Shopping in Cambridge UK

I don't know Cambridge particularly well, but Papworth is in the area. Lots of Swaine Adeney Brigg stuff in their Factory Shop I think. There's an Ede & Ravenscroft in the city too, though I've never tried that branch. If you don't know Cambridge, it's worth doing the touristy stuff too.

 

Best of luck to your daughter. Oxbridge interviews are occasionally a little unusual, but they really are just trying to do their best to find intellectually-curious students that would be fun to teach.

It would be better to allow her to go unaccompanied and to make her own way around.


You will also then avoid temptation.

She, however, may not! But that's all part of growing up, and I personally think there's a lot to be said for your suggestion, but I'm not going to make suggestions about what they choose to do as a family.

 

She probably won't see much of him anyway. If Cambridge interviews are run anything like Oxford's, the students get a room in college over the 2-3 days of the interview process, and end up spending most of their time chatting with fellow candidates who are all killing time nervously in the JCR until their interview slots. 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration, as the saying goes... :)

Along with Ede & Ravenscroft is a shop called Arthur Shepherd on Trinity St, who do country type stuff - barbours, cords, tweed caps etc. They're just about the only two shops of interest for menswear really. Otherwise shops in Cambridge are pretty standard high street fare, and a tad disappointing generally. There are some great pubs though.

There's also a Vemeer exhibition on at the Fitzwilliam at the moment which I've been meaning to get to.

I'd have to agree about Cambridge's rather limited selection of menswear shops, which really is a shame, especially given the lovely surroundings. Cambridge was also recently voted as on of the worst shopping centres in the UK!

 

Without turning this into a general tourism thread it's definitely worth checking out the Champion of the Thames Pub on King Street and west Road concert hall for some of the fine local orchestras.

Sadly, a long time since New and Lingwood shut their branch there.

When I was an undergraduate, Ryder and Amies (the University outfitter) occasionally had some OK stuff buried behind the college scarves.

Pleased to hear Arthur Shephard still exists. Good solid shop. Very old-fashioned, in a good way.

Apart from that, even 25 years ago, mostly chain store tat.

And if they still have a market on the aptly-named Market Square, you might find something interesting and second hand.

Like Holdfast, I'm an Oxford man, but I can speak to the Cambridge Ede & Ravencroft. Much bigger than ours and better stocked. The product is excellent , and if they are like their colleagues in the other branches, they will be the soul of hospitality and fonts of knowledge.

An anecdote:

I bought my first 'proper' suit in the Cambridge Ede about a decade ago. My grandmother had just died, and I thought one of the better ways to show respect was to be properly attired for the funeral. I was in Cambridge as my girlfriend at the time lived there. I was wearing a spectacularly ill-advised pair of mock-croc loafers (forgive me; was young). "Ah", said the tailor, "Crocodile Shoes - the spirit of the hunt!". Quoth I, "I think they're plastic". Then he, "Ah, plastic crocodiles, sir, they really are the most difficult to catch". To be honest, he had me at hello.

If that is still how they conduct their business, I salute them; and of course I wish your daughter the best. What does she hope to read?