Shopping, Galleries and Cinemas: An Angel Afternoon

Angel packs an unusual amount into a short walk. Within fifteen minutes of Frederick’s front door there are independent boutiques, two serious design showrooms, a contemporary art gallery of international standing, a puppet theatre, three cinemas and more good coffee than any one afternoon can reasonably absorb. Here is how to string it together.

Shopping on Upper Street

Upper Street is the spine of it: a long run of independent boutiques that rewards mooching rather than list-ticking. For anyone whose shopping runs to furniture rather than clothes, the neighbourhood has two heavyweights — Aria, in the old Barnsbury Hall on Barnsbury Street, and Twenty Twenty One on Upper Street, which has been selling modern design classics here since the nineties.

Antiques and vintage in Camden Passage

For antiques and vintage clothing, Camden Passage is a treasure trove. The shops keep regular hours through the week, and the stalls are out on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which are the days to come if you want the full rummage. Our guide to the Passage covers the dealers and the market’s history in more detail.

Galleries and theatre

Islington’s cultural fix is denser than its size suggests. The Victoria Miro gallery on Wharf Road, fifteen minutes on foot, shows work by artists including Yayoi Kusama, Grayson Perry and Chris Ofili, and admission is free. Ten minutes in the other direction, Little Angel Theatre on Dagmar Passage has been making puppet theatre for children since 1961 and is an easy win with younger visitors. The Almeida handles the grown-up end of the programme.

Coffee between stops

Nobody should have to go long between flat whites. Redemption Roasters, which trains and employs people leaving the prison system, and Higher Ground are both close enough to fold into a walk without a detour.

Three cinemas, all within ten minutes

Angel is unusually well served for screens. The Everyman on Islington Green is a five minute stroll at no particular pace; the Odeon Luxe inside Islington Square is about eight; and the multi-screen Vue is another five minute walk. Between them they cover everything from a restored print to the week’s biggest release.

Where lunch fits

The sensible shape of the day is shops and market in the morning, gallery or matinee after lunch, cinema in the early evening. Frederick’s sits in the middle of all of it, at the end of Camden Passage, and Saturday service runs continuously from noon to 10pm, so lunch can start whenever the shopping finishes. The set lunch runs Tuesday to Friday if you are here in the week, and the getting here guide covers trains, buses and parking on market days.