Buying a gift for your favourite London fan? I’ve compiled a list of gift ideas for London lovers that should make your shopping experience much easier, especially if you’re buying for someone who loves beautiful, unique items. If you’ve already done a “London gifts” Google search, you’ll have seen that many London gifts are very kitchy and cheesy… so I’ve sifted through the junk to help you choose from the best out there.
Also, most of the recommendations in this London Lover Gift Guide are from small businesses and artists, because well… we should all be supporting them over the big guys, ESPECIALLY this year.
Read on for lots of gift ideas for London lovers, even if they have no plans to visit any time soon.
*Many of the links in this article are affiliated, which means we earn a commission if you make a purchase after clicking. This helps to support all of the free advice we give our hundreds of thousands of readers. Thank you so much, in advance 🙂
British Food and Drink Gift Ideas for London Lovers
British food hamper
As mentioned in my creative gift guide for anyone visiting London in 2025, a “London-y” or British food and drink hamper (aka gift basket) is a great gift idea for London lovers that you can DIY or buy ready-made.
If you want to make a hamper yourself, find a beautiful basket and load it up with some yummy English treats.
Some suggestions for your DIY British Food Hamper:
- English cheeses like Cheddar and Red Leicester (all links bring you to where you can buy them on iGourmet in the US, or use Google to find local suppliers in your area)
- Cheese crackers
- Chutney. You put the cheese and chutney together on the crackers. YUM.
- Some other fun things you could add include Christmas Pudding (or make it yourself with this BBC Good Food recipe), English Sparkling Wine and English Cider.
For those of you who are not looking to spend an hour finding the perfect basket for your hamper items and wrestling with wrapping paper, iGourmet in the US makes a British Premier Gift Box that does it all for you. They have a couple other British-themed options as well.
Alternatively, you can order something from Fortnum & Mason in London. They’re world-famous for their luxurious hampers, with ones that go upwards of £1000… WOAH. Their F&M wicker hampers (the baskets themselves) are also collectors items.
Two Fortnum & Mason hampers that ship worldwide (not the only ones!):
- The Fortmason Hamper (£125)
- The Piccadilly Hamper (£100)
London-Themed Art and Homewares
London lovers would like a bit of their favourite city around the home, so here are some recommendations for cool London homewares (remember… I’m going for not cheesy!)
London-y homewares that would make great gifts
Tower Bridge Bookends. It does annoy us that the seller wrongly calls it London Bridge but hey… it’s cute. See it on Etsy
Rocks Glass with London Map. See it on Etsy, or check out the pint glass version or wine glass version.
London Tube Map Coasters. There are a lot of London-y coasters online and many are bleh. These are cool, and plastic-free. See them on Etsy
Prints and artwork
Etsy has some of the best prints featuring various bits of London, all designed and printed by artists and small business owners. I’ve compiled some of my favourites, that are beautifully designed or show more “local” nooks and crannies of the city… or both!
Beigel Bake on Brick Lane, home of the world-famous Salted Beef Beigel. See it on Etsy
Kew Gardens Palm House London Retro Style Art Print, see it on Etsy
Bar Italia Soho, a very famous spot in Central London, featured in my Soho Guide. See it on Etsy
Brixton Market Art, Colourful Neon London Print. If they’ve been to Brixton, they’ll love it, but even if they haven’t, the colours are beautiful. See it on Etsy
The Pavilion Cafe, Victoria Park. Victoria Park, in East London, has been voted “London’s Best Park” for many years, and this cafe is a favourite of Londoners who live nearby. See it on Etsy
London Map of History and Culture. An incredibly in-depth map of London’s History and Culture – so intricate the map took artist Cally Lathey over a year to complete! See it on Etsy
Image Courtesy of Algerian Coffee Stores
English Tea
If your London-loving gift recipient came back from London appreciating good tea more than previously, they’ll love to receive beautiful, high quality teas as a gift. There are a few ways you can go about this.
If your giftee has watched my Londoner’s Guide to Soho, they’ll remember Algerian Coffee Stores being featured, and it’s where we recommend London tourists to go for affordable but still high-quality loose leaf tea in London, as well as coffee beans. It’s also home to London’s ONLY £1 coffee but that’s a whole other thing…
Algerian Coffee Stores is a fantastic small business that could use the support, plus their stuff is great and it ships worldwide. I’d recommend getting some loose leaf tea and a perhaps a classic teapot, which paired together would make a lovely gift, and the fact that it’s from this fab little shop in Soho makes it that much more special.
If you prefer something in fancy packaging you could instead opt for , which is world-famous.
Books about London
Books are a lovely gift idea for London lovers. The links for the recommended books go to an Amazon alternative in the US and Bookshop.org in the UK, which is a new site that is supporting the UK’s small bookshops.
Coffee Table Books about London
People love those big beautiful coffee table books but I rarely buy them for myself, which is why they’re great to get as gifts. Give your London lover one of these London-y coffee table books…
Image Courtesy of Bookshop.org
All On The Board: Inspirational quotes from the TFL underground duo
All On The Board was started by two Transport for London employees who wanted to use the whiteboards in tube stations to do more than tell people to “stay to the right.” So they started writing inspirational quotes, jokes, statements and more on the boards, and started sharing them to an Instagram account called All On The Board. It’s turned into a beautiful movement that helps to add a little happiness into Londoners’ commutes, with thousands of people sharing photos of the boards they spot each day, during normal times.
Elle Croft has put together a great list of London-inspired coffee table books for us, so for more ideas, have a read of the list.
Image Courtesy of Hoxton Mini Press
Portraits of Britain (Vol 5) – Hoxton Mini Press and British Journal of Photography
The most recent volume of Portraits of Britain contains stunning imagery reflecting much of what Britain has dealt with in the recent past. These honest portraits offer an alternative view of our shared identity, an eclectic celebration of Britishness and an uplifting account of the triumphs and struggles of the people who inhabit these isles.
Cookbooks from London restaurants to give as gifts
Image Courtesy of Dishoom via Instagram
Dishoom: The first ever cookbook from the much-loved Indian restaurant by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, and Naved Nasir
Dishoom is one of the most popular restaurants in London, known for bringing affordable but absolutely delicious Bombay-inspired cuisine to the city. The Dishoom cookbook is a Sunday Times Best Seller, from which you will learn how to make some of their most popular Indian “comfort food”, including their famous black daal.
Image Courtesy of Bookshop.org
The National Trust Book of Scones: 50 delicious recipes and some curious crumbs of history by Sarah Merker
If your gift recipient loved going for afternoon tea while they were in London, they probably had the famously British scone. And well… I bet they loved it, especially right when it comes out nice and warm…. Mmmmm…. ok anyways, this book in collaboration with The National Trust is a collection of various scone recipes from around Britain, and stories to go along with them.
For more London-inspired cookbook ideas, see my list of top London restaurant cookbooks to get inspiration from.
Fiction/Non-fiction books
Finally, if your giftee would appreciate some page-turners stuffed into their stocking or wrapped up for Hanukkah, I’ve got a few to suggest…
Image Courtesy of Bookshop.org
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Even though it only came out about a year ago, Queenie has sweeped tons of awards and accolades, and was named one of The Times, Guardian, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Evening Standard’s Best Books Of 2019.
Queenie is the main character, a 25-year-old Black woman living in London, straddling Jamaican and British culture. After a messy break up from her long-term boyfriend, Queenie finds herself seeking comfort in all the wrong places. The story is entertaining while also diving into subjects like racism, sexism, and mental illness.
Image Courtesy of Bookshop.org
The 392 by Ashley Hickson-Lovence
Taking place on the (fictional) 392 bus in a period of just thirty-six minutes, the cast of characters travelling from Hoxton to Highbury is as varied and diverse as you’d expect to find on any East London bus, and each is beautifully portrayed in their own words.
For more ideas, browse these two articles written by Elle Croft:
London Colouring Book
If your London lover likes a bit of mindless colouring to end the day, get them my London Colouring Book. It’s filled with London scenes ready to be printed or uploaded to their iPad and coloured in in a creative way. My favourite local London illustrator Jen from Jen and Jennifer illustrated it! And at just £11, it makes for a great small gift that can be delivered by email instantly (or you can schedule the delivery date.) Or another fun idea, print it out yourself and put it together with some nice ribbon so it’s a lovely affordable gift to give someone in person.
London-inspired jewellery to gift a London lover
One Pound Coin Pendant. Choose the year! Find it on Etsy.
Right so you’ve got quite a few gift ideas for London lovers now… I think you should be sorted. Happy gifting and let us know what your giftee’s reaction is to their London-y gifts.
Still need more gift ideas for London lovers? Give them a little something to wear that will remind them of the city they love.
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