Casablanca

Gorgeous gift shop in the middle of Chapel A — trinkets and cards and candles and mugs and gifts on every single surface. Just walking in the door makes me proper excited :)

This shop is filled with knick-​knacks and bits. A large proportion of their stock is food related — mugs for £8 and up, various crockery items and tea coasters. There are plenty of other purchases in store though from lampshades, to hand creams, fridge magnets, candles, glassware, velvet scarves and a myriad of other ‘girly’ items.
Although all of their items are predictably priced — in that I mean that they are rather expensive gifts considering that they mostly fall into a rather useless category — they do have quite a few reductions and offers which may make it rather more worth paying them a visit. The few jewellery items that caught my eye are a little cheaper than their neighbours’ too, but for that I must say I thought that the quality reflected that — the items just weren’t quite as special.
All in all, good for a gander, but not necessarily much else.

Casablanca is a gift shop aimed at the presentation weary foodie. It’s busy interior is rammed with overpriced yet delightfully showey off kitchen pieces, that you probably don’t need at all as your old one will do, and things you will probably use once or twice unless you’re queen or king of the coffee morning passing trend– cake stand anyone? Looking at it objectively, it is the kind of place that would be absolutely perfect if you had a quirky cake shop or sweet stall, where you need to display your stock with the soul aim to attract business, but for your average Joe and Jane, approach with care if you’re aiming to look after the pennies this month!

If you have dreams of being a Martha Stewart type with a kitchen filled with retro cake stands and novelty jelly moulds, this is the shop for you. It’s filled with quirky gifts for gourmets, and has everything you always wanted for your kitchen but could never afford to actually buy, from cute matching eggcups to picnic sets and crockery printed with a photo of your choice. There’s some other stuff here too, including a more run-​of-​the-​mill selection of gifts, but this place is really all about the kitchen accessories. A place to treat yourself or buy presents for friends, but be preapred to pay for it — eggcups alone come in at a hefty £8.