The one of a kind journey.

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:04 am

Good day gentlemen.

As some of you already know, my girlfriend and I were in London for a week. One of those days, we spent in the district of London also know as Shavemecka.

As the hotel where we stayed(during our first 3 days) and the restaurants where we dined(The Strand) were so close to Covent Garden and the original Penhaligon's store(on Wellington Street) our first day permitted a visit to the shop.

The small street leading to the shop was easily found as The Wellington pub and restaurant was on the Strand leading up to Wellington Street.

This rather quaint billboard with a touch of history greeted us into the shop.

I will have more for you later on this evening but I must leave you now as I prepare to go to work.

scoop · Post by **scoop** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:22 am

Looking forward to hearing more. Especially your experience of the shave at Trumpers. Hope it lived up to expectations!

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:58 am

Jani, Very much looking forward to you further photos and postings of your trip.
Regards,
Gordon

jww · Post by **jww** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:47 am

Jani -- how did you enjoy London -- the non-shaving bits, I mean.

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:39 pm

Gentlemen, the non-shaving bits I will attempt to cover in another thread in "The Gentlemen's Parlor".

Excuse me for taking such a long time to continue but other matters required my attention.

In continuation... upon entering the Penhaligon's shop, we were greeted by a young lady with a rather poor use of the English language. Upon further deduction by myself(she and my girlfriend spoke for a few minutes) I came upon the conclusion the she must be from Sweden. It proved to be correct and so the discussion became more fruitful for my beloved girlfriend. While the clerk spoke of ladiesperfumes with my girlfriend I was greeted by a very knowledgable gentleman who asked if I needed any help.

He proved to be very helpful. I was told a few very old colognes(for gentlemen) were to be re-released(curious souls need to know). Unfortunatly the names have escaped my mind at the moment, an extract of Hammam Bouquet was to be released as well as a few other products. Something that had cought my eyes very early upon entering the shop was a new Unisex cologne called "Elixir". Sam has mentioned it a couple of times. Rightly so... it is fantastic. It is an old formula that Penhaligon's decided to revive but unfortunatly only for a limited time and exclusively to Brittain. It is a rather heady concoction(right up my alley), very oldfashioned and reminds me slightly of Crown's "Park Royal". What else did he say... ah yes "Douro" will not be released as Lords but back again as "Douro - Eau De Portugal" but that wont be until after Christmas.

Penhaligon's have made Liquid Hand Wash and Hand&Nail Lotions for a few of their products and I was asked to sample the Lavandula version. It cought my appeal very quickly and I had to purchase a bottle each of the wash and lotion. Very nice indeed if I may say so myself.

Photographing in the shop was not directly allowed but I managed to persuade the chap to allowe me to take a few pictures.

I must excuse the picture quality.

An image of the small portion of the shop were they had a museum of sorts.

Again a picture of the museum.

A picture of the cozy fireplace. This shop must have had the nicest ambiance of all the shops we visited during our stay in London. Unfortunatly I have no more pictures to show you of this Penhaligon's shop.

Sadly, once again I must leave you but I will return later on for more pictures and stories to tell. I must take a few pictures of my "finds" as well.

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:57 am

There, I have now returned with a few pictures of the unusual items.

It's always much nicer and indeed much easier to shop in person when you are in the actual shop and also I suppose easier to fall for the salesmans tricks

. My girlfriend bought a bottle of "Elisabethan Rose", I ended up purchasing a bottle of "Douro", a wooden bowl with "English Fern" shaving soap and I suppose you know what this is Gordon...

I was suprised that they still had 2 left. None have been made for several years and noone had asked for any either. He was suprised I knew about them as he had to check in their basement for it.

This was Friday and the same day that we arrived. No further geekery visits were made until the following Monday.

I woke up Monday morning and was handed a beautifully wrapped package by my girlfriend(you know, I told you she had looked for a L'Occitane cologne for me) that contained this.

It's not very close to the type of colognes I have come to love but it contains some elements that have made me fall in love with it.

Fast forwarding a few hours later we are now standing a few meters from the "Burlington Arcade" and opposite "Fortnum & Mason".

Directly opposite is the "Piccadilly Arcade" with "Maitlands Chemist" just outside the arcade.
What a wonderful and quaint little shop large enough to fit a couple of people in the shop at the same time and filled with all kinds of shaving products, brushes, soaps and so on and so forth.

To cut focus to the Burlington Arcade with it's wonderful tradition with Beadles.

Above the entrance.

My beloved girlfriend in the entrance.

Last but not least a Beadle who was only happy to be photographed. Thank You my dear fellow.

Not to far in the arcade you will find the second oldest "Penhaligon's" shop.

With the same type of "old world" aura as the first shop and clerks just as nice.

You could say I did the same here and helped myself to a sampling of "Elixir". Wonderful cologne. Won't be released I think until somewhere around Christmas and only limited to a few bottles. I have signed myself for 2 bottles but I seriously doubt I will be one of the lucky few.

Greeting you to Jermyn Street is this statue of Beau Brummel.

With a quick look through the street I saw that Taylor's was just on the other side of the street.

Gentlemen, I will try to return later on this evening with more...

Crhis · Post by **Crhis** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:32 am

Maitlands is where I made my first ever wetshaving purchase - a Merkur 34C. It's a little overpriced compared to shopping online, but the guy who runs it is very nice.

joe mcclaine · Post by **joe mcclaine** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:33 am

Great photos.

I've referred many a shaver to A Maitland as it is so easy to overlook it when you are bouncing between all the famous shops on Jermyn St.

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:36 pm

Gentlemen, sorry for taking such a long time but I will be continuing this when I get home from work this evening.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:26 pm

Jani, Nice photos. I do wish that you could remember the names of these suppossedly very old colognes that Penhaligon's is planning to re-introduce. Now you have me really interested....provided that they make them to the original formula, or as close as they legally can today. Could be very interesting, and is certainly encouraging. And the Hammam Extact is coming back?! Well, that should interest our Mr. Bargepole, being the fan that he was. And, don't tell me?....are those two of the Penhaligon's black shave soaps? If they are, then you really hit the jack pot.....sigh... . BTW the building that houses their Wellington St. shop goes all the way back to the 1600s. It was a grocery, and the floor boards are original.
Regards,
Gordon

Antique Hoosier · Post by **Antique Hoosier** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:32 pm

Jani...Thank you for the superb photos.

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 6:02 am

Indeed, the chap that runs Maitland's Chemist is very nice and so was the lady who assisted him at the shop. Maitland's Chemist must be a very old shop by the look of it. Wish I knew more about it.

Gordon, yes it is the Black shavesoap. I bought their last ones and gave one of them away to a very dear friend of mine who has recently picked up shaving with at DE. I don't remember what the other cologne was called but I think it started with a B... perhaps BR something... sorry I don't remember. They might make it exclusive though... some shop's have items I have never seen before by Penhaligon's. Harrod's had 500ml bottles of Blenheim Bouquet and another cologne and so on and so forth. They might make them exclusive and they might not... Elixir is a good example of that. I have several more great examples of that(all in due time).

Once again sorry for not posting earlier. I sit at the computer and plan to continue when I'm swamped with even more work.

To continue,

Taylor's just opposite the street.

Taylor's has a plethora of washkits, brushes and so on and so forth... unusual items you don't see anywhere else included unusual bodywashes but nothing really out of the ordinary. No special colognes or anything like that(I did check).

I came out with a bottle of Sandalwood cologne and a pack of different soaps. Taylor's have very nice soaps.

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:03 am

those pics of TOBS, to me anyway, is shaveporn on steroids. How you walked in there and left with only an item or two is beyond me.

Thanks

Clive

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 4:29 pm

Clive, it's never easy. Especially not since I found my perfect washbag. Unfortunatly the pricetag of £180 was discouraging.

On the same street within a small stretch there is the Czech & Speake shop and Floris. C&S's products I use frequently as the No.88 and Cuba are among my favourite colognes but I never use Floris and to tell you the truth none of their colognes really impress me.

C&S used to have their colognes in a backroom, but that has now changed and all of their colognes were available among their other products. They are quite generous with samples as they have samples to generously dispense nowadays. No pictures of this shop.

The Floris shop was a pleasure to visit. A lot of things to see in the museum. Several things on offer here that they don't sell elsewhere. A lavender collection with a Lavender water and handsoaps and so on and so forth. No pictures here either.

A bit further up the road is Trumper's youngest shop. It was set up in 1941 and it reflects that era rather well.

For more expect me when you see me.

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 5:51 pm

Great stuff Jani, my regards to your lady.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 6:30 pm

Jani, Dang it! You only knew about it because of ME! I TOLD him to go to Wellington Street!....but NO..he "didn't have time", he kept showing up at one of their other, more convenient, shops and demanding the black shave soap.....and, of course, they never had any....sigh....it's said to be exceptionally good. I don't know much about Maitlands other than that it's privately owned and goes back to the 1860s. Kind of the Budd of men's grooming; very small, very discreet, on the Arcade, known only to the cognoscenti, etc.

Excellent photos of Taylors ( a shop that one rarely sees interior photos of ). I notice a few nice looking Plexiglass handled brushes on the table there. Interesting...I wonder who makes them for Taylors? Looking forward to your continuing photo travelogue.....the one I always wanted to take, but haven't been able to.
Regards,
Gordon

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:56 pm

Squire, she is amazing indeed.

Gordon, very true. I would never have known if you had not told me about it.

Still, for Maitlands to have been around for such a long time must be that they have had a very good clientel basis. Probably sporting a very good customer service as well. That's the only way small companies like that can survive.

The plexiglass brushes are made by Plisson.

Continuing towards Trumper's

Sorry... no more time. Expect me when you see me.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:17 pm

Jani, Aha!...Plisson....I thought so. Good show. I knew someone once who had a long chat with the senior salesman at Taylors. Speaking of brushes, this long time Taylor employee said, "...oh yes, Plisson...they make the very best shave brushes in the world, really...". And he said that, even though Taylors did not stock any Plissons, and hadn't for as long as my friend could remember. But now they do. Pretty neat because getting a high end Plisson in England has always been very difficult. They're hardly ever sold there.
Regards,
Gordon

M6Classic · Post by **M6Classic** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:45 am

It is interesting to note that Taylor's appears to have several Plisson HMWs set in plexiglass on the top shelf of the pictured shave brush table. They are the brushes in which the knot is set into the handle in black collars. This is new since the last time I was in the shop about eighteen months ago. Anyone have any idea what they are charging?

Buzz

Edit: Oops, I just caught up with the last post, above. Gordon is of course quite right, but what else is new?

Aztecface · Post by **Aztecface** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:12 am

Buzz, the Plisson's were quite expensive. In the range of the washbag I was interested in.