Old London Road

Last week my husband was pleasantly surprised to find that he had a few spare holiday days left to take from work before the end of the year.  His mum very kindly looks after our little one for the day once a week, so we decided to take the opportunity to do a spot of shopping.  We'd been meaning to explore the local vintage scene a bit more since moving house last year, but with an 18 month old in tow... It's been a challenge!

Kingston's Old London Road has been quite high up on my to-do list now for a while now, so what better place to start our hunt for vintage treasures?  Old London Road is renowned in the local area, and many will recognise the famous falling over phone boxes, David Mach's sculpture 'Out of Order'.

Our first point of call when we arrived was the Kingston Antiques Centre.  The store is home to a wide selection of antiques from a huge number of dealers.  They have everything from furniture to jewellery and watches, lighting to glasswares, and to top in all off an incredible collection of vintage fashion.  From the street this Antiques store looks fairly small, but once you step through those doors you realise that it really is an Aladdin's cave!  It was refreshing to see how reasonably priced many of the products were too.  So often with vintage items you end up paying a real premium, but this just isn't the case here.  I had to practically prise Nick off of several mid-century table lamps (we really don't have room for another!) and we both got lots of ideas and inspiration for decorating the two remaining bedrooms in the new year.  The real challenge though was keeping my better half away from the Polish café situated in the upper level of the Antiques Centre.  We had only just had our breakfast, so really couldn't justify eating again so soon, but the smell was truly incredible.  We will most certainly have to sample the food on our next visit!

Next was 'That Vintage Shop', a lovely little vintage fashion boutique situated just a few doors down from the Antiques Centre.  This beautifully laid out store boasted a great selection out clothing, including loads of denim which is always nice to see.  I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, they just don't make them like they used to!  There was also a great range of accessories including cute little bows, loads of pretty scarves and gloves and lots of jewellery too.  Unfortunately I didn't find anything I loved in my size this visit, but I will definitely be back again soon!  I've also 

liked their Facebook page to keep up to date with all their latest stock and offers.  Whilst you're there, don't forget to like the Mother of Vintage Facebook page too! Thanks for reading!