London UK Comic/Toy Stores 1 1

[Cocomonkey]

Hey all, tried searching to see if there was an old, existing thread but couldn't find any...

Going to be in London for about a week and a half soon while the wife runs the London Marathon, and was looking for any recommendations on comic and retro/vintage toy stores to hit up. I already have Forbidden Planet on the list (though if one location is better than the others for back issues and goodies, let me know!), but otherwise, Google Maps wasn't being super helpful on finding vintage toy stores (if there even are any), and most of the other comic shops I was finding seemed to be mainly modern stock stores...so any advice would be great!

Thanks in advance!

[wardevil0]

It's been several years since I shopped London, and some of the best shops have since closed, but there's still:

Mega City Comics - 18 Inverness St, Camden Town, London NW1 7HJ

[batmiesta]

Gosh! Comics. 1 Berwick Street, London W1F 0DR Modern stuff upstairs and back issues down stairs, ask the guy behind the desk and he will take out even more back issue boxes for you. 

[batmiesta]

On 4/3/2024 at 2:58 PM, Cocomonkey said:

Hey all, tried searching to see if there was an old, existing thread but couldn't find any...

Going to be in London for about a week and a half soon while the wife runs the London Marathon, and was looking for any recommendations on comic and retro/vintage toy stores to hit up. I already have Forbidden Planet on the list (though if one location is better than the others for back issues and goodies, let me know!), but otherwise, Google Maps wasn't being super helpful on finding vintage toy stores (if there even are any), and most of the other comic shops I was finding seemed to be mainly modern stock stores...so any advice would be great!

Thanks in advance!

If you are looking for back issues, Forbidden Planet will be a waste of time.

[Stevemmg]

Indeed. I had such high hopes.  Was there a few months ago and all I left with was one of their Brian Bolland drawn t-shirts. 

[Ken Aldred]

On 4/4/2024 at 12:28 AM, Stevemmg said:

Indeed. I had such high hopes.  Was there a few months ago and all I left with was one of their Brian Bolland drawn t-shirts. 

About ten years since I went there.  It seemed to be mainly trade paperbacks and other collected editions.

[Stevemmg]

Basically no back issues. A section of new comics downstairs, a ton of toys, trades, toys, statues, clothing, etc.  Not what I was hoping for, like a nice selection of British mags was what I had in mind. 

[piper]

@goldust40

Edited April 4 by piper

[BA773]

Have a friend who just come back from vacation in London he told me that he found ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

[batmiesta]

It would be best to try and coordinate a London visit when the London comic mart is on one of the Sundays, not always possible I know, but just a thought. 

[Roo_Phillip]

My wife ran the London Marathon in 2019 and I was on the same quest.  At @Get Marwood & I's suggestion I found 30th Century Comics in Fulham and got some real nice stuff.  But I just Googled and it may be closed??  Hope not, they had a ton of back issues.

Good luck on the hunt and happy running to your wife!  

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/4/2024 at 12:45 PM, batmiesta said:

It would be best to try and coordinate a London visit when the London comic mart is on one of the Sundays, not always possible I know, but just a thought. 

Next show this Sunday!

https://londoncomicmart.co.uk/

On 4/4/2024 at 1:19 PM, Roo_Phillip said:

My wife ran the London Marathon in 2019 and I was on the same quest.  At @Get Marwood & I's suggestion I found 30th Century Comics in Fulham and got some real nice stuff.  But I just Googled and it may be closed??  Hope not, they had a ton of back issues.

Good luck on the hunt and happy running to your wife!  

Alas, 30th Century closed their bricks and mortar store during Covid and are now online only. I miss that place very much - easily the best selection of back issue comics, and variety, of any of the London stores if not the whole country. 

The only other place is the Notting Hill Comic Exchange but that is small and very hit and miss. You can get lucky, or you can feel that you wasted your time. 9 trips out of 10 will be the latter.

https://mfeshops.com/

Notting Hill Comic Exchange
32 Pembridge Road, W11 3HN 

[wardevil0]

On 4/4/2024 at 8:40 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Alas, 30th Century closed their bricks and mortar store during Covid and are now online only. I miss that place very much - easily the best selection of back issue comics, and variety, of any of the London stores if not the whole country. 

30th Century was the first place I checked for to post here.  I spent a fortune there back in 2016 or 2017 picking up vintage Terrific, Fantastic, Super Spider-Man, etc.  Other than Covid, I presume retail space in London is too expensive for comic shops to be profitable when the internet is an option.

[Malacoda]

On 4/4/2024 at 1:40 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Alas, 30th Century closed their bricks and mortar store during Covid and are now online only. I miss that place very much - easily the best selection of back issue comics, and variety, of any of the London stores if not the whole country. 

Indeed, and pretty much everything was there.  All the Marvel, DC etc at street level in extraordinary abundance, and then down in the basement, an Aladdin's cave of old British comics, annuals, paperbacks. Also, Rob and Will were great to talk to, though I always found Will more approachable for a chat. Recalled the glory days of Dark They were and Comic Showcase. I never left there spending less than £100 and could always have spent a lot more. If Forbidden Planet is the O2, then 30th Century was the Marquee club. 

Notting Hill is worth visiting just because it's the last of the classic old LCS's.  If you're out west, you can have a look at Ray Gun in Richmond, but the store is now mostly collectibles and TPB's as silver & bronze comics are mostly sold on online these days (They Walk Among Us on ebay is Ray Gun).  I would definitely give Piranha Comics in Kingston Upon Thames a swerve.  I was out of there in literally two minutes.  Trying to spend money in there is like Brewster's Millions - you just can't do it. 

The Holy Trinity of survivors, if you can have a Trinity of four, were Gosh, Mega City, Orbital and 30th Century, but the latter two are now gone and gone online respectively. 

As Steve says, if you're in central London at the same time as the comic mart in Russell Square this coming Sunday, that really is your best bet.  I find it overpriced, but you won't walk in and out in 2 minutes, that's for sure. 

[Malacoda]

On 4/4/2024 at 2:17 PM, wardevil0 said:

30th Century was the first place I checked for to post here.  I spent a fortune there back in 2016 or 2017 picking up vintage Terrific, Fantastic, Super Spider-Man, etc.  Other than Covid, I presume retail space in London is too expensive for comic shops to be profitable when the internet is an option.

They closed involuntarily during covid, but found they made more revenue and profit working from home and they both had some health issues, so it was a no brainer to close the shop (or rather, not to reopen it). Gutted. Whilst shopping in comic stores is always more expensive than online, the joy of 30th was that they were such strict graders that a comic someone else would have passed off as FN, they would have called VG if there were the slightest issue about calling it FN. You could pick real bargains, not in terms of pure cheapness, but quality/condition vs price. 

[Roo_Phillip]

I remember there was a shop with a basement full of back issues in St. Albans (Chaos City?), but they were closing and I didn't get a chance to look around.  

[Cocomonkey]

Woo, got some nice traction and suggestions going! Thanks all. I had Mega City pinned, but not Gosh! so added that, along with Chaos City and Notting Hill. I added Piranha in case I happen to be in those neighborhoods (doubtful), but added notes that they were fine to miss, heh. Sadly, going to miss out on the chance to hit up the Comic Mart, since it's once a month and happening this weekend. Sucks; would've loved to attend that...but oh well. Kind of surprised given the size of the city that there's only...4? stores within the main city and a couple more on the outskirts, but I guess in a post-Covid world, it makes some sense that a few would close and switch to online. I remember a local store doing that in 2003 to ditch the overhead; some things never change!

Yeah, I'm not expecting a ton from Forbidden Planet. From what I remember when I was last in London (which was...sheesh, almost 17 years ago?), it was mostly modern stuff and collectibles then. Basically no different from the NYC location. I'll pop into it, but I don't have great hopes of finding anything worthwhile.

Back issue-wise, I'm basically just hoping for maybe some pence variant X-Mens, and if I can find them, Captain Britains cheaper than they tend to be when I come across them here in the US (with bonuses for 1 and 8). Nothing huge. With the X-Mens, when I travel internationally, I like to try to find a local language version of something X-related if I can, but anything else if I can't. For the UK...that means a pence variant, hehe. Or failing the pence X, I'd call some Captain Britains a win.

[Malacoda]

I hate to say it, but your best bet might be find some UK-located ebay auctions ending around the right time and get them sent to where you're staying. 

Man, that is a depressing state of affairs.  

[LowGradeBronze]

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.... (sorry, but someone had to say it...)  

[HighRadArt]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:38 AM, Cocomonkey said:

Woo, got some nice traction and suggestions going! Thanks all. I had Mega City pinned, but not Gosh! so added that, along with Chaos City and Notting Hill. I added Piranha in case I happen to be in those neighborhoods (doubtful), but added notes that they were fine to miss, heh. Sadly, going to miss out on the chance to hit up the Comic Mart, since it's once a month and happening this weekend. Sucks; would've loved to attend that...but oh well. Kind of surprised given the size of the city that there's only...4? stores within the main city and a couple more on the outskirts, but I guess in a post-Covid world, it makes some sense that a few would close and switch to online. I remember a local store doing that in 2003 to ditch the overhead; some things never change!

Yeah, I'm not expecting a ton from Forbidden Planet. From what I remember when I was last in London (which was...sheesh, almost 17 years ago?), it was mostly modern stuff and collectibles then. Basically no different from the NYC location. I'll pop into it, but I don't have great hopes of finding anything worthwhile.

Back issue-wise, I'm basically just hoping for maybe some pence variant X-Mens, and if I can find them, Captain Britains cheaper than they tend to be when I come across them here in the US (with bonuses for 1 and 8). Nothing huge. With the X-Mens, when I travel internationally, I like to try to find a local language version of something X-related if I can, but anything else if I can't. For the UK...that means a pence variant, hehe. Or failing the pence X, I'd call some Captain Britains a win.

If you visit any of these post post it here so I can link it in the thread for LCSs.