Ellis Brigham

I’m an outdoor guy and I love browsing here at Ellis Brigham. Every time I’m planning to go on a hiking trip or any kind of vacation really, I come here to check out what kind of clothing or gadgets I could need: a new tent? New hiking boots? Some wooly socks or another function jacket?
It’s a huge store — for central London — and on three floors they offer everything a true outdoor person needs. The sales people here are also always very friendly and assist you throughout. Once, I wanted to buy a pair of shoes and I had that poor salesman fetch me more than a dozen different shoes in various sizes. In the end, I told the poor guy that I needed to think some more before making a hasty decision. (I did go back a couple hours later though, as I just couldn’t stop thinking about that one particular pair ;-)
I highly recommend!

After purchasing a £450 ski jacket (well above online prices but was willing to pay assuming some kind of customer service), the zip broke after a 1 week skiing trip (poor design, always gets caught in the fabric).
After returning it to the store, sales staff agreed that it was poor design and they would return it to the manafactuer to get it repaired.
3 months after hearing nothing back, I called up and no-​one could tell me what had happened to my jacket, 6+ calls later and eventually I spoke to someone who said the manafacutrer would only repair it for £50! (1 weeks use…) and was told I had no other option (assumed there would be some concern here on the quality of clothing they were selling but aparently not). Agreed to pay (to be fair, they eventually offered to pay half).
9 months later, still no reply from Ellis Brigham — called 5 times to the store, each time being promised someone would call be back. Eventually called them again this morning and aparently it’s been sitting in their store for 5 months… Useless.
Not a lot I can do other than warn people of the experience — really not worth paying high street premium for this store or their service.

Do not let me anywhere near this place. And especially not if I have money to spend as it will disappear in a puff of smoke the moment I set eyes on yet another shiny pretty sporting item that I don’t really need, but I might as well have anyway as it’s not just frivolous fashion, but a practical item. Who the heck am I kidding?
If you want to get some mountain stuff but think the Bear Grylls look is a bit austere for you (read: I wanna look fabulous darling!) then this is your place. And if you have any interest in snowboarding then get to know this place very initemately, as it is a joy. Burton, Oakley, Forum, Salomon (if you don’t wanna get fleeced), and they do GREAT sales. As in sleep outside the night before kinda sales, if you go at the right time.
I got all my protector gear from this place (you know the kind of impact shorts that make you look like your butt is twice its normal size? Yes, they can be found here.) I also got my wrist guards from here two years ago and they proved very useful indeed when I got carpal tunnel last year.
They are afiliated it seems with Snowboard UK in some way as well, I believe its members get discounts, so if you’re one of those people that is so obsessed that you go to Milton Keynes or the dry slope all year round before the winter hits, best to get signed up.
They have a cool (if slightly short) indoor ice wall, that you can faff around on if you have £40 quid spare. It’s a bit short though! They should just tell whoever lives upstairs to bog off so they can make a huge ice cave. Oh yes.

I have come in here over the past few years, to get snowboarding equipment and I really recommend this shop for their selection of products and customer service.
I was once after a tent, and one of the staff was nice enough to rig the tent up in the shop for me! They have a really great collection of snowboards, bindings, boots, and camping gadgets. They stock brands including Mountain Harbour, Patagonia, Helly Hanson, Quicksilver, Killy, Isuzu, First Resort, Subaru, Animal and Berghaus.

Ellis Brigham stocks a huge range of ski and snowboard equipment, as well as plenty of general outdoor gear. The staff seem pretty knowledgeable and are helpful, but not spectacularly so. Prices here are slightly higher than other outdoors shops in the area, but it is one of the best laid out, which helps when you are trying to locate particular products. The store also has an ice wall, which is pretty fascinating. This seems to be underused a lot of the time, but I would imagine it does get some use at the weekend. If you are considering learning to ice climb, this would seem a good way of finding out whether or not you like it before you go and spend several hundred pounds getting to a real mountain somewhere.

I love this shop! The wide selection of Ski & Snowboard is second to none — and they do all the top brands including North Face, Eiser, Bonfire and many more. The prices are in line with the market, if nto a little lower and they have some fantastic sales on. The also have an adequately sized outdoor and climbing section with clothes, boots and numerous hiking accessories. The real highlight is the Ice Wall which is located at the rear end of the shop. Anybody who dares is welcome to have a go for a small fee. I must say it looks excellent and one day when i have a little more time will conquer the wall! :o)

This shop is excellent for sports wear and specialist equipment. On my last skiing trip I actually bought a really nice jacket which is really warm and comfortable to wear. But the real reason why I wanted to mention this place was the fact that if you like climbing and live in London these have an indoor ice climbing wall-​absolutely ideal for those wanting to brush up on their altitudinal skills or just go there for a thrill.