Where can I buy Lego in London-UK?

[Artifex]

Hail and well met!

I recently moved to London. I have been coming and going around the city, and I'm sort of familiar with it as of now.

But I can't really find a nice store where to buy Lego.

I've been to Hamleys, and although the place is great (it TRULY is!), some Lego sets there are a bit overpriced (I can get the new King's Castle for about GBP 80.00 in S@H, and Hamleys has the same set for GBP 94.00 - that's more then even full price + shipping). To be fair, some sets are worth buying there (like the Outpost Attack, which you can buy for GBP 20.00 which is only 1 pence/cent more then S@H).

I've been to Harrod's too (another interesting walk), but when I was there I didn't really check the price of any toys (shame on me)... :(

I know the model store near Holborn (no Lego there last time I visited) and I've been to Forbidden Planet, but no Lego there too.

So where should I go in London to buy Lego? Is there a store that sells older sets/items as well? I have no problem in having to take the tube/buses, so distance is not an issue (although going to other cities may be a little expensive). I live around Stoke Newington (hope that helps).

Thanks in advance!

Edited June 5, 2010 by Dragonator

[Cardinal Brick]

I'm in London to, though South of the River, my advice would be to head over to Bluewater it can be a bit of a treck from where you are but you can get a TFL bus so if you've got a travel card it wont cost you a penny, and then you can visit the lego Brand store there, otherwise I've found very few independant toy shops in London with a good selection. Though if someone knows some I'd love to hear it aswell.

[birdie100]

It's a bit further out, but if you feel like making a day of it, catch a train to Slough from Paddington, then transfer to the Windsor branch line, and then catch a shuttle bus to Legoland! Although you have to pay to enter, if you spend less than 1/2 hour in the park they'll refund the entrance fee. Or, depending on how much you intend to buy, upgrade to an annual pass. You then will get 10% off the Lego (so if you end up spending c. £800 you basically get the annual pass to legoland for the year "free"). Remember the annual pass is valid for a whole year, and also note that there is an Xmas shopping as well some of the weekends in November. Plus there's Miniland and a brilliant fireworks display in October/November to enjoy too!

[SlyOwl]

Argos, Tesco - they have the more popular sets.

Or you could try a generic toyshop - but as far as I know there aren't really any good Lego-stocking ones in the area.

Wood Green and the Angel don't really have much to offer, I don't think. The ELC at WG isn't very well stocked, apart from on the Duplo front, as I recall. There's Toy City (in Shopping City); haven't been in there, though.

I live around Stoke Newington (hope that helps).

No way! I'm in Highbury

[dhaas06]

I just got back from my first visit to London (or Europe for that matter), and I found a few sets at W. H. Smith at 5470 Oxford Street. They may have been a bit overpriced (I'm not sure since I'm not familiar with regular GBP prices), but I was happy to find 2 full boxes of the collectible mini figures inside at 1.99. These ones were behind the registers, whereas other W. H. Smiths I visited in the UK had them out on the sales floor.

Edited June 5, 2010 by dhaas06

[Artifex]

Thanks for all the tips, guys! Today was a very productive day!

I read all your posts and tips and decided to go to Bluewater, to the official Lego store. After a couple of hours trying to plan my "trip" there, off I went.

The mall is, in and on itself, quite a view. Not really beautiful nor exquisite, but HUGE!

The Lego store is much more than I had expected (I saw a couple of pictures of it and it looked so small...).

It was big, spatious and more important: They had every single set I could have asked for and even more!

I ended up getting almost all Kingdom sets (but for the ones I already owned and the keychains). The prices are a bit higher than S@H, but not that much more (a couple of pounds on the pricier stuff like the bigger sets, a pound on the small ones). If you S@H you'll pay less even with the shipping included, but I DO advise everyone to go to an official Lego store and spend a couple of hours in it. I only left because a couple of parents were staring at me and asking their kids to get away from the big adult creating his own minifigures among the children... I got a nice looking female fig, though.

All in all, this was one of the best days here in London: walking, trains, buses, first trip to another city, seeing the landscape. And a lot of Lego!

Cheers!

P.S.: Oh, I almost forgot - although I was buying a lot of stuff, there was no discount; they only give discounts when you spend 1000,00 Pounds or more. Sadly, it was not the case

[jondesouza]

Welcome to London!

Toy City in Wood Green has a reasonable stock sometimes but they've been telling me they simply can't get stock from Lego very often. If you talk to independent stockists they'll give you the same message - Lego has been ignoring them and favouring chains like TRU and Argos.

[Artifex]

Thanks for the tip!

I'm planning to visit every store you guys are mentioning in here. Even if I'm not buying anything, it's a good way to do some city-seeing and going around.

[-JaMMiT-]

If you dont have alot of time i find it easy going to Bricklink and buying some lego from there!

[Artifex]

If you dont have alot of time i find it easy going to Bricklink and buying some lego from there!

Just registered!

[Whittleberry]

As I posted in another topic, the quickest way to get to Bluewater from central London is to take the Southeastern Highspeed train from St Pancras (right next to King's Cross) to Ebbsfleet International, and then a Fastrack bus from there to Bluewater, where there's a LEGO Store. Total travel time is just over 30mins each way, plus waiting time, which is excellent if you want to get other things done the same day.

[SilentMode]

Hello fellow Londoner!

I was in Hamleys last week, and just as you discovered their prices are a rip in the proverbial buttocks. I wanted some collectible minifigs and nowhere else had them at the time - Hamleys sold them for £3 each.

Anyway, if you're ever in north west London be sure to head over to Toys 'R Us near Brent Cross, which has probably the largest collection of sets you can find. They seem to be reasonably priced.

[Dfenz]

When I was in London a few years ago I picked up some decently priced sets in John Lewis Oxford street. According to the John Lewis website they still Lego so I presume that large department store still does.

[SlyOwl]

Just an update on the Wood Green (North London) front:

Toy City has a small range of Lego - mainly Town/City, some Atlantis and SW. It has around 10 collectible minifigs left (no cheerleaders )

WHSmith has nearly a full box of collectible minifigs left.

Neither is behind the counter, so you can check barcodes and feel all you want.

[Halo]

I have discount at John Lewis if any1 want help me use it.

[zinnn]

Bumping this thread up - does anyone know of any places that sell new and secondhand Lego in London?