Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Central; pedestrianised; some interesting shops |
| Disadvantages: |
Not a great deal of choice; slightly tacky in places |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Carnaby Street isn't quite what it was, but let's face it, what is? Conveniently located just off Oxford and Regent Streets, it's a slightly peculiar, pedestrianised road, surrounded by hyper-trendy offices, with the heart of Soho to the East and theatreland to the South.
Carnaby Street today is a mix of specialist retailers, such as Soccer scene, fashionable chains (Muji, Storm) and faintly tacky, Oxford Street style shops which sell shoes, trinkets, sunglasses, flags, that sort of thing. So if you're either a tourist or a more-money-than-sense trend junkie, you may well be able to satisfy your tastes. However, there are a select few shops, including a sports shop the name of which escapes me, which sell their regular range plus a few special editions and eccentricities which you may not be able to find elsewhere.
There's also a decent pub at the north End (The Shakespeare's Head?), and, of course, the olde worlde department store that is Liberty's. Essentially, Carnaby Street is far from a shoppers dream; the key point is that it's so near to everywhere else, a leisurely shopping trip is possible and, you never know, you might come away with something interesting.
