Wandering through Southside shopping centre the other day - yes, Southside, in sunny Wandsworth Town– the Playa des Americas of South London. Minus the fun-loving atmosphere and scantily-clad girls, but with the concrete high-rises and cheap dodgy cafes serving faux-British food. I digress. . . . Wandering through, I notice the plethora of fashionable yet affordable clothing shops going up. Next, Gap ‘coming soon’, Burton, Primark etc . . but none of these does it for me. Nono. I stroll into River Island. That’s right, the dry ‘island’ in the middle of the fast-flowing ‘river’ of people in the main concourse. What AM I wittering on about?

Anyway, what I realised about this place is that they’ve tapped into the current trends and produced a range of menswear that really delivers. Simple summer designs on quality-feeling fabric at reasonable prices. Many of the shirts have that button half-way up the sleeve so you can permanently achieve the rolled up look, and the range of t-shirts perfects the ‘what’s that? A pattern? Yeah, sort of but it’s really faded through continual wear and surfing’ kind of nonchalance. I came out with a t-shirt that makes me look like a sailor in a good way. I think. Anyway, pop in, Southside’s coming up in the world!