Yes, Oxford Street can be a bit choked up, and yes, there are floors and floors of expensive clothing that most people will just igore, but the ground floor and basement floors are excellent places to find hard-to-get Christmas presents.

Go in the last week of November and there is usually a 20% or 10% discount week - you need to clip coupons to use in the store - find them on several sites.

The electrical department is a wonderful place to browse around and the assistants there are very helpful.