Chelsea Insider Low - Cadogan

72 | INSIDER | Quirky shopsJohn Sandoe,10 Blacklands TerraceLaunched as a book shop by JohnSandoe in 1957, the three floors of this18th-century building just off the King’sRoad are crammed and chaotic withbooks piled on the stairs and on everyflat surface.The cramming is real – there are25,000 books in this tiny store – but thechaos is an illusion: if the book you areJohnSandoeBooksThe Insider’s Guideto quirky shopsBy Erik Brown, gentlemanjournalist, back-bedroomguitarist, occasionalfalconer and publisher ofSloane Squareasking for is in stock, staff will be able totake you straight to it. Brilliantly, andunlike the chain bookstores, they seemto have one copy of everything. And ifthey don’t have it they can usually get itfor you faster than you can get it on line.Despite the books on the stairs, theonly real danger in John Sandoe is thatyou will lose the rest of your day. It’s likeslipping into a different dimension.Andrews Pharmacy,149B Sloane StreetThe B behind that number is significantbecause it suggests half a shop ratherthan a whole one, and that is prettybang-on.This is the tiniest chemist’s inChristendom, stacked to the rafters withpills, potions and oddities likeMediterranean natural sea sponges anda Georgian razor with a fake horn handle.All of this is presided over by residentcomic and pharmacist NormanWaidhofer, one of Chelsea’s genuinecharacters. Members of the royal family,film stars and multi-millionaires areamong the customers.Artisan du Chocolat,89 Lower Sloane StreetEvery Christmas, just before my last fitnesstraining session of the year, I slipdown to L’Artisan du Chocolat to buy my(female) personal trainer a big box full ofthese special handmade chocolates. Andwhen I hand them over, my trainer smilesa smile that reminds me of kids unwrappingpresents around a Christmas tree.A couple of years ago, I caught herchopping up a chocolate with a knife sothat all of her colleagues in the sportsteam at the Lansdowne Club could havea taste. Now I buy two boxes – one forthe sports crew and the other for mytrainer to take home to her mum and sister.These chocolates are so fresh thatthey have to be refrigerated – if they lastthe night. Usually, they don’t.Green & Stone of Chelsea,259 Kings RoadThis store is so compellingly attractivethat it frightens me. Historic and beautifullylaid out, it contains everything anartist needs and lots more besides. Forinstance, it has a range of antique cameralucida for sale. A camera lucida wasan optical device used by artists to projectan image of the subject on to paper –it’s related to a camera obscura.Green & Stone of ChelseaThere are travelling paint tables, mannequins,pen racks, writing boxes, blotters,inkwells… It’s enough to make anybodywant to become an artist.Founded in 1927, Green & Stone hasoccupied the same site since 1934.Previously the store was a shop for theWomen’s Suffragette Movement.Partridges, Duke of York SquareGrocer to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,Partridges is up there with Harrods’ foodhalls and Fortnum & Mason as an icon ofgrocery opulence.Founded in 1973 by MP RichardShepherd and run by his affable brotherJohn, it is at first a visual experience –with hams and cans and bread and readymeals and thousands of other foodstuffsvying for attention. Then it is an olfactoryexperience, with the smell of freshlybakedcroissants and roasting chickenblowing away the diesel fumes of theKing's Road.There are a couple of cafés inPartridges – one out front and the othertucked away in a back corner – that aregood for impromptu meetings with excellentcoffee. And if you’re lucky you mightrun into John Shepherd, a real gent andsince 2008 President of the Royal WarrantHolders’ Association.