What Liberty London is known for

Liberty began in London in 1875 and is closely associated with its Grade II-listed Tudor-revival flagship on Great Marlborough Street, completed in the 1920s. Built with oak and teak from former ships, the timber-framed store houses Liberty fabrics, fashion, beauty and homewares and remains one of the brand’s defining physical landmarks.

Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his emporium on Regent Street in 1875 to import the arts of Japan and the East, and the store became a movement: Liberty fabrics and the designers it commissioned were so central to Art Nouveau that Italy still calls the style Stile Liberty. The mock-Tudor building of 1924 — genuinely timbered from two decommissioned Royal Navy ships — remains one of London's most loved interiors, its light wells and carved staircases wrapping small rooms rather than open floors. Liberty print cottons, especially the small floral Tana Lawn, are the house's living heritage, sold by the meter in the haberdashery and applied across collaborations from sneakers to stationery. The beauty hall and designer floors are strong, but the fabric department is the soul. Buy Tana Lawn by the meter — the store's entire history compressed into cloth.

The haberdashery cuts Tana Lawn to any length, and the scarf room translates the archive prints for those who don't sew; both floors reward slow browsing.