Friar Tuck Shoppe

On a homesick Easter Sunday, my wife and I stopped at Friar Tuck hoping to find a last minute taste of home. The lady who worked there was so rude I’d have to call her a proper C word. After walking in and taking a quick look around and knowing it was a long shot, my wife asked if they would happen to have any Cadbury Easter Eggs left. The lady was very rude, saying «shame on you for waiting until Easter Sunday.» Not really what anyone would want to hear on Easter, while feeling homesick. We would have been happier if the store was closed. We just moved to the area and decided to take a walk and check this place out. Well — we used to live in Hollywood, and from now on I’d much rather drive back over the hill and keep buying everything from the very nice lady at the Irish Import Shop on Vine. I’ll never return to Friar Tuck.

Been coming here for years. Always feels like home! Especially the grumpy old ladies who man the store. The prices are fair for some things but ludicrous for others. They get mean when I ask about Vegemite. But still, I go in there and get my goodies anyway :)

This place is great! This is the ONLY store that carries my Dads favorite dressing: Heinz Salad Cream.

This place is so cool! I love British goodies and they have Vegemite of all things! It’s next to a British pub so it’s perfect. You can get your grub and drink on and then head on over to Friar Tuck’s.

I used to like this store regularly and would shop there often. Sadly the older lady who serves customers is becoming very rude and obnoxious. Either she doesn’t like me in particular or she is suffering from early stages of dementia (not trying to be insulting but clearly she has something wrong). At first she was friendly, but after a time her mood started changing. She became very angry and negative for no apparent reason, up until the point where I left the store, and she snapped at me VERY ANGRILY for holding the door open too long. She was really really rude and was almost trying to pick a fight with me as I left. PLEASE, if a family member or owner of the store is reading this, please remove her from the front counter. I will never enter the store again, and her strange moods will put people off.

Great for British import foods. REAL sausages! Say no more!

This is the first proper British corner shop I’ve found in LA. It’s small, but amazing. I uploaded a bunch of photos to their Unilocal page for you to see all the amazing food.

My favourite part is the frozen food here, cheese and onion pies, shepherds pies, Yorkshire puds.
Some of the imported stuff is a bit over priced and you can find some of it in World Market but I like its a small business and am happy to support it.

My boyfriend is British and wanted to make my family a traditional British Christmas dinner, so we headed over to Friar Tuck for some essentials. It’s not a big store and the shelves were sparse due to the holidays (we learned our lesson, shop early), but we were able to find most everything that we needed– paxo, Bisto and Green’s yorkshire pudding mix. We also walked out with a ton of candy, favorites of my boyfriend.
I can see that this shop will be visited frequently by my home sick boyfriend and this curious American. There are so many fun food products to try!

I was very disappointed in the customer service. Yes they have alot of the goodies but the middle aged woman at the front desk was quite rude and watched me from the moment I walked in and could not get me out of the store quick enough. Due to this I will not be back. For what I have to pay for some of my favorites I expect better customer service. Very sad.

Nice little shop conveniently located next to Robin Hood… so while you’re in the area and stylin’ after some fish & chips, hop next door for some fine chocolates, or take home some teas, jams, biscuits, and a bottle of Vegimite!
It’s a fine shop, no doubt. But the 3 star is due to a comparison against other shops I’ve been to… as the size and selection is less here. At the same time, I always find something I want when I come in.

Cate T. took me here as pleasant detour in The Valley. It’s a very small shop but they cover most of the bases for British favorites. Jams, teas, chutney, hp sauce, ribena, specialty candies (Penguin, Aero, Bounty) and even dainty teapots.
This is a great stop because they carry some hard to find items that are worth their price! Not all items are a good deal though, I definitely could find a better price on Ribena elsewhere. With so many candies to spend my money on, I had to keep myself in check lest I end up broke and diabetic. =p
The one thing that makes this shop different, is that there are pre-​packaged frozen foods you could take home with you and cook up such as Shepard’s pie and Bangers that look like they were made in the pub’s kitchen next door. I wasn’t on my way home when I stopped by or else I would have picked up a couple items. =(
Great deal on scones only a dollar, and even better that day it was half off so 50 cent scones. =D Yeah people can say so and so place is better, but this place can hold it’s own in the valley for over a decade!

I remember coming here as a tot. My mum is British, and when we moved to Sherman Oaks, a patient of hers must have told her about this place, because I remember stopping here often so she could buy her PG Tips and a flake bar. Tea is VERY important, and British chocolate is delicious!
So, after Unilocaler Karen C. and I finished up at an Elite event, we had time to kill before going to see a friend. I remembered this place was somewhere near the event, and lo and behold! There it was!
The place is not overly gussied up, as a matter of fact, the only fancy looking spot in this shop are the tea pots at the front window. The rest is stark. Unadorned walls and then shelves lined with your edible goods.
Sweets, biscuits, Heinz baked beans, bottled and jarred chutneys, jams, marmalade and sauces. And a frozen section housing ready-​to-​bake-​in-​your-​oven faves like steak and mushroom pie, steak and kidney pie, curried chicken pie, and more. The prices are what you would expect in a British Import Shoppe, some things higher than others. However, being that this may very well be the only shop in The Valley, I’m not overly chuffed about.
The Friar Tuck Shoppe really hasn’t changed since my memories of it in childhood, and the fact it’s still there just shows you that they’ve got a devoted clientele.
The shoppe is also attached to the Robin Hood British Pub. As a matter of fact, standing near the rear of the shoppe, I could smell the food making scent of delicious British fare coming out of the kitchen. If I hadn’t made myself full at the Elite event, I would’ve gone next door for a pie!
Great to visit a childhood memory and find it intact.

They have a good quality of items, a lot of times in speciality stores the items can be close to, or passed, their sell by date, but i’ve never had that issue here. I think because they do not have a huge supply. They’ve always had what I’ve come here looking for though.
Good selection of candies. That always makes me happy. A tad bit expensive, but when you’re craving a crunchie bar it’s worth it!

This is a nice shop with friendly people working. This is where I get Jolly Good pork pies, HP Sauce, Mrs. Balls chutney to name a few items. Conveniently located next to the Robin Hood pub.

I LOOOVE this place.
Sweet little British lady runs it. I got my Brown Betty teapot here and come by every few months to replenish my British tea supply.
They have YUMMY scones, freshly baked. Don’t forget your devonshire cream!
They have a good selection of classic British pantry items, candy, tea, and also some china and British knick knacks.
I always stop by when I’m in the ‘hood.
Next I’m going to have tea at Robin Hood Restaurant next door. A lot of ex-​pats frequent the afternoon tea there, so I expect it’s good. Not frilly girly tea, just proper British afternoon tea. They’re both owned by the same couple.

I went looking for authentic British fare. I found this place in the Valley and am pleased to report that I intend to return.
The entrance to this shop is on the eastern side of the block right next to the main entrance of the Robin Hood British Pub, the two doors are under the Union Jack sign. You’ll hardly see anyone walking around on this corner because there’s hardly anything interesting around that intersection. There’s the Shell Gas station across the street to the north and Carl’s Jr. at the opposite corner to the west.
When you walk up to the door there are a few very adorable tea sets in the window. On the left, inside of the entrance they have their souvenirs the sales person is to your right as you enter, and it’s a long room with a bakery to the back of the shop. The shop itself consists of two rows of shelves, the right row of shelves on the wall carry the condiments and home wares, the center shelves on the right carry the sodas, etc., on the left the center shelves carry the teas, etc., and on the left side wall you’ll find the sweets/​biscuits/​a refrigerator. There are a good variety of British fare that appeared, to me, to be the more popular items sold in Britain.
It’s a small shop with only the essentials on their shelves. I even checked the –sell by dates– on their items and found only current dates for the end of this year and some expiration dates for next year. I believe it’s because they keep a limited supply of items that ensures that they have quality/​current goods on their shelves.
They carry authentic Brown Betty teapots and they have many samples of authentic fine china tea sets. There were a small selection of souvenir’s dotted around the shop and the prices are reasonable.
I say the prices are reasonable because if I converted them to GBP that’s what I would be paying in Britain. The nice lady who works there mentioned that they get more variety/​products in for the Christmas holidays.
Their business card reads thus:
Friar Tuck Shoppe
Purveyors of Fine British Foods, China & Gifts
~Fresh British Bakery on Premises~
Open 7 days.
10am-​7pm
Tel: (818) 785‑4814
Fax: (818) 902‑3854
There are pictures of the shop under the specials tab on

The lady who runs the shoppe is very very sweet. One of the main times I go here is right before Good Friday. They have the authentic hot cross buns with anise, and spices. (growing up catholic it’s a tradition) You do have to order them ahead of time but it’s well worth it. They have a pretty good stock of British (and some Irish) treats… Her prices are a lot better than some places like The Tudor House… Only thing is the pasties aren’t like that fresh but I still like them. I mean they are 2 bucks ! thats a good deal

The shop next to Ye Olde King’s Head is infinitely better, but hey, it’s the Valley, beggars can’t be choosers, right? Gawd, I’ve got to get out of the ‘burbs.
Bonus points for Curly Whirlies, Yorkie bars, Lilt, and digestives.
No bonus points for indifferent staff and too many bare shelves. I know these imports are expensive, but bare shelves are depressing, spruce them up a bit please if you aren’t going to fill them up.

For the homesick Brits, Friar Tuck Shoppe is nestled right next to «The Pub» aka Robin Hood Restaurant. More importantly, it is the site of my first taste of McVitie’s Hobnobs.
Lessee…
You’ve got your Original Hobnobs — Oatty and whole wheat goodness in an absolutely delicious «biscuit». Biting down on one is between crunchy, crispy, flaky, not to mention Heaven. Not too sweet, but just right.
Then you’ve got the Chocolate dipped Hobnobs — Just a thin layer of chocolate on the bottom of a biscuit. Sinfully scrumptious. Of course when you eat these, you try to convince yourself that they’re at least decently good for you cuz it’s still got all those grains from the Original Hobnobs, but deep down inside you know how naughty they are.
How very, very naughty. Which makes it even more enjoyable.
Oooh yeah.
Not only are they they purveyors of these delightful biscuits, but they carry a plethora of other imported, overseas goodies such as chocolates, jams, crackers and souvenirs. How can you tell they are imported? Well other than the stickers and stamps everywhere that state everything is «Imported», everything is marked at imported prices. Those freaking Hobnobs cost a pretty shilling or five. Purdy ‘spensive, but worth it for an occasional treat.
Oh and they also have a fresh bakery on the premises which I didn’t get to try but might be worth a nibble.
So if you’re ever in Robin’s Hood, stop by Friar Tuck Shoppe for a worthy visit.