Bayliffe & Lupton

This shop specialises in greetings cards but also has a small selection of gifts such as soft toys as well as wrapping paper and accessories. As it sells so many cards there is a wide variety of styles to choose from. Befitting its location in the Victoria Quarter it doesn’t stock many of those cheap, tacky cards featuring naff cartoons and ‘hilarious’ lewd jokes. Expect more of a refined selection, several featuring vintage photographs or interesting stylised illustrations.
I wouldn’t say it’s the best card shop I’ve ever been to but it definitely tops the offerings of most high street card shops with many more unusual finds than say, Clinton Cards and it should have something to suit everyone.

When wandering through the Victoria Quarter, for some reason a card shop isn’t something you expect yourself to wander into or across. However it’s there and it does a grand job of serving the general public with cards, postcards, gift bags and gift wrap. There is the odd poster or cuddly toy dotted around here and there too. There it is in its crudest form. A card shop. In reality it’s a little bit more than that. The polar opposite to Card Warehouse, and a bit more snootier than Clinton Cards, Bayliffe and Lupton clearly take pride in providing cards of better quality than their card stocking counterparts. The prices reflect this, but in fairness so does the quality. Handmade cards often say ‘oooh you’re extra special’ and it’s even better when it’s got extra specialness and you didn’t have to get your hands all dirty or glittery whatnot. It’s always nice to splash out on a card for a loved one, sometimes 29p cards don’t cut the mustard, but I also take issue with cards that are about £6 just cos they can. When you add that to the cost of a £4 gift bag, you’ve lost a tenner haven’t you? And in these hard economic times and all that, it could be better spent on whacking that tenner into the gift pot. Miser aside, pretty, delicate and exquisite are all words that come to mind when discussing quality of product at Bayliffe and Lupton. But breaking it down, it’s just bags and cards.

This is an exquisite gift card shop. If I ever have a birthday or occasion I will come here rather than use a Clintons or similar, as they are just not as special as this shop.
Bayliffe and Lupton house a whole variety of specialist gift cards from a variety of designers, from beautifully painted prints, to exquisite photography to humourous vintage photograph and caption cards. It has a huge range of different gift cards and will cover all the standard areas, but makes the difference by really finding some special designers.
As well as this they sell other related goods, wrapping, canvas prints and the odd trinket or gift item, but the main reason for visiting is the quality of the gift cards. I can always choose a special card that really says something about who I am buying for, which makes all the difference when you are sending to someone special. You might pay a little more than usual, but in my book it’s worth it.

Bayliffe & Lupton is usually my first destination when looking for a greetings card for a friend or relative. It is reasonably priced and has product that I cannot seem to source elsewhere — usually (very) funny, sometimes sentimental, often very original. The staff are pleasant and helpful and the shop is usually packed, which I suppose means that other people appreciate it as much as I do! Their animal photo cards are especially hilarious, as well as the vintage photo/​funny caption ones. (You know the ones I mean).
The shop also stocks small gifts but these tend to be of a more conventional nature than their cards. Overall I find them to offer good quality and good value.