Discover the 10 Finest Art Shops In and Around London
Last updated: April 2026
London is one of the great art cities of the world. Tate Modern, the National Gallery, the Royal Academy, the Courtauld — it goes on. But what about actually buying art supplies in London? That’s where things get interesting, because buried between the tourist traps and the chain stores is a collection of art shops that are genuinely world class.
I’ve spent 16 years in the UK art supplies industry and I’ve visited more art shops across the country than I care to count. London’s offering is extraordinary if you know where to look — and some of the shops on this list have been selling to artists since before photography was invented. That’s the kind of heritage you don’t find anywhere else.
Before we get into it — if you want to compare prices on specific brands before heading out, our live deals page tracks the best online prices from major UK retailers updated throughout the week. Worth a check before any big purchase. And if you’re looking for art supplies at 30-70% off RRP, check our watercolour price comparison page for live deals on paints specifically.
1. L. Cornelissen & Son — Bloomsbury
105 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3RY
Mon–Sat: 9:30am–6:00pm | Sun: Closed
Tel: 020 7636 1045
If you only visit one art shop in London, make it this one. I mean that unreservedly.
L. Cornelissen & Son has been trading since 1855. Let that sink in for a second. Turner was still alive when this shop opened. It started as a lithographic supply house — founded by Louis Cornelissen, a Belgian lithographer who reputedly came to London at J.M.W. Turner’s encouragement — and has evolved over 170 years into arguably the finest specialist fine art materials shop in the country.
Walk through the door and you’re immediately somewhere else. The Victorian cabinetry is original. The shelves are stacked with glass bottles of pure pigment in colours you won’t find anywhere else — Dragon’s Blood, Lapis Lazuli, London Pigment made from the city’s own clay. The smell alone is worth the trip. Professional artists, conservators, printmakers, calligraphers — everyone who’s serious about their craft ends up here eventually.
Situated just around the corner from the British Museum on Great Russell Street, it’s the perfect combination with a cultural afternoon in Bloomsbury. Five minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road tube.
Who it’s best for: Serious artists who want access to materials you simply cannot find anywhere else. Pigments, gilding supplies, rabbit skin glue, specialist papers — this is where professionals come when they need something exceptional.
→ Visit L. Cornelissen & Son online
2. London Graphic Centre — Covent Garden
16-18 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JL
Mon–Fri: 9:00am–6:30pm | Sat: 10:00am–6:00pm | Sun: 11:00am–5:00pm
London Graphic Centre is the go-to for the design, illustration and contemporary art crowd. Where Cornelissen serves the traditional fine artist, LGC serves everyone who works at the intersection of art and design — illustrators, graphic designers, architects, animators, tattoo artists, digital creatives who also work with physical media.
The range is phenomenal. Copic markers, Winsor & Newton, Moleskine, Posca, Pentel, Leuchtturm notebooks, specialist papers, printing supplies — they stock everything and they stock it properly. This isn’t a shop that carries three versions of something. If they list a product they have it in depth.
The Covent Garden location puts it in one of London’s most creative neighbourhoods, surrounded by design studios, theatres and agencies. If you’re working in the creative industries in London, LGC is probably already in your regular rotation. If it isn’t, it should be.
Who it’s best for: Illustrators, graphic designers, contemporary artists and anyone who works across traditional and digital media. Also excellent for high quality stationery and notebooks.
→ Visit London Graphic Centre online
3. Cass Art — Islington
66-67 Colebrooke Row, Islington, London, N1 8AB
Mon–Sat: 10:00am–7:00pm | Sun: 11:00am–6:00pm
Cass Art needs no introduction to most UK artists — they’re the largest art supplies retailer in the UK with multiple London locations. But the Islington store deserves special mention because it’s where the brand started and where they put their best foot forward.
Founded by Mark Cass with the mission of making art accessible to everyone, Cass Art has always operated on the principle that great art supplies shouldn’t be out of reach for anyone. Their own brand range is genuinely impressive for the price point and their staff are trained artists who actually know what they’re talking about.
If you’re a regular buyer from Cass Art, it’s worth checking our Cass Art deals page on DAS before any significant purchase — we track their sales and promotions throughout the year.
Who it’s best for: Everyone from complete beginners to working professionals. The breadth of stock makes it the most reliable one-stop shop for art supplies in London.
4. Russell & Chapple — Bloomsbury
30-31 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London, WC1E 7QE
Mon–Fri: 9:00am–5:30pm | Sat & Sun: Closed
Tel: 020 7836 7521
If you paint on canvas — and particularly if you paint large — Russell & Chapple is a destination you need to know about. This is Europe’s leading specialist supplier of painting surfaces and they have been since they were founded way back in 1770. Yes, 1770. Before the American Declaration of Independence. These people know canvas.
They’re now based on Store Street in Bloomsbury — sharing premises with Brodie & Middleton, the theatrical supplier established in 1840, which tells you something about the creative heritage of that corner of London. The canvas range is extraordinary: fine linen, cotton duck, polyester, digital print canvas, stretcher bars, made-to-measure stretchers in virtually any size you can imagine.
Interestingly, Russell & Chapple is now owned by the same person who owns L. Cornelissen & Son, which creates a nice little cluster of historically significant art suppliers in the Bloomsbury area. If you’re making a day of it, both are worth visiting in the same trip.
Who it’s best for: Painters who care deeply about their painting surfaces — particularly oil painters working at larger scales who need bespoke canvas and stretcher solutions.
→ Visit Russell & Chapple online
5. Great Art — Central London
Great Art — known as Gerstaecker in Germany where they originated — are one of Europe’s largest art supplies operations and their London presence gives UK artists access to a genuinely enormous range of materials. The depth of stock here is impressive, particularly on specialist and professional grade materials that smaller shops simply can’t carry.
They’re particularly strong on framing materials, canvas, papers and professional grade paints from brands that are harder to find in UK high street shops. If you’ve exhausted what your local art shop carries and you need something specific, Great Art is often where you end up.
Who it’s best for: Artists who need specialist materials in depth and professional framers looking for comprehensive framing supplies.
6. The London Art Shop
132 Finchley Road, London, NW3 5HS
Mon–Sat: 9:00am–6:00pm | Sun: 10:00am–4:00pm
Tel: 020 7435 6830
The London Art Shop is one of those independent art shops that carries on doing exactly what it does with no fanfare and no social media presence to speak of — just a well stocked shop serving local artists who know exactly where to go when they need supplies. These kinds of places are increasingly rare and all the more valuable for it.
The range covers the essentials well — paints, brushes, canvases, papers, drawing materials — with knowledgeable staff who take the time to actually help you rather than pointing you vaguely at a shelf. In London, where art shops tend to either be enormous chains or hyper-specialist, this kind of accessible neighbourhood shop fills an important gap.
Who it’s best for: Artists who want a friendly, accessible independent shop without the overwhelming scale of the bigger retailers.
→ Visit The London Art Shop online
7. Stuart R. Stevenson — Clerkenwell
68 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5QA
Stuart R. Stevenson is one of those names that serious London artists know and everyone else has never heard of — which is exactly how a certain type of specialist supplier prefers it. They serve the professional and trade market with specialist materials that you genuinely cannot find on the high street.
If you work in conservation, restoration, gilding or specialist printmaking, this is the kind of supplier that makes London’s art scene genuinely world class. The fact that these businesses still exist in the city — often in the same locations they’ve occupied for decades — is something worth appreciating before they’re eventually replaced by another coffee shop.
Who it’s best for: Professional artists, conservators and restorers who need specialist trade materials.
→ Visit Stuart R. Stevenson online
8. Chrome & Black — East London
Unit 4, 12 Andre Street, Dalston, London, E8 2AA
Mon–Sat: 11:00am–6:00pm | Sun: 11:00am–6:00pm
Chrome & Black sits in a completely different part of London’s art supplies ecosystem to the heritage shops of Bloomsbury. This is East London — Dalston/Hackney territory — and the aesthetic and stock reflect that perfectly. Street art supplies, spray paints, markers, inks alongside more conventional materials, all serving a creative community that blurs the lines between fine art, design, illustration and urban art.
The area around Shoreditch has become one of London’s most important creative hubs and Chrome & Black is a natural part of that ecosystem. If you work in any kind of contemporary urban art practice or you’re looking for supplies that the more traditional shops don’t carry, this is where East London artists come.
Who it’s best for: Street artists, muralists, illustrators and contemporary artists who want supplies that reflect a more urban creative practice.
9. Wyvern Bindery — Clerkenwell
56 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5PX
This one is slightly different to everything else on this list and I’ve included it deliberately because not every London artist needs the same things. Wyvern Bindery in Clerkenwell is a specialist bookbinding workshop and supplier — and for artists who work with paper, books, zines, artist books or any kind of paper-based practice, it’s an extraordinary resource.
Clerkenwell itself is one of London’s most historically creative areas — a neighbourhood of workshops, craftspeople and makers that has somehow held on against the tide of gentrification. The Bindery fits perfectly into that culture. They offer bookbinding services, run workshops and stock specialist papers, boards, Japanese tissues and bookbinding materials that you simply cannot find in a conventional art shop.
If book arts, zine making or paper conservation is part of your practice, this is a destination rather than just a shop. The workshops they run are worth investigating too.
Who it’s best for: Artists working with paper, book arts, zines and any paper-based practice. Also excellent for anyone interested in learning traditional bookbinding.
10. Spitalfields Arts Market — East London
Commercial Street, London, E1 6BG
Spitalfields Market deserves its place on this list not as an art supplies shop in the conventional sense, but as a destination for artists that serves a completely different purpose — and an important one.
The arts section of Spitalfields Market, which runs throughout the week in the historic Victorian market building just off Bishopsgate, is one of London’s best places to see and buy original artwork directly from the artists who made it. For working artists it’s also an opportunity to understand how other creatives present and sell their work, price their pieces and engage with buyers — which is genuinely educational if you’re thinking about selling your own work.
The market’s location puts it at the crossroads of the City and East London’s creative communities, which makes for an interesting mix of buyers and a more diverse range of artwork than you’d find in a conventional gallery setting.
If you’re thinking about selling your own art and wondering how to get started, we’ve put together a guide to selling art online that covers everything from choosing a platform to building an audience — worth reading alongside a visit to somewhere like Spitalfields to see how the real world side of it works.
Who it’s best for: Artists at any stage who want to see original work sold directly by its makers, and anyone considering selling their own work who wants to understand the market.
Can’t Find What You Need in London?
Even with ten exceptional options the reality is that London’s art shops — like most specialist retailers — can’t always have everything in stock. When you need to compare prices or find a specific product from a retailer who doesn’t have a London presence, that’s exactly what Discount Art Supplies is for.
We track deals, sales and discount codes from major UK art retailers including Jackson’s Art, Cass Art and Cowling & Wilcox — updated throughout the week. Our clearance deals page is particularly worth bookmarking for end-of-line stock at seriously reduced prices.
Know a London art shop we’ve missed? Drop us a message — we’re always looking to keep these guides as useful and up to date as possible.
