In this post, I continue to share insider tips on my favourite interior shops in and around Bath. We are so lucky to have so many independent shops where we can buy everything we need to decorate our homes.
Magalleria
Just along Upper Borough Walls, Magalleria stocks a vast range of high-quality magazines from all around the world. The shop focuses on art, design, photography, fashion, food and literature magazines, displayed beautifully to celebrate the wonderful design of some of the front covers. I often pick up an interesting indie interiors magazine from Scandinavia or Australia in the shop to inspire me!
The Bath store has relocated from its shop in Broad Street to larger premises in the very centre of the city at Upper Borough Walls. www.store.magalleria.co.uk
Moss of Bath
Moss of Bath is an independent television and hi-fi retailer celebrating 60 years in business this year. The business specialises in the sale, installation and servicing of consumer electronic products, including televisions, home cinema, hi-fi and portable audio products. They also have an in-house service department as well as specialist installation teams.
Moss of Bath has state of the art showrooms and hi-fi demonstration lounges in their two adjoining five-storey Georgian townhouses on St James Parade. A family-owned business, Moss of Bath are a friendly company with good old-fashioned customer service values combined with incredible knowledge of an ever more complex high-tech industry, The fact that Moss of Bath both sell and install, make them a go to for me when I am looking for home entertainment systems for my projects. www.mossofbath.co.uk
Coopers Home Appliances
Coopers sell domestic appliances from standard washing machines to posh range cookers. They ae are traditional independent retailers with a showroom on Walcot Street opposite Waitrose. They have really knowledgeable and friendly staff and offer brilliant local delivery options. I have bought many fridges and other appliances from Coopers for my own home, and I really recommend visiting them if you are in the market for a new appliance.
Coopers stock all sorts of makes, from the iconic Smeg fridge to Rangemaster ranges and Bosch dishwashers. If you can’t find what you want in the store, they will happily research alternatives for you. A hidden gem in Bath! www.coopershomeappliances.com
Topping & Co
Topping & Company Booksellers is one of the best bookshops in the country and one of my favourite independents in Bath. It’s the perfect place for any bibliophile to while away an afternoon browsing their incredible collection of books. The staff are all passionate readers, and the shop hosts all sorts of literary occasions from reading groups to large events, attracting such famous names as Ian McEwan. They are also home to an all-year-round literary festival, culminating in the Bath Autumn Literary Festival. They also have reading groups and a subscription service.
It’s their new premises, I am most in awe of though. It’s simply stunning. Toppings recently moved into a former Grade II listed former Friends Meeting House in York Street which had been closed since 2019. Originally designed as a Masonic Hall in 1817-19 by the architect William Wilkins the Younger (who designed the National Gallery in London) the building had been owned and used by the Religious Society of Friends from 1866 – 2019.
The alteration works are beautiful. The architects, Mark Wray Architects, have inserted a new oak-lined gallery around three sides of the Great Hall to increase the retail floor area and make best use of the space. A new platform lift was also added at the east end of the hall to provide access to the 70,000 books over three levels. Externally, new stone steps and bronze handrails lead to a new central entrance created through the former blind doorway of the Masons. www.toppingbooks.co.uk
Meticulous Ink
I love stationary so when Meticulous Ink opened in Walcot Street, I was very excited. They are a wonderful group of creatives who care about creating beautiful, unusual, tactile stationery printed the old-fashioned way using beautiful papers.
Meticulous Ink print all their greeting cards and stationery on original 1960s presses. As well as selling wonderful stationery in their shop, they also take on bespoke print projects – from business cards and wedding invites to packaging and bookmarks. At the back of the studio, they teach lettering and calligraphy workshops. The owner, Athena, was very entertaining on Instagram during the various lockdowns and she’s a really lovely person to have a chat to about her passion for printing and paper. www.meticulousink.com
Hobson’s Choice
Hobson’s Choice specialises in the design and installation of luxury kitchens, bathrooms and interior spaces.
Their showroom is located along London Road near where I live so I walk past its gorgeous window displays almost every day. There are kitchens over two floors, featuring both highly engineered and hand-finished bulthaup kitchens (they are the supplier for the South West) and a more traditional Craftsman’s Collection of handmade kitchens. The showroom also has a variety of accompanying Carl Hansen and Son dining furniture and Rimadesio storage solutions and sliding doors. www.hobsonschoice.uk.com
I hope you have enjoyed my top ten (or is it eleven!) favourite interior shops in Bath. if you happen to visit one of them, please tell them I sent you. Happy shopping!
