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.

Walking into Kathmandu made me feel both warm and cozy, and ready for adventure. Coming in from the…read moresnow to see fleece, down, wind- and waterproof coats; hats, scarves and mittens; and thick, comfy sleeping bags made me feel immediately warmer. (Plus, of course, the heat was on.) The shop has a few different post-holiday sales going on. Much of the clothing has been marked down - thermals are on at 2 for £24, for example, and some of the footwear has been reduced by 30%. The most interesting items to look through - and those making me crave an adventure - were the travel accessories, at a 3 for 2 mix and match offer. Kathmandu has pretty much anything you could need for an outdoor or international adventure: pocket knives, tent pegs, first aid kits, thermoses and water bottle, sleeping mats (some inflatable), rucksacks of varying sizes, microfiber towels and tonnes of Lonely Planet books. They also offer some luxury items, like travel speakers, for instance. This is definitely a good place to start if you're in the market for travel gear - it'll probably carry everything you need.

Well the name says it all for this place. Its got a lot more than one of the chain shops like…read moreMillets in my opinion and the staff are all really enthusiastic 'out door' types too so are more than happy to give some advice - not just on gear but on where to head for a good campsite. There's everything you need here from tents for festivals to hiking equipment. They also stock a small amount of skiing gear too as well as steel toe-cap boots and other work wear.

Campers Paradise seems to be a quintessentially British camping shop. It stocks all the regular…read moreequipment you're going to find yourself needing for, say, a trip to Wales. The selection is well balanced though a little limited, but they have made good use of the space they have by suspending a whole tent from the ceiling fully erect. The British nature of this place isn't just brought into place by the stock of two season sleeping bags and big bins of tent pegs, they also have buckets and spades, inflatable boats and flat caps. I suppose this isn't a bad idea with them being so close to the sea side but it did leave me wondering where the canvas deck chairs and knotted hankies were. The slightly odd selection of stock is definitely balanced out well by the great customer service. When I discovered this place today I entered into a discussion with the South African guy who works there about Swiss army knives and their virtues by comparison to the ever popular Leatherman tools. Not only did the guy clearly know what he was talking about but he was funny and great to chat to.

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.

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.

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.

Situated next door to Round the Bend, this shop deals with the more strenuous outdoor activity. I…read morecan vouch for this shop as I used it in my earlier days. It has great stock/kit for climbers up 8000m, and also for cavers, (not my scene)! Brilliant knowledgable staff who will let try kit outeven swing an ice-axe! Quite a busy road Tarrant Street so you'll be better buying your kit and then getting the car to pick it up.

It's very strange when you go past a shop almost on a regular basis but never even really give it…read moretwo looks, then go in, and realise it's really damn good. That's exactly what I did today. I was on the search for a good quality Snowboard kinda jacket, water and wind proof, durable and warm. I had been all over Brighton looking for one of these, and couldn't quite find one that met my specific requirements, which were so specific that I don't think even I knew them. All of this ended though walking into Surf and Ski. The range of proper old person practical skiing gear, as well as cool, fashionable snowboarding stuff is really quality and varied. Bonfire, The North Face and Icepeak are among the labels that I spotted, and whether your looking for something quite garish, or simple, expensive or cheap(er), I could not recommend this place enough. The lady who owns the shop is a really sweet woman, who really helped me out in a genuine and kind way, spending a lot of time with me, explaining the coat I was looking at in great detail, from the little inside pockets, to how they make the lining. She really knew her stuff, and was, as she said a 'Ski Nut'. There is also Hardware upstairs for skiing and snowboarding, for those who can and do,actually use it.

This surf and ski shop looks like it's made of snow, you can't miss it. I recently got into skiing…read moreso now every time I pass one of these stores I can't help but look inside and this one, set over two levels, has a large inventory of every kind of equipment you could need. This includes my favourite ski brand K2, and some really gorgeous ski suits (I really need to update in this department, my snowboarding brother refuses to be seen on the mountain with me). That being said, the only thing I've bought in here is a North Face rucksack. In fact, their whole camping and outdoors section of the shop is definitely worth a visit if you don't frequent the piste and the staff are extremely helpful if you don't know what you're looking for.

Snow and Rock is the place to go if you're heading to the mountains. They supply everything you…read morecould need in preparation for a ski trip. Snowboards, skis, boots and all the necessary equipment - wax, poles, goggles, padding, sunscreen - are displayed around the shop. Accessories that might be of interest to the non-boarders: sunglasses, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens and smaller sized rucksacks.

When I was younger, I was an avid skier: what you get from growing up in the mountains. Now-a-days,…read morethe whole kaboodle is just too pricey, but I still enjoy popping into shops like Snow and Rock and checking out the wares! As ski shops go, this one has anything you could possibly need, and a friendly word of advice for the newcomer. While this doesn't change the fact that they are selling expensive items for expensive hobbies, it is nice to know how readily available such items are, should the bug hit me too hard once more! In terms of their selection, Snow and Rock seem to have found the perfect middle ground: they offer more ski equipment than would probably be necessary for the casual enthusiast, but don't leave the hardcore fan wanting either. How they trade I'm not sure; we Brits aren't best known for our love of the pistes, but I'm sure they fill a ski sized hole in the otherwise excellent Brighton shopping scene, somehow or another. It is hard to criticise Snow and Rock's selection: they have everything I could possibly want if I went skiing again, and are as well stocked as any of the shops on the continent I've been in. If anything, I'd criticise the amount of snowboarding stuff, but that's just because I think snowboarders are incredibly annoying (they mess up the good ski-slopes... it's a long-standing rivalry!) Joking aside, it's a well-stocked shop, and offers all skiing sundries you might require as well as the beasts themselves: rucksacks, scarfs, hats, etc. I'm still not 100% sure why and how they operate in Brighton of all places, but do think they're a great little place. If you're heading for the slopes, pop in to make sure you have everything: I don't know about you, but I always used to find I'd forget SOMETHING on one of those ski holidays...