James Smith& Sons

James Smith & Sons has made and repaired umbrellas, canes and walking sticks since 1830, from a gloriously unchanged Victorian shopfront on New Oxford Street it has occupied since 1857 — the sort of shop, all gold lettering and glass, that people photograph without going in. But it is a working maker, fifth generation under Robert Harvey, still turning and repairing sticks and umbrellas by hand in the basement. One of the last of its kind anywhere. Buy a proper umbrella that will outlive several cheap ones, or bring an old one to be mended.