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 large store specialising in camping gear, out door gadgets, climbing, and snowboarding/…read moreskiing clothing and accessories. I found their best products to be out doors gadgets like The Meteotronic Weather Forecast hand held device which provides a professional weather- pretty useful for £40. This store could give you some great ideas for what to get Dad for Christmas/ birthday. In fashion wise... I find the clothes and colours to be quite plain jane, practical but not very attractive.

Pricey, but well worth it because of the personal service and the vast selection…read more On day 2 in London it was clear that the shoes that worked for me in Dallas would NOT work at all in London. I hobbled in, barely able to walk, ad in great pain from shows that had become too tight from all the walking I had done. I left nearly pain free, in shoes that not only supported and housed my swollen aching feet, but also corrected my tendency to pronate. It took trying 10 pairs and about 50 minutes to find the shows I needed, and In that time I realized how deeply knowledgeable staff was about hair products and issues customers have with their feet. I was so blessed to find such an experienced and helpful employee. My London adventure was almost at an end before it really began!

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.

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.

As others have already mentioned the store is currently n the process of redevelopment and while…read morethey are working on the new building they merged their two old buildings into one but unfortunately in the process they removed the canteen. The whole redevelopment process will apparently end in 2017 and by then they will have underground parking & a completely different looking store. That aside the stores still offers everything that it used to offer, which is every single thing you can think of regarding sports equipment at ridiculously low prices! It is also worth noting that apart of the popular brands they also sell their own brands on store which even if you never heard of are of excellent quality if not superior to the main brands. The fact that it stays open until late makes it deserve the 5 stars

Splendid customer service with positive energy attitude . Always appreciated the great serviceread more

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.

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.

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.

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.

We visited Escape Plan on our UK escape room tour in Oct 2019 and played their "The Battle for…read moreBritain - KENNINGTON" room. THE STORY This escape room is based on the Luftwaffe attack on Britain back on August 18th, 1940. We are the only survivors of the first wave of the bombing and we must strategize how to mobilize our full force of RAF to save London and successful bomb the enemies. We have an hour before they will attack again! HIT THE BULLSEYE -All the puzzles were unique in this room. They were all relevant to the storyline and very entertaining to solve. -The entire room was not linear so our group each had our glory moment to be proud of for solving a different puzzle. The great thing was that we still had a chance to come together for the end. -The "centerpiece" of the room was an impressive design. -The urgency was felt as game progressed, much like the story line. -Great mixture of combo locks and tech (only used at places that made sense). -Unusual way of "winning" the game. -Props used were all related to the timeline of the story. -Love the flow and the "flow tracking device". MISSED THE MARK -The hint system could be a bit off due the various number of puzzles being solved by different players at the same time. The game master's camera may not be able to clearly see the status of all the puzzle solving at one time. Maybe create a laser pointer that can be controlled from the control room to point to the puzzle that's being hinted on. -If only a bit more of a "wow" element could be added to the ending, this would have had a perfect finish! TAKE A SHOT? This is a great game to demonstrate that a room does not have to have an insane amount of tech or crazy movie set like set designs in order to be an awesome escape room. We felt immersed in the storyline and puzzles that none of the "fancy" additions mattered. If you love a challenge with tons of puzzles and want to test how you can work alone and/or with a team, you'll truly enjoy this room.

So you may by now experienced one or two at least escape rooms as these within the last few years…read morehas been popping all over the town. So how does one stand out from another? This is the question I keep asking myself and I guess I will only find out by testing as many of them as I can. Gladly of course. Myself and a couple of friends Bianca and Jamie (a few pulled out last minute) tried out Escape Plan's room. The room is based in the barracks of a P.O.W camp and you and your comrades (lets get into character here) have 60 minutes to escape! The story starts when you enter the room and you find out that only one person has ever escape, Bob Hails and to help you, he has written a journal which you find.  Once inside the room, you are faced with riddles, locks and puzzles which you have to solve. The one thing I like about this room is that each clue is linked to a particular lock, so this means that there can be lots of people to solve different parts of the clues within the room. As a three person group we felt there was more than enough things to keep us challenged. The game master is always watching as he tells you before you enter and will always help you out if he feels that you are struggling. I also love that every prop they have inside the room are real artefacts from the 1940 so please handle with care... apparently someone has dropped a real grenade once and I don't know why anyone would think of dropping that! The one thing which I think is very important to mention is that this room is very accessible to those with mobility issues, theres a lift to the room as well as enough space for a wheelchair to manoeuvre so definitely a plus in my books. I think as a group of three we was all challenged to partake in every part of the game and we escaped with just over 14 minutes to spare, I think the different level of experienced we had really helped and working together is very important. I think no more that 4 people would be a reasonable number to play this room without over filing with players. I visited this room with LovePopUp London and while the experience was kindly gifted to us by Escape Planall my reviews are my own and I would definitely rate this room a 4* out of 5. I really enjoyed the different clues and also the final puzzle was definitely one to experience!