Inside Fortnum & Mason, Piccadilly: What to See, and Can You Just Walk In?
Updated: 6 days ago
Going to Fortnum's is a ritual for me. Even if it's only to check out the Biscuitorium or to stock up on cordial, it always feels like a treat. Something is always going on to keep you excited and guessing. The Biscuitorium opened in May 2026, and now there's even a bagel bar.
A few years ago my favourite floor was the first, with all the china. Now I go straight down to the Food Hall. It's such a multisensory trip. I always come away with the rosemary focaccia and the tastiest scones.
The whole shop is a fantasy land. I love the winged teacups flying up the staircase walls, gently accompanying you from one floor to another. Every Christmas something new floats and dances down the central stairwell, a different thing each year. In 2023 it was Christmas puddings, the Dance of the Piccadilly Puddings. In 2024, shimmering pinecones. Everybody stops to smile up at them. And the sink under a neon sign with "water" crossed out and "champagne" written instead will always make me giggle.
What Is Fortnum & Mason?
Fortnum & Mason is a luxury grocer and department store at 181 Piccadilly, trading on the same street since 1707. It describes itself as “an English brand with a global palate”, and it is known for its food halls, its hampers, its tea, and the pale Eau de Nil green that covers most of what it sells.
Rich royal history
The store was founded in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason, and it is known for its high-quality treats, cakes, pastries, and drinks, as well as its beautiful and elegant retail spaces. Fortnum & Mason is particularly famous for its afternoon tea, which is served in the store's elegant Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon.
The store also sells a wide range of luxury food items, including teas, coffees, chocolates, preserves, and biscuits, as well as a selection of wines and spirits. In addition, Fortnum & Mason has a variety of gift items, such as hampers, gift boxes, and personalized gifts.
The store supplied provisions to explorers and expeditions over the centuries, and has long been a shopping destination for the royal household and for high society.
Whether you’re an international hop-on-hop-off wanderluster or a seasoned Londoner, one thing is certain: for over three centuries, Fortnum and Mason keeps winning everyone’s hearts with its ruby-red-carpeted Piccadilly flagship outlet.
“The carpet is there to slow you down,” says Zia Zareem-Slade, Fortnum's customer experience director.
From Charles Dickens (“I see Fortnum & Mason. All the hampers fly wide open and the green downs burst into a blossom of lobster salad!”) to Nigella Lawson, the Queen and actor Stanley Tucci who listed it as one of his favourite London shops (“where I buy anything I can”), a shopping spree to Fortnum and Mason is the ultimate joy-giving indulgence.
What is Fortnum and Mason famous for?
Fortnum & Mason is best known for having been the royal grocer, for its hampers and its tea, for the food hall displays, and for the pale Eau de Nil green of its packaging.
How many Fortnum and Mason's stores are there?
The flagship is at 181 Piccadilly, London.
As of 2026 you’ll find Fortnum’s at St Pancras International, The Royal Exchange, Canary Wharf and Heathrow Airport, plus Bicester Village – the first Fortnum & Mason store outside London, which opened in October 2025 – and one international outpost at Victoria Dockside in Hong Kong.
Is Fortnum & Mason a luxury brand?
Yes, and unapologetically so. Fortnum’s has been a luxury grocer since 1707 and has held Royal Warrants for generations. But luxury here doesn’t mean untouchable – you can walk in off Piccadilly with no appointment, wander several floors of the most beautiful food hall in London, and leave having spent nothing at all. Plenty of people do exactly that.
Is Fortnum & Mason older than Harrods?
By a long way. Fortnum & Mason opened in 1707 and Harrods began in 1849, which makes Fortnum’s older by 142 years. Fortnum’s was already supplying provisions to explorers and the royal household while the Knightsbridge site was still fields.
Are Fortnum & Mason the most expensive shop in London?
Not quite, and the reputation is a little unfair. You can certainly spend several hundred pounds on a hamper, but a tin of Royal Blend tea or a jar of preserve sits in ordinary gift territory, and the Eau de Nil packaging does a lot of the heavy lifting. Harrods and the Mayfair jewellers will relieve you of considerably more.
When did Fortnum Mason start?
Since opening as a small grocery store in 1707, F&M has built its international reputation by supplying exclusive, high-quality food – a reputation that accelerated during the Victorian era.
Its upmarket portfolio includes a tea salon and several restaurants, alongside a range that runs from exotic and speciality goods to everyday supplies.
What do Fortnum and Mason sell?
Tea, coffee, chocolate, biscuits, preserves and marmalade, Stilton and smoked salmon, Champagne and wine, hampers, beauty and bath things, homeware and porcelain teaware. Every winter there are also the Fortnum's Christmas displays.
The windows change through the year, not only at Christmas. At the end of January, the Piccadilly windows were already dressed for Valentine's Day, with neon hearts and piles of pink gift boxes.
Where does Fortnum and Mason chocolate come from?
The chocolate counter runs to several hundred varieties – truffles, chocolate bark, caramels, pralines, marzipan and ganache – including vegan, palm-oil-free, no-added-sugar and alcohol-free ranges.
Alongside them sit the handmade English chocolates: rose and violet creams, peppermint creams, ginger, and mixed milk and dark selection boxes.
Did the Queen drink Fortnum and Mason tea?
Although the title of the Channel 5 documentary “Inside Fortnum and Mason: The Queen’s Grocer” suggests that Fortnum and Mason's Royal Blend might be Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite tea, apparently it was not, as Dickie Arbiter, the Queen’s press secretary between 1988-2000, revealed in the said documentary.
The Royal Blend is Fortnum and Mason's most famous tea after being created in 1902 for Edward VII, but the Queen's preferred Earl Grey tea and drank a cup every morning.
Fortnum and Mason Address:
📍 181 Piccadilly, St. James's, London W1A 1ER
Fortnum and Mason Opening Hours:
⏰ Monday - Saturday: 10 am–7 pm; Sunday: 12 – 6 pm
🚇 The nearest London Underground stations are Green Park, Hyde Park Corner, and Piccadilly Circus (all on the Piccadilly line).
*All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.
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