Great place for all your vitamins and other supplements. Unlike most chemists, supermarkets and health food shops, Neal's Yard only stocks the highest quality brands (namely Viridian and Solgar). Especially if you're vegetarian or vegan, there's no way around Neal's Yard for your remedies. And if you buy the Viridian brand, you get 25p back when you return the bottle.
For a long time I just went there for various remedies from their well-filled shelf. Until I asked for some Tyrosine because I had been feeling very lethargic for weeks and was strongly suspecting that I was suffering from adrenal exhaustion. The lady behind the counter told me that she was a herbalist and asked me whether I had tried liquorice tincture before. I decided to give it a try and felt very warm and energetic for the rest of the day. The next day I repeated the procedure (just one spoonful), and once again I felt far more energised than I had for weeks (and after that I didn't seem to need it anymore, so it's still in my cupboard for the next time I feel my energy levels could do with a boost). As with Alice, I wasn't really sure whether the mixture had actually upped my adrenal system, or whether I was just experiencing the placebo effect. However the reason why I was feeling a lot better wasn't really that relevant to me the main thing was that it worked.
For those who believe that more is better, you can get some of the vitamins at up to hundred times the recommended daily allowance (but all within safe limits don't believe government recommendations which may be sufficient to keep a goldfish healthy, but not a human being. Instead rather study what the experts have researched, such as multiple nobel prize laureate Linus Pauling). As an advocate of megadose therapy, I like mixing up to 10,000mg of vitamin C per day into my drinks (about the limit of what my stomach can take), which you can buy at Neal's Yard buffered as Calcium Ascorbate powder. Don't forget though that supplements should only be used in addition to a balanced diet (and I hope I don't sound like a patronising family doctor saying this!). :)
I can't remember what the place smells like, but don't believe that it can be nearly as bad as hartingale claims, as I surely would have remembered if anything had seriously offended my sense of smell.
By the way, for those who don't know it: Neal's Yard was started by activist and MDMA advocate Nicholas Saunders (founder of ecstasy.org and author of 'E is for ecstasy' and 'Ecstasy reconsidered'), who moved into a warehouse in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden in the late 1970s and set up several businesses there. read more