Recommend electronics store in central London?

Dear all,

Subject line basically says it all, hope I'm not too off-topic here.

I'll visit London in a few weeks and was wondering if there are any
retail electronics stores that you could recommend checking out.

I did a quick online search, maybe with the wrong keywords - I mostly
found Tottenham court road stores selling mobile phones, MP3 players
and digital cameras (etc.) while what I'm after are components /
stores that cater to the microelectronics DIY hobbyist.

A colleague pointed me to Maplin and that definitely seems to fit the
bill, although they may be a little light on the microcontroller side
(e.g. no AVR chips at all at least online). Any additional
suggestions? Concerning Maplin, what is their b(igg)est London store
reachable by underground?

Thanks in advance,
Regards,
Gilles.

 

Unfortunately, such stores are now very rare. In the past, people like
Henry's Radio in Tottenham Court Road would have been a good 'bet', but
now though there are still quite a few shops along this road, that may be
able to help in some specific areas of electronics, I can't think of
anywhere quite this general. There are quite a few Maplin's, including one
in Tottenham Court Road. Most of the suppliers for things like
microcontrollers, robotics etc., are specialist companies, largely dealing
by mail order, and as such, the costs of having a London 'store', are just
not worthwhile.

Best Wishes

 

Roger,

Yep, they've disappeared almost completely here as well, and the few
remaining ones try to subsist with a mix of electronics, audio,
computer parts, casemodding stuff etc.

Quite understandable. Thanks for your feedback!

Regards,
Gilles.