Nisbets

Don’t be put off by the ‘just for trade’ appearance — if you love cooking, you’ll love this place.
All sorts of wondrous items are here, but be careful, it’s very easy to convince yourself that you absolutely can’t do without an industrial meat slicer or 15 gallon stock pot, so maybe come with a friend!
I second the shopping online point raised though, if you sign up online, you’ll receive lots of emails with sales and clearance items, so always best to do your research and compare prices beforehand.
Definitely will give you a one-​up on your friends Ainsley Harriot branded wok, (although the Rustie Lee cheese grater still holds a certain cachet).

Need some quality equipment and don’t mind that it’s more utilitarian and functional than stylish? This is probably the place to come.
A restaurant supply company that’s also open to the public, you come here for restaurant grade equipment. You won’t find Joseph Joseph in here, or any other fancy brand but you will get good quality stuff.
If you need larger items, they’re in the back, everything from cookers to fryers. They won’t look that great in your fancy kitchen, but they will look perfectly at home in any restaurant.
Popped in here for ramekins and a few minutes later walked out with a box of 12 at a good price (don’t even think about buying individual plates etc, not going to happen) along with some other small bits and bobs that I needed.
Exactly what I wanted at a price I was happy with, you want something functional, get it here.

Unless you want a £5 tesco pan that will probably warp after a month, this is a great place to check out for (restaurant grade) kitchen gadgets, tools, and dishware for any cook. The prices are pretty decent, some things more expensive than others, but always a cool place to peruse.
Make sure you check online for any specials /​price discrepancies though! When I got to the till with my purchase, it was £10 more expensive in store for some reason, but when I pulled up the website as proof that it was advertised cheaper online, the issues was settled.

This is like my kind of heave: cooking gadgets galore!
What I like about this shop is that the clientele is people who work in restaurant kitchen and thus need the products to actually produce work. In other words: their kitchen gadgets are made to last and be functional and not necessarily pretty. (This is not a Williams Sonoma, if you know what I mean ;-)
Having said that, Nisbets is a great shop for every professional as well as amateur cook/​chef. Here you can find everything from: baking equipment, storage containers, knives, cocktail & bar equipment etc.
Two thumbs up from me!

Great place for commercial kitchenware that might also find a place in your home. They have an excellent range of knives so if you don’t know your Wüsthoff from your Dick, get along here and they’ll tell you all you need to know.

Me: Do you happen to know if you sell lard here?
Cashier: Lard?
Me: Yeah — I recently came into ownership of a cast iron skillet and I was reading about how I’m meant to season it with lard.
Cashier: We don’t have that here. I think you can get it at a grocery, like Sainsbury’s or Tesco.
Me: Oh. Okay.
Lard aside, Nisbets sells virtually anything and everything you could possibly find in or around a kitchen, whether that kitchen is in your flat or at one of Blumenthal’s restaurants. Pots, pans, knives, flatware, cutlery… you name it, they’re likely to have it.
Prices don’t seem excessive, considering this is a massive specialist shop. My simple plastic ‘Juice Extractor’ (seriously, that’s what it says on my receipt, verbatim) citrus reamer was merely £3. I expect to get far more utility from it than the affordable sum I paid for it.
Considering my obsession with all manner of kitchen gadgets, I expect to drop a few wads of cash here in the months to come.