‘I went Eid outfit shopping on Green Street with £40 – one shop was so busy I struggled to get in’

The rush for Eid shopping is underway and I’ve been unable to resist joining the crowds looking for a new outfit. It is safe to say I may have got carried away. Eid-ul-Fitr, the celebratory festival marking the end of Ramadan, is due to take place on Thursday, March 19 or Friday, March 20 depending on when the new crescent moon is sighted so there isn’t long to complete all the necessary shopping.

I headed down to one of the London’s most famous and busiest spot for Eid shopping, Green Street. While some may better know the road for its links to West Ham’s former stadium the Boleyn Ground or the Green Street football hooligan films, the street is now a destination for shopping for primarily South Asian goods and clothes.

The street, which is also the boundary between East and West Ham, also has a smaller, but significant number of Afro-Caribbean shops. To be successful on my shopping trip I took £40 with me to see if I could get a new outfit for Eid.

The long street is filled with mainly South Asian clothing shops, shoes and jewellery shops as well as food places. I asked myself whether Sunday was the best day to go, and quickly knew that it was not, due to the endless crowds on the streets and in the shops.

There were lots of special deals on clothes as most shops had Ramadan and Eid collections out. I quickly realised £40 was a good amount to take as a lot of items I saw were hitting the £25-30 mark, even the new arrivals, in shops like Mehndi and Imaani.

Shiffonz, another famous shop, was packed and I struggled to get through the door with how popular it was. They also had a fair few new arrivals and had adorable adults and kids matching shalwar kameez sets – the long shirt/dress and trouser outfit worn by South Asians.

I made my way down the busy street to the East Shopping Centre, full of different boutiques and eateries. Jilbabs ‘R’ Us had their abaya collections – loose dresses typically worn by Muslim women in parts of the Middle East and North Africa. They had some collections for £35 which was towards the top end of my budget.

I tried on one of their pieces which contained: the abaya, slip dress to wear underneath, and belt and hijab for £35. The colours and patterns were gorgeous and the material was silk/satin and soft.

Unfortunately, the length was too short. I luckily managed to get another size, the same style, but in a different colour and decided to buy it.

Other stores in the mall, like Dina collections, had a Ramadan collection which was 20 per cent off on everything. I still wanted a Desi outfit so I trailed back to Imaani to get what caught my eye at the beginning, which is always the case when you go to Green Street – go back to the very first shop you visited.

I got this beautiful floral shalwar kameez with a batwing style top and the dupatta (shawl) having a lovely floral patterns to match. The sales assistants also loved it so much they got it for themselves. The shop had lots of different floral outfits which seemed to be their style.

I got that for £30 too, which was a bit cheeky for me as I wanted an outfit for under £40, but got two, each hitting the £30-35 mark.

The moral of the story is that in Green Street you can definitely get carried away with the shopping, but also get numerous items for a total which isn’t overly expensive.

I managed to get all of that in an hour and 30 minutes and around 6pm it was Iftar time so to break my fast I went to try Yamin Chinese King, to get some chicken and paneer bites before heading home.

Most shops in Green Street are open from 11am to 6pm everyday. Upton Park Station is located on the same road.