- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Up My Street By Blue Firth, June 2026
Good grief, have we got a high street for you, or as it popped into my head: "Firth Alley". Yes, that's right, chaps. I have asked your friend and mine, Blue Firth, writer for Tat and maker of beautiful things at Dohm Ceramics, to ponder what would find itself on her stretch of land. As with everything she does, she did not disappoint. She, my glorious bunch, is a person of heart, which is clearly exemplified with these marvellous suggestions. This high street would have people like you and I flocking, we'd be here morning, noon and night. And although it doesn't quite exist, we must revel in the fact that these places (for the most part) are standing in all their finery, waiting for our patronage.
Restaurants & Groceries
110 Derby Rd, Nottingham, NG1 5FB
When they say this is a family run neighbourhood restaurant, it really is, and when we were there recently the youngest son was doing his work experience. But imagine the most cultured, cosmopolitan European of families, with impeccable taste serving ridiculously tasty food in an enviably homely environment. The chefs are German and Norwegian and if you meet the owner or she shouts "tschussi" to you when you leave you'll feel like bacchus has blessed you with eternal bliss.
Various locations across Nottingham
Seriously tasty award winning fish and chips. Unexpected as Nottingham is land locked and hours from the sea! Beer battered haddock ( baked if you'd prefer), perfect mushy peas and a "golden oldies" lunchtime special that has had me and my parents going every Wednesday for a decade.
22 Castle St, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, HR3 5DF
This place is straight out of a child's picture book of a perfect Greengrocers. Everything in there is a delight. It's like going back in time, there will always be a queue and it's just perfection.
3rd floor DSM, 18-22 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4DG
This is another secret i'm not sure I want to share, but they do have two cookbooks and who am I to be a gatekeeper. This place taught me how to eat ( and cook but the eating was the best bit). I worked there whilst studying in London and as much as an education in food it was an PhD in people watching. Once I served Justin Beiber a brownie and he was shorter than the counter. Next I took a quiche to Jean Paul Gautier and he told me he felt like Mary Poppins (he was sat outside looking at rooftops). Now I visit anytime I'm in London. It's unbelievably reasonable, never too busy to get a table and continues to be my favourite of all places.
12 Heathcote Street, Nottingham, NG1 3AA
A Nottingham institution. This is where you go for a tipple, a dance, a gig or to read a poem out loud for Burns Night. It’s also the place where you can happily sit alone and feel surrounded by friends you don’t know yet. It cultivates a really lovely mix of people, feels like Europe and the owner will practice French with you if you need to brush up on it.
7 Vyner St, London, E2 9DG
Italian grocer, art gallery, social space? You'll never regret a visit here. I used to dread the intensity of having to go to all the Beck's beer sponsored private views of early 2000's Vyner Street. But now I relish every second visiting this place, which will feed your brain, eyes and belly with wonderful conversation, art and produce.
Shops
David Mellor Cutlery Factory Shop & Cafe
The Round Building, Leadmill, Hathersage, Hope Valley S32 1BA
So I can't pop to the Design Museum easily but I can get here. And I can see Sheffield cutlery made, and I can have a fantastic lunch and then I can buy kitchenware from a shop that puts the Heal's kitchen department to shame (it has a huge open fire roaring in the colder months). This place is an institution and church to the work of David Mellor ( if you don't know him, you do. He designed the traffic light system you use everyday. And the government issue cutlery found in canteens, prisons, and railways) all set in the Peak National Park. Here you can browse the archive, eat off it, see it made and buy it.
The Promenade, Cromford, Matlock, DE4 3QF
Hidden in Cromford where Historic England has described as "one of the countries irreplacable sites" is the most charming bookshop you'll ever come across. Cromford known for it's fundamental part of the Industrial Revolution with Ackwright's Mill is a well visited place. But miss Scarthin Books and you are missing a true treat. Think The Shop Around the Corner, from You've got Mail, but for adults. A mix of new and antiquarian hand books, armchairs at at windows with Peak District views and a fab vegetarian cafe.
13 West St, Ashburton, Newton Abbot, TQ13 7DT
A gallery, shop and print workshop fuelled by folklore magic and wonder in the wonderful town of Ashburton. Worth every mile of a detour if you are in the area.
Country & Eastern, 34-36, Bethel St, Norwich, NR2 1NR
An architectural delight in itself, Country and Eastern is housed in a former roller skating rink built in 1876. It houses a museum that holds The South Asia collection and a shop that champions makers and craftspeople from South and South East Asia. Expect rugs and incredible block printed textiles and clothes.
30 Gillingham Street, London, SW1V 1HU
This is the mecca of paper, paper craft and bookbinding. It's an orderly delight of marbled papers, notes book, tools, cards and archival boxes.
Aladin's Cave
Gospel Oak, 7 Mansfield Rd, NW3 2JD
This one is a red herring as it no longer exists, however as it's my fantasy high street I would like to firmly reinstate it. When I moved into Kentish Town (the Gospel Oak end) in 2007 this place was an enigma. It took me a year to be brave enough to "knock loudly" as it asked on the door. It was opposite where I worked and one day me and a colleague braved it. Not because it looked scary but because it didn't feel like a shop and we weren't sure what we were entering. When you stepped inside you literally walked into the machinations of a messy dolls house cum toy shop, there were dolls house pieces, games, toys, masks, puzzles. But it wasn't a toy shop it was something far more special. It turned out the toys were made by the proprietor who famously made toys for Heals and who was the daughter of the revered wood engraver Blair Hughes Stanton. The things in the shop not made by her were part of her impeccable collection. Her name was Kristin Baybar. This is a wonderful video about her here
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