The fantastical shop front for the children’s literacy charity, the Ministry of Stories – which offers one-to-one writing tuition for local kids. The shop sells ‘Bespoke and Everyday Items for the Living, Dead and Undead’, including Thickest Human Snot, Compacted Earwax, and Tinned Fear. (And all their products make perfect presents for humans.) All proceeds go to the charity.
Website
monstersupplies.org
Address
Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, 159 Hoxton Street, London, United Kingdom
Current city: London
Alistair Hall is an award-winning graphic designer based in London. He set up his design studio, We Made This, in 2004, and specialises in thoughtful, simple, beautiful graphic design for print. He has made work with clients including Penguin Books, Historic Royal Palaces, Jeremy Tankard Typography, the National Trust and John Lewis.  Alistair is also a co-founder and art director of the children’s literacy charity Ministry of Stories, and its fantastical shop, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies. Alistair has been writing about design and visual culture at wemadethis.co.uk/blog for over ten years. He also teaches at Central Saint Martins and The Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design; and has given talks about his practice across the UK and overseas. He’s currently researching a book about London’s street nameplates.
 

More Places in London 471

A slice of Scandi in the heart of London. Great for lunch, with all the meatballs, salads and classic Scandi foods you could want, along with a great little deli shop too.
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Every year I take my 25 year old mini on the London to Brighton run. The views from the start line are always worth the 4AM wake-up.
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Being an East London boy at heart I am partial to an occasional fix of café culture. Pellici's has been running since the start of the last century, to which me, my father and my father's fathers have all enjoyed its mix of tasty Italian/London grub and energetic atmosphere. If you're visiting, make sure you drop by, as it will provide a valuable, forever-depleting education into what East London is really all about.
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My favourite restaurant as the moment which was a former boxing hall. You sit on the old spectating seats and get served butter chicken on pine cones which infuse their flavour into the food. A really different experience.
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I spend many hours in the bookshops along this stretch, namely Henry Pordes for second hand books and new discounted titles (pile on left of photo), as well as Koenig Books for new art books with lots of great discounts in the basement. (photo right). In 2001 the rents for much of this strip were increased to align them closer to market value but thanks to public support they were reduced again. Unfortunately some bookshops still closed down; Koenig replaced the beloved Zwemmers - a real institution - but thankfully still provide great books, although others are no longer bookshops at all.
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