Myers of Keswick

Peter Myers came to New York on holiday in 1972. He’s still here. Not on holiday of course, but providing fellow British ex-pats with tastes they probably thought they could only get back home. Originally hailing from the town of Keswick in the Lake District—once the stomping ground of Wordsworth and Coleridge—Myers has kept his Hudson Street shop since 1986. For the ten years previous he ran the bar Bells of Hell (on 13th St.) but when a man from the UK Consolate informed him of how many fellow ex-pats were making NYC home, he hatched an idea even more brilliant that merely providing them drink: import foodstuffs from Britain that couldn’t readily be found in the States. Myers initially became known for his homemade sausages, meat pies and the like, all of which are still prepared fresh on site, daily. The store’s interior has its own curious British sensibility made only stronger by the shelves full of biscuits, candies, drinks, teas, crisps, puddings and quintessentially English baked beans, Marmite and Branston Pickle. Peter’s daughter, Jennifer, now runs the store (he can still be found in the kitchen) and due to his newfound status as grandfather, the shop began carrying baby food and related goods. Well worth a visit for expats or the merely inquisitive. Deliveries come every couple months and for those who don’t have the good fortune of living here, Myers does ship his own goods nationally.