Say the words ‘Fortnum & Mason’, and I defy you not to get a mental image of food hampers packed with foie gras. Fortnums has become pretty much synonymous with the provision of superior groceries since its founding at the beginning of the 18th Century. What’s less well known is that it sells lots of other luxury goods, including high-end perfumes.
From the outside, Fortnum & Mason is so fairy-taleish, with its pale blue portico and its musical clock, it looks more like something knocked up for a film set than a real store. I’d place it just below Liberty in the spontaneous giggle league…