Fortnum & Mason is a major attraction at the UK heritage theme park, the equivalent of the gorilla at London Zoo; this is corroborated by its two branches in Japan and by the fact that it is always full of Germans holding hands in the truffle department and smiling. It is, or rather was, the Costcutter to the Empire and the F&M historian can have much fun in its archives: it was the first shop in Britain to sell Heinz baked beans; it holds the royal warrant for jelly beans; it claims to have invented the scotch egg, although this claim is apparently disputed in Glasgow.
It sells bags and perfumes now — plus a model speedboat — but it is still the best food hall in London, far better than Harvey Nichols (too many anorexics), Selfridges (too many fashion witches and/or anorexics) or Harrods (too many anorexics and/or fashion witches and/or people who own Ferraris and double park them because parking regulations do not apply to people with stupid cars).
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