Wednesday 22 January 2014

Visit to the Who Shop

Last week myself and my girlfriend went to the Who Shop in East London. It's a bit of a trek to Upton Park and seems very out of the way for such a specialised shop, I assume they do a lot of mail order.  The staff were friendly and the shop was pretty much dedicated to Dr Who but there were a few other SF things too.  The draw for us was the museum which was well worth the visit at £3 a head.

The shop has pretty much everything Doctor Who related, some of it seemed rather expensive but they also have a lot of things that are older or rarely seen.  I bought a few miniatures from an out of production range I'm not familiar with; not Harlequin or Citadel.  There were a few other models and things I was interested in and might get on a return trip.  They also had a selection of the older Dapol toys that were reasonably priced, especially by what some people think they can get on eBay.  I'm not very keen on Dapol but I never got a 7th Doctor...

The museum seems almost hidden, but the entrance on the right of the shop is through a Police Box, behind is a small museum with many costumes packed into a small space and display cabinets with many smaller props that were very interesting to see.  Some are not original per se, and seem to be reproductions from original moulds or made for purposes other than actual episodes.  But most are original and go back to stories from the 60s.  There are costumes from the Crusade and Marco Polo, the Season 18 4th Doctor costume, a console from one of the stage plays, a Time Lord, a cyberman and Voc robot among others.  The cabinets are full of things, the blue crystal from Metebelis III, the Coronet of Rassilon, and various other bits used in the series.

There's an unfortunate lack of photos here, the shop doesn't have an issue with people taking photos, but they don't allow camera phones over concerns people will film the shop.  I wasn't expecting such a rule and only had my phone, so I came away with very few photos (though taken with permission).  Still, there was that cyberman model I wanted so I don't see it being too long before I make another visit.


1 comment:

  1. The entrance was on the left of the shop sweetie, not right. x

    ReplyDelete