The Secret Vintage of Leamington Spa

I am a girl suffering from a major case of wanderlust, the only problem is I’m a poor student, therefore my metaphorical wings have been clipped and I’m forced to remain on the isle of my birth. Due to my emaciated wallet I have made it my mission to seek out the weird and wonderful right here in my home country, which is what led myself and my boyfriend, Dave to Leamington Spa one typically windy spring day. 

Prior to my trip when I thought of Leamington Spa my mind instantly pictured an attractive street, lined with regency style white washed main stream shops. I thought there had to be more to this elegant Georgian town, as it felt to me all at once incredibly chic, yet there was an old feeling underlying it, almost like an old set of bones with newly polished skin. So I decided to traipse all around it in search for the most charming vintage spots. 

Here are the top places from our day:

Blighty Bazaar 

Fresh off the bus and ready to start our adventure we decided to make our way over to Blighty Bazaar. The website boasted a whole bevy of things, from handmade garments to vintage memorabilia, so neither of us really knew what to expect before we walked through those standard shop glass doors. What awaited us upon stepping inside was a feast for the old soul residing within me. Countless number of stalls were set up throughout, some boasting clothing from the fashionable 1960’s, suitcases from World War 2, then around the corner pop culture items from the 1990’s. It almost felt as though every corner we turned we stepped into a different time period, Leamington Spa’s own little time machine.

Rosie’s Vintage Tea Shop

After spending an obscene amount of the morning winding around the vintage labyrinth, the clock struck one and we had grown rather hungry. Just a short jaunt away we stumbled across Rosie’s Vintage Tea Shop, a quaint little tea room with walls the colour of an ice cream parlour counter. We were greeted by smiling waitresses in little floral aprons and showed to a table for two. An extensive menu of loose teas sat upon the lace cloth, we could travel the world right from the delicate little china cups, with teas from Japan, Russia to South Africa. The tea room felt like the 1940’s and modern Parisian style mixed together in a harmonious cocktail, with the tasteful walls lined with vintage crockery and postcard wallpaper that appeared to be fresh out of a Parisian boutique. We could have easily been sat in a French café in the 40’s. However, one quick look out the window shook us out of our reverie and reminded us of the location, and the task we had came here to fulfil.

Berylune

With our stomachs satisfied we continued our little quest. The next place was hard to miss, it’s daffodil yellow painted front stuck out amongst the surrounding whites and creams, it’s sunshine face beckoning us inside. It was a squeeze to enter, given that the shop is literally no more than ten feet wide and there were already a few patrons browsing. Selling everything from homeware, to modern crafts we couldn’t help but be charmed by the pint-sized store. Despite it’s tiny size, we found ourselves gazing for ages at the little objects perched on the shelves. A rainbow of 1960’s corded telephones lined one wall, colours ranging all across the spectrum, in another corner typewriters sat on wooden crates, reborn as shelving units. It was a truly magical store that combined modern day style with the key staples of the vintage era.

The Stagey Fox

The last place on our list was quite a wonderfully strange one indeed. Foxes embellished every object within the store, cushions, t-shirts, stationary, you name it, it had a fox on it. Old jazz music fluttered from the speakers as we ambled around taking in the unusual sights. Toward the back of the store it appeared to transform into what felt like a theatre dressing room, old posters of well loved musicals and plays and the smell of cinnamon lingered throughout the air. The shop felt all at once homely, yet entirely surreal boasting such an unusual bevy of items, it was hard for us not to love this place.

The Pursuit of Friendship: An Alternative 'Night Out'

Written By Seonaid Mckay, Leah Walker and Joe Bennett 

When it comes to going ‘out out’, the thought of spending the night being paralytically drunk whilst attempting to dance in a sweaty room filled with annoying people isn’t really our idea of ‘fun’. So, instead of wasting our money on unnecessary amounts of alcohol, we chose to embark on a little adventure to Fargo Village, a small artsy crafty hipster village loved and enjoyed by many Cov
Proceeding the quenching of our thirst on the Urban Café’s devilishly delicious drinks, our stomachs began rumbling, calling out for something more fulfilling. Our solution was to brave the cold over to Seonaid’s flat. Being the adorable crafty friends that we are, earlier on that day we’d had the completely genius idea of making homemade pizza. The recipe we used was not only cost efficient, setting us back a mere £2 each, but it was also so easy to make. We bought the bases from our local supermarket (being the lazy students we are, we didn’t fancy the extra effort), we also got tomato puree, an extortionate amount of cheese and pepperoni. For the thrifty students out there wanting to save a buck or two, but still have a good time with friends, this pizza recipe is perfect. Of course any good cooking venture needs a playlist to set the mood, in this case we blared out classic 80’s tunes which was the perfect soundtrack for our ultimate night in. From Blondie to Adam and the Ants, The Cure, to Men at Work’s ‘stomping’ tune ‘Down Under’, we dad danced our way to pizza perfection. The pizzas were done in no time at all, allowing us to continue our kitchen party whilst wolfing down copious amounts of cheese and tomato lathered dough.

entry students. Fargo is the home to The Big Comfy Bookshop, a lovely little café filled with tasty snacks, hot drinks and of course, books. Promised to us by the bookshop was a night completely filled with the joy that is Harry Potter – Butterbeer, crafts, the sorting hat and a massive quiz (which was really the selling point for us as we’re all competitive little assholes.) With ideas of a magical night filling our sad hearts with utter joy, we set off on our merry way to the land of books and Harry potter, only to stumble into a completely different land... a land full of screaming children, running around in over-sized wizard hats and poking each other with sticks. It didn’t take much crowd parting for us to change our minds about the whole ‘magical night out’ and one look at the cloudy apple-juice-like Butterbeer sent us practically running. As much we love The Big Comfy Bookshop, this event just wasn’t doing it for us, and it really was our fault for ignoring their Facebook posts which practically screamed ‘CHILDREN’ so loudly in our faces we felt the spit hit our lips. We found ourselves aimlessly wondering around Fargo in search of a new place to mend our half-destroyed hearts, we simply couldn’t just give up now. Luckily, the Urban Café was right on the cusp of our desires and as soon as we entered its glowing doors, we knew that it was where we were to spend the next few hours of our lives. Walls adorned with old instruments, the high warehouse ceiling covered in bicycle wheel chandeliers and the smell of brewing lattes essentially set our souls on fire – this was 100% our happy place. Sipping at our steaming hot chocolates (which tasted like liquid brownies) and Chai lattes (which are basically Christmas in a cup) whilst talking about our next great novels was better than any night out clubbing. And our night of magical fun had only just begun.
After our bellies were full and our appetite for greasy fast food was satisfied, it was time to settle down, get all cosy and play ‘The Great British Pub Quiz’. Now, as mentioned earlier, we are an extremely competitive group of friends, disaster assuredly awaited, right? Wrong. We found ourselves to be rather confused by most of the questions and it was obviously more than likely aimed at a different audience. You know, the sort of people who regularly frequented pubs, AKA not us. However, we still had fun whooping and screeching whenever we got an answer correct.

The stakes were high and with every mind boggling round the tension amongst us grew. Leah thought that her family’s in-depth love of old school rock would carry her to an intense victory through the music round, whilst Seonaid’s intercultural palette sent her score flying to heights that Leah and Joe thought they could never reached. However, come the end of the quiz a winner was destined to be crowned victorious, and Joe’s fundamental general knowledge and specialist subject (Film and Television) topped him off as the clear winner. Unfortunately, no real prize had been set for Joe’s minor success, so we had to settle for the satisfaction of seeing the happiness drain from the girl’s faces in a slum of a semi-gracious defeat. By this time, the clock had passed through multiple hours of our ‘Alternative Night Out’ and the minutes were approaching midnight faster than a fat kid to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. For now, it was time to sit back, throw off our thinking caps and settle down for a midnight movie; an indie flick by the name of ‘Struck by Lightning’, based off the book by Chris Colfer. However, in a moment of pure, unadulterated friendship, Joe decided to run back to his student halls in order to grab a few supplies after he had opted to sleep on the floor! It was a last minute and possibly reckless decision, but it had to be done. Bracing the Baltic winds typical to the British Isle, he ran… neigh, sprinted in an Olympic fashion to fetch his sleeping bag, toothbrush, apples and orange juice to come back in order to begin the film. God this boy knows how to party, and from this day forth, the sacrifice will be known as ‘Jose’s true dedication’. Upon his return, we forced and squeezed our way into Seonaid’s now cramped double bed and proceeded to start the film. Starring the likes of Rebel Wilson, Christina Hendricks and Chris Colfer himself, the film sees a budding young writer and journalist, Carson Phillips, attempting to use his high school's incredibly unpopular writers’ club to get into the university of his dreams. As a clichéd, outspoken student, representing the feelings of the high school underdog, Carson realises that the favours he needs from his fellow students aren’t achievable through ethical means, whereby he sets about to blackmail his rivals and get them to write for his paper; hopefully solidifying his chances of finally leaving his dismal home town. Along with family issues, unlikely friendships and a very personal raincloud, ‘Struck by Lightning’ is a brilliant teen comedy and, along with the book, a highly recommended read or watch. This being said, we did resort to chatting quite a lot throughout the film: we’re all loud mouths when it comes to arrogantly telling our ‘brilliant’ stories and therefore we never really shut up, leading us to learn things about one another that we definitely didn’t need to urgently know. Which for Joe was absolutely terrifying because he was trapped in-between two girls talking about shit he really didn’t know he could comprehend in his tiny little man brain. Eventually the film came to an end, and our dedication to chatting slowly decreased into a decision to move into our designated sleeping spots and fall into a glorious slumber, completely sober and drugged up on friendship.