This London high street is officially one of the UK’s best for independent shopping this Christmas

Christmas is the season of giving, a time to show your loved ones how much they mean to you with thoughtful gifts you’ve been waiting all year to pick out. Or, more likely, it means scrambling down the high street last-minute looking for a present that’ll make do. 

Whatever your style for getting Christmas shopping done, American Express has just released a handy list of the UK’s best high streets for independent shops. Partnering with retail experts GlobalData, the credit card company compared high streets across the country to find the ones with the most indie shops, the widest variety, the most ‘vibrancy’ and the highest number of millennial and gen-z business owners. 

Stoke Newington’s Church Street in Hackney emerged a clear London winner, making it to fifth place on the list, and the only one in the capital. 

And Church Street boasts plenty of delightful indie shops. Colourful books from Church Street Bookshop, vintage gems from Hilda and homeware bits and bobs from Revere the Residence are just some of the bits you can pick up from Church Street. 

Nabbing first place in the list for the best high street in Britain was St Mary’s Street in Stamford, Lincolnshire, which scored highly for delivering ‘a unique experience for shoppers’. You can see American Express’s full list of the best UK high streets to get your Christmas shopping done here.

Did you see that we’ve launched an interactive map of London’s best festive experiences?

Plus: two London shopping centres are officially the best in the UK for Christmas shopping.

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