Primark

Set over three cavernous floors, Primark Marble Arch opened in 2007, and offers 70, 000 sq ft of unbelievably cheap clothing and accessories. You get what you pay for in terms of shopping experience- the queues are long, the staff indifferent, the rails chaotic, and demand for changing rooms so high that people try on clothes on the shop floor. But there aren’t many shops where you can fill enormous paper bags full of clothes and leave with change from a £50 note. Jeans come for under a tenner, ballet pumps can set you back as little as £4. And with trends changing as fast as they do, many people have come round to the idea of fast fashion- wear a £10 dress one week, shove it in the bin the next. There’s little ‘special’ feeling engendered by a rail of one hundred of the same cheap dress, but the chain has cleaned up his ethical act of late, and we are reassured by industry insiders that Primark’s factories are squeaky clean. The clothing, accessories and footwear (for women, men and children) are definitely trend-led, and cover a range of brands, including Atmosphere, the Secret Possessions lingerie line, and Backswing, for sports clothing. Butlerandwebb, meanwhile, is the line for formal menswear. Look out for the cashmere sweaters- at around £30, you won’t find cheaper. Primark also does a line in products for the home which is available here in full; we advise going for the plain coloured options, and don’t expect any Egyptian cotton thread count.