Shop of the month
F&M Food & Drink Studio, 181, Piccadilly, W1
TWO glass jugs of house gin (one dry, one pink) the size of beehives anchor one corner of the newly reopened third floor of Fortnum & Mason. A distiller pours free cups for passers-by, topped with Double Dutch tonic or ginger ale. Steps away, there’s a cookbook shop, where, in addition to the latest Mary Berry, you can buy an early edition of English Bread and Yeast Cookery by Elizabeth David (£55) and take it to a cushioned window seat overlooking Duke Street. By the lifts, an antique wooden polyphon with finials plucks out King Charles’ March.
The third floor of Fortnum’s used to be the menswear section, until this past spring, when it was reborn as a haven for anybody with an appetite. ‘The new space brings a little of what we do behind the scenes to the fore,’ says Simon Thompson, the chief customer officer. There’s a space for food-themed lectures (on August 5: a boxes, where you can create your own Fortnum’s hamper.
