Vintage in Brighton- Charity Shop Who's Who

As my purse strings seem to get tighter and tighter every month, I am continually finding myself browsing and buying in Charity Shops. I am lucky in that I have three right at the top of my road that each have something a little different, in fact I rarely stray further afield!

 

First up is the British Heart Foundation on Western Road, near to Waitrose. It seems that every time I go in here, I walk out with something! Expect to find plenty of clothing, with the shop sectioned into tops, skirts, trousers, dresses etc. There is currently a great knitwear selection in there at the moment. I must admit that this is one of my favourite charity shops as you will often find original vintage in here! Delve deeper into the shop and you will find a few small but well stocked homeware shelves. More often trinkets and smaller homeware items, these shelves often turn up trumps.

 

Turning right out of there, if you can make it past Sally's beauty supplies next door (where they sell super strong hairspray and Crazy Colour semi permanent hair dye), you will reach Oxfam. Always with a beautiful window display, inside there are always lots of dresses to browse through. There is currently a wonderful array of winter coats to choose from. I have had quite a lot of luck in here recently as they seem to have added more knitwear and skirts to their stock. I always find there to be a good selection of menswear in here too. Upstairs you can even find records!

Crossing the road, you will find the Martlets Furniture shop next to Taj. Whilst they do stock clothes, I am most impressed with their collection of furniture in here. With this shop in particular, I find it best to go in there as often as possible as it seems that stock regularly changes around. There is a huge array of wool and knitting needles, as well as books too!

Heading further into the centre of Brighton, I always make a beeline for the Martlets Shop on Church Road, near to the Corn Exchange. This outlet specialises in Vintage, and even has its own Instagram and Twitter feed! Search for 'vintagemartlets' on Instagram and @Martletsshops on Twitter. I am always spoilt for choice in this store! They are even having their very own Vintage Me Christmas Fair on 30th November at the Unitarian Church. I think it will be dangerous for the old purse strings but all for a good cause!

Do you recommend any other charity shops around Brighton? I am yet to let loose on George Street in Hove, and believe London Road is also promising!

 

Hannah xxx

Vintage Guide to Suffolk

At the beginning of August, I had a wonderful week away in Suffolk with my boyfriend and his family. Alongside lots of games of badminton, cricket and rounders, we found time to drink quite a lot of wine, eat lots of food and find lots of vintage shops! Here are my finds...

We stayed very near to the Snape Maltings, which had something for everyone, from a Concert Hall, locally produced food store to a large room full of Shabby Chic interior pieces. We quickly found the Antiques and Collectables store tucked around to the side of the development. There was a huge amount of vintage clothing, but I didn't really find anything that jumped out at me, although I'm sure with a more dedicated hunt there would be some great finds. I would say there was better quality collectables than clothing, and very similar to a small Snoopers Paradise here in Brighton. Make sure to nip down the road to The Golden Key, a fantastic country pub that makes a seriously good Fish and Chips!

Aldeburgh is a beautiful, picturesque town by the sea. One of my favourite shops there was a great independent wine and beer merchant who sold a selection of the more obscure tipples. I was disappointed to find a surprising lack of vintage, however Vintage Angels on the way into the town makes up for it. A wonderfully extensive selection of vintage clothing on offer; for once the men also have plenty of quality vintage clothing to browse through too. I have a feeling that a lot of money would have been spent had we not cycled there! Vintage Angels contained one of the best selections of menswear that I have seen. Even better, there is a small but well stocked vintage furniture emporium attached!

 

Near to Aldeburgh is Thorpeness Emporium, which looks like a new development, but probably contained the best array of vintage I could find in the whole of Suffolk! The selection of clothing was perhaps more female orientated, but on a whole, the Emporium contained a wide range of quality and kitsch homewares. I really loved it here, and even found the hat I intended to wear for Goodwood! (silly rain prevented it). Even better, nip across the road afterwards to the tea rooms, down to the sand beach or even have a row on the lake!

 

I must admit that I was slightly let down by Ipswich. I did expect more vintage shops but perhaps I am spoilt by Brighton! Carr Street was the best place to visit for charity shops, with them even situated conveniently next to each other. Fairweather Vintage has a lovely selection of ladieswear and the benefit of in house alterations upstairs and mod menswear downstairs. Vintage and Retro homeware is best found on St Peters Street.

On one of our last days, we headed over to Felixstowe, a seaside town with a small amusement arcade that we made sure to visit...

 

In typical seaside town fashion, there is plenty of charity shops to choose from but hey, who can complain at that?! Head over to the bottom of Hamilton Road, nearest to the sea, and you can find a vintage homeware shop and a new favourite of mine, The Thrify Thistle. I really enjoyed seeing the selection of crafts made by local people, and picked up some beautiful felt brooches that I haven't stopped wearing recently! These brooches were made by the very talented Lucy of 1940's Style for You who I think could very easily persuade me to part with a lot of money! Alongside the brooches, she has an amazing collection of knitted jumpers perfect for this time of year that she has on her Etsy shop.

 

Have you been to Suffolk or are you from there? I would love to hear about any places I missed out in the comments below!

 

Hannah xxx