No toy gets a shelf until a kid has tried to break it.

Every month a squad of kids from the streets around the shop takes new toys home. If a toy bores them, snaps, or vanishes under the sofa within a week, it never reaches our shelves.

Plan a visitMeet the Test Squad
A girl laughing as she climbs over a railing, her hand reaching out

Shelved by the question, not the age

Kids don't shop by age band. They shop by what they're itching to find out, so that's how the whole shop is sorted.

  • How does it work?

    Science kits

    Microscopes, crystal gardens, circuits that buzz.

    Five test tubes of coloured water in a wooden rack

  • How high can it go?

    Building

    Wooden blocks, magnetic tiles, balancing towers.

    Wooden cubes, cones and balls balanced in a tall tower

  • Can I make my own?

    Craft boxes

    Paints, clay, looms and far too much glitter.

    Paints, brushes and coloured pencils laid out on a green table

  • Where does this bit go?

    Puzzles

    Jigsaws from 12 to 1,000 pieces, tangrams, 3D puzzles.

    Hundreds of jigsaw pieces spread over a wooden table

  • What does this button do?

    Wind-ups and robots

    Tin walkers, coding bots, anything with a key.

    A red tin robot toy with an antenna on its head

  • Who wants a cuddle?

    Soft toys

    Octopuses, bears, sloths and one very large hare.

    A smiling red plush octopus sitting on a table

Meet the Test Squad

Kids from the streets around the shop. They get new toys a month before anyone else, and their verdicts go on our shelf tags word for word.

The toy hospital

Bring us the bear with the loose eye, the train that stopped, the doll who lost her stuffing. Saturday mornings at the counter by the window.

  • Re-stuffing · £8
  • New eyes or buttons · £5
  • Torn seams · from £6
  • Wind-up repairs · from £10
  • Wheels and axles · £6

Most patients go home within a week, with a discharge note for their owner.

Hands re-stuffing a red teddy bear with fresh cotton
A worn corduroy teddy bear lying on a table, waiting for repair

The Saturday tinker table

Every Saturday at ten the big table at the back is cleared for one project. Free, no booking, ages five and up. Grown-ups welcome to hold things.

  1. Sat 12 Oct

    A green and red plastic marble run with tracks looping down

    Build a marble run

    Cardboard tubes, tape and one very determined marble.

  2. Sat 19 Oct

    A wooden mechanical model kit assembled on a table

    Make a wooden walker

    Pop out the pieces, add a rubber band, watch it walk.

  3. Sat 26 Oct

    A girl stacking big wooden blocks into a tower

    Tallest tower wins

    Twenty minutes, a crate of blocks, no glue allowed.

  4. Sat 2 Nov

    A boy building with a heap of colourful plastic bricks

    Brick city

    Everyone builds one street. Together it's a town.

The swap box

Outgrown it? Bring it in clean and working and we'll give you credit to spend in the shop. Every toy in the swap box has had a life before.

  • Clean and working
  • All the pieces, or most
  • Credit never expires
A table crowded with old toy cars, a pink coach, a tin airliner and small figures
  1. A pink coach, traded in by twins who now ride a real one to school.
  2. A rubber-headed boy and a green alien. They came in together and leave together.
  3. A tin airliner that flew laps of a living room in Hove for forty years.

Wrapped free in our own paper

Birthday lists that actually work

Your child picks from our shelves, we keep the list, and friends buy from it in the shop or by phone. No duplicates, no guessing.

  1. 1

    Pick. Come in, wander the shelves and point. We write it all down.

  2. 2

    Share. Send friends the list's name. They buy in the shop or call us.

  3. 3

    Wrapped. Every present is wrapped and tagged, ready for the party.

Start a list
Rolls of brightly patterned wrapping paper standing side by side
A pink gift bag stuffed with tissue paper next to a starry box
A toy shop window with a red and yellow frame and pink flowers in front

1 Example Street

Two floors in the North Laine, one play table, and not a single “do not touch” sign.

Get directions

Opening hours

Monday to Friday
9:30 – 18:00
Saturday
9:00 – 18:00
Sunday
10:30 – 16:30
Rows of yellow rubber ducks lined up on shelves

Questions grown-ups ask

Kids mostly ask where the toilet is. It's upstairs, past the puzzles.

Can kids play with the toys in the shop?

Yes. Everything with a “try me” tag is open, and the play table upstairs always has something set up.

Do you post orders?

We post anywhere in the UK. Call or email with what you're after and we'll send a payment link and a photo of the toy.

Does the swap box take toys you didn't sell?

It does, as long as they are clean, working and safe. We don't take soft toys for swapping, but the toy hospital will see them.

Is the tinker table really free?

Really free. Children under eight need a grown-up nearby, and there are twelve seats, so come early for the popular ones.

Do you sell gift vouchers?

From £10, on a card the kids can actually read. They never expire, like the swap box credit.

Come and play

Looking for something? Ask us and we'll tell you if a kid has tested it.