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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Avoid ordering online I would advise against ordering from…read moreBlacks website unless you are prepared to be out of pocket when trying to return items. Blacks take no responsibility for returns and despite the fact that I have received email confirmation from Blacks that my return was received by the company and after waiting for my money for over 14 working days, they are now asking me to deal with the company handling returns. I believe that once I have received a confirmation of my returns, it should not be on customers to handle Blacks' internal issues with the third party handling returns. It's a very frustrating experience, so unless you know the size and are sure of the quality of the product, do not buy from their site.

The shop is fine, but had a bad experience with one of the staff who was oddly hostile when I took…read more15 minutes to choose my jacket. Came over out of nowhere to comment that I could keep on trying jackets until they close if I like. Almost walked out without purchasing. The gentleman behind the counter was just fine, but make me not want to return.

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

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.

What a great experience I've just had this morning in Sweatshop Holloway Road. I was served by the…read moremanager I think and she was so accomodating to my needs. I'm a particuarly picky, bargain hunting shopper and at times I think must have been infuriating to serve. But the lady took it in her stride and was even prepared to look at other shops' websites to compare prices and stock! After looking at my gait and my barefeet she helped me find some trail shoes, gave me excellent advice on what to look for and was good at letting me know what wasn't good for me and what was rather than all pairs of running shoes being great for my running style and gait. I think the the 30 day return policy is an excellent incentive and because the sale was so good I also bought a new sports bra, which she also fitted me for. Additionally the amount of different brands sweatshop has in running shoes goes in their favour since I never got the impression (as I had done with other running stores) that they were pushing a certain brand on me and making it fit my needs. Even though I have subsequently found my new trainers for £10 less on another website (bargain hunter to the last!), the customer service was worth every penny. I'll be back here for all my future running needs and would recommend to anyone. Thanks Sweatshop Holloway Road!

Great local shop with all the required brands of fitness equipment. They stock great selection of…read moresports shoes and do a professional fitting. Highly recommend these guys for sporting goods. Also often have promotions that mean you're not paying dull price - fantastic!!!