London's Best Retro Spots

From Fitzrovia to Covent Garden, London is embracing its charming—and sometimes cheeky—past. Every era, from the roaring ‘20s to the swinging ‘60s, is represented, with new takes on old-fashioned locales: chip and sweets shops, hidden Prohibition-style hangouts, even ballrooms. But rather than flaunt themselves as fusty Churchillian relics, these new spots are drawing stylish Bright Young Things who can’t get enough of the city’s collective nostalgia trip. They’re celebrating inspired design, tastes, and bygone lifestyles with zeal.

At the forefront of London’s retro renaissance: sugar. Behind a shiny strawberry-red façade in Covent Garden, British confectionary is experiencing a resurgence at Hope and Greenwood, a sweet 1950s-style candy store named after its sugar-loving owners. Glass jars and cut-crystal candy that grandma would love brim with classic and all-but-disappeared “pick and mix“ English candies—Minty Humbugs, Raspberry Ruffles, and Traffic Light Lollies. It’s the kind of place that will even inspire adults on a strict diet to indulge in sweets (and sweet thoughts) of yesteryear.

Over in the trendy, up-and-coming neighborhood of Marble Arch, Cocomaya is attracting followers with its jewel-like handcrafted chocolates tantalizingly displayed under glass domes on marble counter tops and antique mirrors. And places such as East End’s Treacle are delighting locals and visitors alike with a return to the no-nonsense proper British teahouse, serving up comforting classics like Jammy Dodgers and buttercream cupcakes.

Bourne & Hollingsworth (named after the department store that once existed on its site) is decidedly more adult; the quirky basement bar in Fitzrovia is tricked out to feel like grandma’s—complete with signature floral wallpaper and consciously stodgy décor. Still, zany accents, like a fireplace full of discarded Champagne bottles, reflect the underground boîte’s joie de vivre spirit of excess. On Prohibition themed nights, vintage gin cocktails arrive hidden in teapots, as Billie Holliday sets the mood.

Geales, in Notting Hill, is the ideal spot to start—or end—an evening on the town, London-style. Now a shadow of its former 1939 no-frills self, the newly renovated fish and chips shop is giving a lighter gourmet twist to an old London standby; golden, delicately fried cod and haddock is the restaurant’s main event, supported by more elegant briny treats like raw oysters and classic shrimp cocktail.

No matter where you go in London town these days, vintage style is everywhere. What’s old is new—again!—in England’s retro-mad city.