Made a very fruitful stop into Kathmandu a few months back as I was prepping for my first…read moretransatlantic trip with a baby. I came looking for a rucksack. I left with a suitcase with detachable rucksack (a suitcase that can be carried as a rucksack, with arm straps!) and a huge duffel bag to stow the carseat in. I thought the prices to be competitive (the duffel bag only £14!) and the service top notch. The guy helped me with everything, took it to the counter while I looked around, helped me with the Summit Club membership and packaged it all up smoothly so I could get it back to my flat. The Kathmandu items are high quality and have already made many trips. They are durable and sleek, and high performance. Just what I needed. The last thing you want to deal with while traveling (with a baby or not) is crap luggage. Summit club membership is free and gains you access to great deals (most of the deals advertised, so...if you want 'em, you'll sign up). Sign up!

I've always been a bit suspicious of Kathmandu-type stores, due to the fact that I'm the least…read moreoutdoorsy person you could come across. I always believe 'outdoor' stores were specially for extreme snowboarders or wannabe Nepalese-mountain climbers. Boy, was I wrong. Set right next to Spitalfields Market and boasting some rather fit staff, Kathmandu has everything for the civilian to adventurer. Water flasks, jackets, thermals, little key ring things with torches on them, it has it all. I actually found heaps of stuff I wanted to buy - probably more in the way you deck yourself out with designer gym wear after only one visit, to realise you're not quite the gym junkie you thought you would become if in fact you had the correct gear. It was fun anyway.

This is a great store. I was forced to buy a whole bunch of outdoor equipment for hiking on my…read moreEuropean trip when my luggage was lost. The owner was kind and thoughtful and spent a significant amount of time with me going through all the options and helping me balance my desire to get good equipment without breaking the bank. I cannot imagine going to a chain store when you could shop here and get very personal service as well as having access to a good selection of high-quality products.

Brilliant! It was my first time visiting and Yusef and Tarran provided an exceptionally…read moreprofessional, friendly and knowledgeable service. Their attention to detail and personal touch is exemplary and cannot be found in the larger chain shops. They took fantastic care of me and have gained a customer for life.

In my view, the best army surplus and camping shop in London. I'm a regular customer, having bought…read moreeverything from walking boots and gloves to jackets and waterproofs, over a period of 15 years. (They used to be based near Victoria, but moved a few years ago to Waterloo Cut). As well as the usual range of army-surplus type gear - jackets, vests, shirts and trousers, they do a good line in MA1 flying jackets (£25), Harrington Jackets in a range of colours (and at £19.95, rather than inflated 'retro' prices) and of course foot-wear. They also sell used gear, but most items are brand new, and at their prices there's no need to go down the second hand route. I recently bought a pair of brand new British Army boots here for under £50, which are superbly comfortable (in fact I'm wearing them as I write this) and will doubtless last for years. The shop is very small, very old-fashioned, and run by two amazingly helpful brothers as a family business. They have a very loyal customer base - when I was there recently, they had a regular from Canada buying a pair of desert boots. If they haven't got an item in stock, they will order it in and call you when it's in, but they equally won't pressure you if you decide against a purchase. They'll also give you honest advice if you ask for it - they know their stock. The rise of the internet has seen the death of many traditional army surplus and camping shops, but Waterloo Camping is a one of survivors. If you want excellent value, traditional army surplus gear (and more besides), this is the place to go.

I also found it a good shop with a friendly proprietor, lots of action in a very cramped space full…read moreof interesting stuff (lady from Young Vic across the road was stocking up on props) at good prices and excellent good quality. Got my son a great trenchcoat much better quality, warmth and price than Oxford St and he was fascinated by gasmasks, etc.

Terrible experience, discriminatory staff…read more I visited the store last week to try on ski boots and was told to come back later as the trained staff were on their breaks, so I returned after a few hours and was denied entry by the security guard. Staff told me the guard had received a picture of me from a CCTV camera at another nearby store - I do not even live in London, and had arrived the previous day. They showed me the photo, and the person in it was obviously not me - this would have been easy for the guard and staff to see if they looked at it properly, but it was apparent to me that I had been profiled and was being discriminated against. None of the staff were interested in what I had to say - the store manager was less than 2 metres away from me throughout this incident, but they had their back turned the whole time, clearly not wanting to be involved. I had heard good things about this store, but I only had my time wasted, and walked out feeling humiliated and upset. I emailed customer service about this over a week ago and my complaint was forwarded to multiple managers of the business straight away. I am only writing this public review now because I am yet to receive a single further response. Unacceptable on all counts.

This is the best place in London to come for all your outdoor gear needs. Set over 4 or 5 floors…read morethere is dedicated floor space to everything you will need for sports ranging from skiing to high altitude mountaineering. For me, nowhere in London has anything like its selection. The only real downside is that all the gear is skewed towards higher end products which is fine if you want to splash the cash but means that you can leave here having spent a worrying amount of money on day glow boots or GoreTex jackets.

The people here are wonderfully helpful and friendly and shop is well maintained and stocked. A…read morevery nice experience!

Awesome selection of all gear for hiking, leisure etc. Liked the layout of the store and sizes were…read moreall available.

Sorry, no other word for it: horrible Chinese crap. Not suitable for the real outdoors…read more Irresponsable. Do not buy here - even if you think you should buy crap, you can get it on AliExpress for one-tenth of their price.

This place has incredible pricing. Stopped here to pick up everything we needed to camp out at…read moreWimbledon for show courts, including a tent, sleeping bags, chair, and a couple odds and ends. Many items are marked down or discounted, and they were even running a sale where we got an additional percent off of our total- everything came to under 70 pounds, which was still under 100USD, which we predicted to be our minimum budget for all the items we needed. Besides the good selection and prices, the staff here were extremely helpful and kind. Our cashier suggested a different tent when she found out our needs and gave us a few tips to grab other items in the area. Highly recommend, wish we had this chain in the US.

I have come in here over the past few years, to get snowboarding equipment and I really recommend…read morethis shop for their selection of products and customer service. I was once after a tent, and one of the staff was nice enough to rig the tent up in the shop for me! They have a really great collection of snowboards, bindings, boots, and camping gadgets. They stock brands including Mountain Harbour, Patagonia, Helly Hanson, Quicksilver, Killy, Isuzu, First Resort, Subaru, Animal and Berghaus.

I'm an outdoor guy and I love browsing here at Ellis Brigham. Every time I'm planning to go on a…read morehiking trip or any kind of vacation really, I come here to check out what kind of clothing or gadgets I could need: a new tent? New hiking boots? Some wooly socks or another function jacket? It's a huge store - for central London - and on three floors they offer everything a true outdoor person needs. The sales people here are also always very friendly and assist you throughout. Once, I wanted to buy a pair of shoes and I had that poor salesman fetch me more than a dozen different shoes in various sizes. In the end, I told the poor guy that I needed to think some more before making a hasty decision. (I did go back a couple hours later though, as I just couldn't stop thinking about that one particular pair ;-) I highly recommend!

Large and well-stocked outdoors shop with decent prices. It's actually quite a large chain, owned…read moreby JD Sports, and sells a wide range of well known brands. This store is on the market square just behind the church. It runs the length of the block, and is the largest outdoor store in Kingston. It has a cafe and soft-play area inside. I was on the look-out for a specific knee-high mid-weight sock, which I've been looking for, for ages, and was delighted that they had it in stock. It'll be a regular calling point for me from now on. Reasonably friendly staff, though I only needed to speak to them at the till.

Surprisingly great selection and decent prices for a relatively small place.read more

Paramo is one of the many, many outdoor clothing shops available to the public in Covent Garden. It…read morebasically sells jackets, and jacket accessories! We're talking two floors of heavy, heavy jacketing. Green ones to camoflague you in the forests, white ones to camoflauge you in snow. Brown ones to make you look down to earth (get it) and red ones. The jackets are of exceptional quality - they feel very light and very silky, but retain warmth like a champion of warmth retainers. Staff are very friendly, well up for a joke and a bit of banter. Fact of the day told by one of the floor assistants - You lose bodyheat 25% faster in water then in air. Fascinating, non? They also sell things like waterproofing spray for clothes, to try and negative this 25% bodyheat loss. Their clothing is designed to allow skin to breathe but also moves sweat across the surface of the body, causing maximum evaporation leading to cooling on the inside but staying warmth on the out. Expensive jackets nonetheless, look to be spending about £200! A nice little place though.

I was very pleased with the service offered by Paramo. I live in Staffordshire and felt…read moredisgruntled that I would miss out on the recent one day sale. Oh no! I ordered some gaiters that arrived post free, together with a bottle of complimenrty Tech Wash and 104 loyalty points were added to my account. The gaiters proved to be the wrong size (my fault) but have been changed and delivered in less than a week. My only negative is that I would prefer to shop personally and don't have a Paramo store near me. Pauline Rooker