every corner of the world. Contemporary Portuguese dinnerware alongside elaborately enamelled Pakistani water jugs. Hand painted Sicilian terracotta platters next to Indonesian cookware. French stemware from glassmakers with roots in the fifteenth century. Swedish linens, Egyptian candleholders, Colombian ceramic cookware. Every single piece chosen by hand, every single day, by someone with an eye for colour that nobody else in this city quite matches. One of London's great independent shops, three minutes from the market, almost entirely undiscovered by the people who walk past it every Saturday.
A Portobello Road institution since 1974, Honest Jon's is one of London's most revered independent record shops, stocking an exceptionally curated selection of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, African music and electronic across both vinyl and CD. It has its own record label too, releasing music that reflects the same eclectic, deeply knowledgeable taste that has made the shop a destination for serious music lovers for over fifty years.
Dishoom's more relaxed, bar-forward sibling, Permit Room opened its first London outpost on Portobello Road in 2025, housed in the former Portobello Road Distillery. Named after the drinking dens that sprang up in Bombay after prohibition was lifted in the 1970s, it serves all-day Bombay-inspired small plates, smoky grills and Dishoom classics alongside inventive cocktails and resident DJs, with the walls covered in art and two boutique hotel rooms upstairs for those who want to make a proper night of it.
