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p17
It's that time of year again: Christmas shopping. Doncha' love it?
This year, a panel of hardened consumers have taken the grief out of gift-giving with a
personal round-up of some of the best and the brightest of Stokey's shops. The West End?
Just don't go there. Spend your bus fare on something groovy for granny in N16.
 We
all know and love the imaginative and ever-reliable Hamilton's (96 Church
Street), Route 73 (86 Church Street), and Tana Mana (150
Church St) all excellent sources of unusual and covetable presents. But N16 has a
wealth of other, perhaps less obvious sources for the perfect present.
First up: the Ark (161 Stoke Newington Road). From 1 December, Ark will
be open for seven days a week, from 11-6 Monday-Saturday and 12-5 on Sunday, offering
everything from 'Sex on Legs' socks and 'Size Matters' boxer shorts to a rather more
tasteful range of kitchen accessories, china and glass-ware, bath treats, candles, finger
puppets, jewellery, stationery, charity Christmas cards, toys and possibly the kitchen
sink, although I didn't spot it in window. An Ark gift voucher might solve a few problems
with picky local friends.
Flowers N16 (113 Church Street) will be serving mulled
wine at weekends as an enticement to spend your hard-earned overdraft on a range of
candleholders, vases, Christmas wreaths, lights, decorations, dried flower arrangements
and gift vouchers for the horticulturally inclined. Did I mention Christmas trees?
For something altogether less tasteful check out First Discount (161
Stoke Newington High Street) for low-level and very affordable kitsch, and the
ever-wonderful Junk and Disorderly (131 Church Street).
'so handy for finding the bottle-opener during a
power failure'
 On a blokier note, Kac (46 Church Street) where you'd normally
get your mothballs or
the rawl plugs, also stock Victorinox and Leatherman penknives/toolkit thingies, Zippo
lighters for the unreconstructed and Mag-lite slim-line torches so handy for finding
the bottle-opener during a power failure. And newcomer Bore Busters (153
Church Street) offers the ultimate solution to the knottiest problem what to get Him?
Simple: a pool table. A snip at £599. If He really isn't that deserving, scope out the
board games, Scalextric, kites, radio-controlled airplanes, card games and casino tables.
Bore Busters has toys for most boys over the age of eleven.
Pieces of a Dream, to the rear of 49 Church Street (access in Lancell
Street), has cotevable Mexican glass-ware, candle-holders and all manner of goodies from
Bali, Indonesia and India: definitely not your standard high street chain store offerings,
if you're looking for something unusual for all those discerning friends you've acquired
since you arrived in N16.
So: just a small selection of N16 possibilities. Treasure them and treat yourself to a
little something in the process. After all, Christmas is a time for giving and who's
more deserving than you?
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