‘Hardware is often dull or expensive; we’re filling the gap in the affordable design market for these really useful, practical but beautiful pieces,’ Matilda Goad told The FT as she launched the prettiest hardware shop in the land.

Her new pop-up, MG&Co Hardware in Notting Hill, displays its knobs, handles, hooks and backplates (as enchantingly as only Goad can) in sweetie jars, on pristine peg boards and in vintage toolboxes. The dream fit-out continues with a Smeg fridge, enamel mugs at the coffee station and Tunnocks Tea Cakes aplenty. You can sign up for useful workshops in-store and even take in broken lamps to be repaired.

It is the ne plus ultra of a happy marriage between the utilitarian and the whimsical.
Hardware stores have always had a strange allure, which has something to do with their neatness, order and sense of useful activity. This one promises that feeling in spades.
However, if you cannot get there before it closes, there are other irresistible options across the land. Here are five of our favourite hardware stores.

Frome Hardware, Somerset


Enamel Espresso Mug

The charm of this little shop is not conveyed by its website. Everything is useful and beautiful and most of it can be engraved while you wait. You’ll find kindly staff and presents galore.

We like their customisable Enamel Mugs, £6.50.

Objects Of Use, Oxford


Pallares Busa Folding Knife, Holm Oak, Carbon

This lovely haven of hardware is home to a selection of ‘the tools that enhance our fundamental routines’, which are sourced from Japan, Korea, Finland – and Oxfordshire.

We like their Folding Knife, £61, very much indeed.


Labour And Wait, London And Tokyo


Toilet Brush And Bucket

Labour and Wait began selling timeless, functional products for daily life in East London in 2000. There is nothing they don’t know about the simple, honest, useful approach to design.

We like their Toilet Brush And Bucket, £25


Freight HHG, Lewes


Santa Maria Portuguese Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tins

The aim of the game at Freight is to produce British-made household goods that are so well-designed they barely/rarely need to be replaced. What isn’t made at home is thoughtfully sourced from further afield.

We like their tins of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, £23.


Baileys Home, Herefordshire


Lambswool Dusters

Repair and reuse have been the watchwords at Baileys Home since it opened 30 years ago. The inspirational shop is located in a series of historic farm buildings and sells everything from furniture and textiles to lighting and hardware.

We like their Lambswool Dusters, £18