Some talk about shops… and then there’s Fortnum & Mason. For over three hundred years, in the heart of Piccadilly, this iconic London emporium has told the story of an entire nation — a tale steeped in hot tea, the scent of orange marmalade, and wicker hampers ready to embark on extraordinary adventures.
It all began in 1707, when Mr. Hugh Mason and the enterprising William Fortnum decided to unite ingenuity and good taste. From that moment, their shop became a synonym for pleasure and wonder — a place where time seems to slow down, surrounded by the aroma of buttery biscuits and the chime of bells at tea time.
And if today the world speaks of food experience, they were already doing it back in the eighteenth century: they invented the Scotch Egg (a boiled egg wrapped in sausage and breadcrumbs), served the Queen, fed the Everestexplorers, and gifted the world the iconic Royal Blend, a tea truly fit for a king.
Through the centuries, Fortnum & Mason has been much more than a shop. It has been a post office, a refuge for suffragettes, an ally to soldiers at the front — and today, an everlasting symbol of British elegance. Even its famous clock, where the founders appear every hour, seems to remind us that refinement can also be fun.
Today, among fine china and steaming cups of tea, Fortnum & Mason continues to celebrate the truest form of luxury — the kind that never needs to shout. It is a small theatre of taste, where every biscuit, every jar of jam, every bottle tells a story that’s 318 years old — and yet always new, always smiling.
Because stepping into Fortnum & Mason isn’t shopping. It’s living a fragment of England — with the grace of a gentleman, the wit of Dickens, and the eternal scent of freshly poured tea.
