Alnwick’s main shopping area is the located in the town centre. It is split into three main streets, Bondgate Within, Market Street and Fenkle Street. Together they form a triangular circuit around the Marketplace.
Bondgate Within has recently had the honour of being voted Britain’s best street for shopping in the 2011 Google Street View Awards, beating off stiff competition from all over the Country. It was the excellent selection of shops, from mainstream shopping chains to independent crafts and gifts, butchers, bakers and deli’s, that gave Bondgate Within the edge. Having a beautiful Market Town setting and a 15th Century Tower at it’s entrance can’t have hurt either, giving a true sense of the perfect Town High Street. I have tried to highlight the most interesting and noteworthy of these shops below.
Bondgate Within runs from the Bondgate Tower as you enter the town along to the right of the Marketplace until the road narrows, where it turns in to the imaginatively titled Narrowgate. Shops on Bondgate Within include:
Jobson’s of Alnwick, Scott’s of Alnwick, Bell and Son’s (menswear), G Penrose and Sons, Flowers By Julie, RSPCA, Taylor’s Newsagent, Northumbria Pets, Glendale Paints, Ray’s Menswear, Collectables, The Gate Gallery, The Art House, Trotters Family Bakers, Boots Optician, Dorothy Perkins, Greggs, Stead and Simpson, Boots, Superdrug, WH Smiths, Cancer Research UK, CC, M & Co (Ladies clothing shops), Greenwoods and leading into Narrowgate Moshulu and the Linen Cupboard (Gift Shop).