Feedback & Quotes

My Wife has just come back from Norwich with a Head in the Clouds bag. Inside was a lovely orange shirt for me.
Lovely present. Lovely Wife. Lovely shop.
Reminds me of my hippy days when I use to visit the shop in the early 70s.
Love & Peace.
Steve Leo J, 17/9/2018

“You know my 18th birthday? This shop was like my theme.”
Customer, 9/8/2018

Lived in Norfolk and used this wonderful shop and ‘Feet on The Ground’ for decades. Moved away to Yorkshire – and still using them – although I now miss the overwhelming temptation of impulse buying armfuls of fabulous stuff while I’m in the actual shop!1
Ordered Tsai Chi shoes by phone just yesterday and they arrived this morning. Wonderful service – courteous, smart, efficient, fast and super cool.
11 out of 10…..Get yourself and your friends over to their website without delay. Nothing else compares.
Peter Elliott, 31/7/2018

Great little head shop. More incense, bongs and clothes than you can shake a hairy stick at.
Dave Howitt, 23/1/2018

Fabulous treasure of a shop. So many lovely clothes, bedspreads, accessories and more. I just wish I could buy the clothes from the website, as I can’t get to Norwich very easily. Well worth a visit though.
Sandra Sandle, 21/11/2017

“This is where I normally buy bells for my goats.”
Customer, 18/11/2017

“He’s outside – the smell was too empowering.”
Customer, 7/10/2017

Have loved this beautiful gem of a shop for years, problem is you go in for one thing and usual leave with two. Bliss
Char Brooks, 6/10/2017

Young lady, delighted by our harem pants: “These are so much nicer than the ones I got online. They shit all over the old pair!”
Customer, 4/10/2017

I love this shop! Been going for years..never get tired of it – staff are lovely too
Kim Jackson, 30/9/2017

A young man asked if we sold glass pipes. “Yeah – below the till,” said Jake. The man blew on the till. “No… below… let me show you…” After a few minutes, the customer pondered, “I can’t believe I blew on the till. I don’t know what I expected to happen.” “You might want to ask yourself where else in your life you do things people tell you without thinking.” “Yeah.”
Customer, 20/9/2017

“Long shot… Air bed plugs?”
Customer, 6/7/2017

“Last time I was in here, I said I had a bag, I reached into my bag and pulled out a pantyliner!”
Customer, 1/7/2017

i won some incense sticks and stuff from Head In The Clouds and I’m so enjoying them in all their smelly exotic extravagance. Those king incense sticks are like Cuban cigars and burn for hours, and left me tranquil in a misty haze of bliss. Peace.
Vince Laws, 30/1/2017

Love this shop always helpful staff thanks xx
Vicki Lawton Parkinson, 28/1/2017

Meaningful conversations, curly locks, hugs, love & biscuits.
Just an average day with the lovely ladies of Head in the clouds!
<3 you girls 😉
Kay Cathersides, 24/1/2017

Staff are happy and really easy to talk to, I can always find something nice that I like to look at and always end up buying something! ^_^
Becca Sutton, 2/1/2017

<3 <3 <3 <3 I do miss this store sooo much since I’ve moved! Xx
Joanna Turland, 14/12/2016

Still love Head in the Clouds, and the fact that it hasn’t changed, especially the heady scent of incense, since I first stepped over the threshold 40 odd years ago
Sandra Branch-Burbridge, 14/12/2016

Had the good fortune to visit your shop last week on my first ever shopping trip to Norwich.
Best headshop I’ve been in by far. I will be back!!
Ian Dan Bulmer, 13/12/2016

I used to love this shop when I lived in Norwich.
Leza Blacklock, 7/12/2016

Head in the Clouds saved my life!
Vince Laws, 7/12/2016

Britain’s oldest (and finest) head shop!
Sam Voisey-Tong, 7/12/2016

great shop heads definatly in the clouds when you shop here
Linda Daykin, 29/11/2016

love this shop 🙂 visit it everytime im i norwich 🙂
Aaron Coulstock, 9/7/2016

“Can I have a 12 inch centimetre?”
Customer, 5/7/2016

Great shop; one of the highlights of Norwich. Would definitely recommend.
Jack Carter, 28/5/2016

Wonderful, wonderful place… go there, do… 🙂
Tracey Annison, 27/5/2016

“I want to be a hippie when I grow up… This is the best shop in the world!”
Adorable girl child, 18/2/2016

“There’s just colour everywhere! There’s nothing better than colour! … I love shops like this.”
Jan Hooper, 6/11/2015

Head in the Clouds went way above and beyond for me with the lovely Abby actually sprinting to the post office to get red velvet Mary Janes to me before I closed the lid on my holiday case. Extraordinary customer service AND some seriously funky shoes too. Thank you x
Emily Breen, 2/9/2015

Been shopping in Head in the clouds for 35 yrs….
Love~Love~Love
Beautiful clothes… Beautiful people…. Beautiful Shop
Bella Bella Williams, 21/7/2015

Never been here but I know it would be my FAVORITE place EVER!!!
I can’t wait to ACTUALLY visit!!!
Mandy Fleetwood, 15/7/2015

Love this fabulous Hippie shop in Pottersgate in Norwich, always have to visit if I’m in the town
Jacqui Beere, 11/5/2015

A haven of happiness, fun, frolics, and family x
Danielle Read, 25/1/2015

Awesome shop, and the staff always greet you with a friendly smile and always up for a chat and laugh 🙂 you’ll never find another place with staff like this anywhere. .. trust! 🙂
Mark Wright, 21/12/2014

Awesome little shop! Just love it plain and simple!
Em Jay, 17/11/2014

Best shop ever! Makes me smile whenever I see or hear about it! With such amazing products and staff how could you not just want to live there!!
Sam Thompson, 5/10/2014

Gorgeousness takes over your soul the very second you enter the shop
Leo Wright, 23/9/2014

The Jerga I bought today is beyond doubt the most snug, comfortable garment I have ever worn; it’s like you’re being hugged by a cloud.
Shanti, 7/8/2014

I’ve loved this shop since I was a teen in the 80s. Have passed the love down the line to my own teenage daughter now. Brilliant place full of hippy delights. Wish they could bottle the glorious smell of it.
Angela Sawyer, 22/6/2014

Just a gem of a shop, could of stayed in there all day.
Keith Mandalatattoo Rumbles, 16/6/2014

What can I say best staff best shop of it kind all have good time in shop chating to staff and will always help you where they can top job
Stephen Curtis, 8/6/2014

Best place to work 😀 wonderful customers, unique staff and magical stuff to buy! Xoxo
Joanna Marie, 28/12/2013

I love this place. It has a great atmosphere and the staff are friendly. It’s just a shame I don’t live closer so could visit more often.
Susannah Down, 17/9/2013

The most amazing shop in Norwich, no England….. no wait…. the world! I am sure of it 😛 I am biased of course but can you blame me… incredible colleagues, amazing boss, wonderful customers and smiles and laughter every day. Think I might love you guys!xxx
Pixi Bramble, 15/9/2013

This place rocks. So chilled out and there is a really hot girl who works there. One of the many reasons i keep coming back to this hippy emporium.
Babbar Sher, 15/9/2013

Fantastic shop, friendly and helpful staff, a real piece of Norwich history!
I love Head in the Clouds! my favourite shop ever and I tell everyone about it!! I moved away from Norwich about 20 years ago so can’t visit as often as I’d like but we came in on Saturday and fell in love with the place all over again!!
Two photos taken outside the shop on Saturday 24th August…lovely to see Desiderata in the window, I still have my copy from over 20 years ago first purchased at Head in the Clouds!! xxx

Kate Roberts, 26/8/2013

Every time I come in your shop I remember being fifteen years old and falling in love with everything but never having any money lol,,,the Head in the Clouds lovely incense smell makes me feel young again hehe! Happy days 🙂 <3
Chakra 11 Designs, 28/5/2013

4 u allPaul Davies, 12/4/2013

Good old Head in the Clouds – I think I first went there in about 1972! Shops may come and shops may go but Head in the Clouds goes on forever! Do you remember Robin’s Records that used to be next door?
Stephen Cripps, 1/4/2013

wow! 🙂
am so pleased to see you are still going strong – am 41 & since the age of 4 had a yearly family holiday in norfolk, always spending a day in norwich which i absolutely loved & looked forward to, yr shop being top of my list! havent been to norwich in years & plan to visit this weekend, all of my ‘old haunts’ (loved the chinese shop & waffle shop too as well as hovels, jarrolds & the mustard shop) & will defo be popping in.
am really excited now, may you carry on for another 41 years +
🙂
Emma, 24/12/2012

I went to UEA from 1971 to 1974. Bought lots of incense, ‘paraphernalia’ (covers a multitude of sins). Also bought my first ever second hand album off you – Steppenwolf Live. Ooops.
Glad to see the place is still going strong. Congratulations.
* * *
You may be interested to know that I’m writing a novel, and Head In the Clouds appears in a barely disguised way.
* * *
For all the freewheeiling ethos, I remember Martin being pretty shrewd. Back in the day, Free were booked to play UEA. This was a big deal; Free were huge back then. Sadly the date of the concert fell plumb in the middle of the Winter of Discontent, with dead bodies lying in the streets, packs of feral hounds ravaging inner cities (if you believed the tabloids), and rolling power cuts even to essential users.
Not to be outmanoeuvred, the social committee hired a sodding great marquee, put it on University Plain, and managed to blag some generators from one of the USAF bases just down the road. The show must go on, even if the 60 Hz US current made the 50 Hz UK record decks run fast, so it sounded like Pinky and Perky go heavy metal.
Any, HITC had a stall at the back of the marquee. It was cold, and the ground was very wet. HITC may not have sold many bangles or patchouli oil that night, but it made a killing flogging black binliners at 10p a pop. Inspired marketing
Duncan Swallow, May-June 2012

My Fav shop and has been since I was young…
Gail Haystead, 5/3/2012

my fav. shop when I visit norwich…..nice clothes too ect.
Dee Dee, 5/3/2012

i wish i had pictures of me doing work experience in h.i.t.c back in 1998… or better, before & after pics! before: looking as normal as i ever looked. after: red & black hair, pierced lip, eyeliner… good times!
my god, that was nearly 14 years ago… eek!
Ossie Womack, 16/1/2012

Well Martin,
How many businesses in this field can still be flourishing after 40 years—
a great achievement and reflection on your entrepreneurial skills!
Congratulations and peace and Bright Blessings to you and all aboard the HIC ship.
With great affection
Bill Sohan, 31/3/2011

I miss Head In The Clouds, I haven’t been to the shop for years :-((( Next time I’m lucky enough to go to Norwich I’ll be having a shopping spree, before going to the chippy and watching the world pass by in the churchyard…..
Rachel Picton, 15/3/2011

Love, love, love this shop! Have been shopping here since I moved to Norfolk 25 years ago. It holds lots of memories for me. Please don’t ever change :0)
Ruth Lizzie Oakley, 22/11/2010

Hey, Just wanted to say I’ve been coming to your shop since I was 13yrs, i am now 30!! and I love it so much. It really has not changed at all and it is such a blessing to have this incredible shop in Norwich. I’ll keep coming for many yrs to come. Peace, Luv & RnR
Charlotte Brooks, 8/7/2010

I started going to head in the clouds since i was about 16…..( now in my 50’s)….whenever i visit norfolk…it’s one of the first places i visit and i bring back lots of smellies and other goodies….I love it……long may it reign!
Ted White, 9/5/2010

“This is the new best place I’ve seen yet!”
Little George to his mum, 16/4/2010

Head in the clouds just BLOWS ME AWAY!!!!!!
Dee Dee, 11/4/2010

its the place you need when your in need
Beau Townshend, 2/3/2010

I have been visiting the shop since the 70s. There’s nowhere like it and I still love shopping there!
Annabel Grant, 2/3/2010

I was at UEA ’71-74,so knew Head in the Clouds when it started.It was great to return to the area and find H in the C and Martin haven’t changed at all!!
Only other unchanged thing seems to be Captain America
Gillian Holmes, 28/2/2010

“Oh, I love the smell in here; it smells like a really nice toilet.”
A young fellow entering Head In The Clouds, 30/11/2009

Still have a ‘Desiderata’ poster on a wall – purchased in 1974…..
My father always claimed the black toothpowder you could buy there had been scraped out of the dustbins of Calcutta; and that the incense sticks were Marry Juanna. So now my teeth are falling out and I’m high as a kite with every whiff of patchouli.
Jaqi Clayton, 20/10/2009

Hi – just found your site & been on a happy trip down memory lane. Lived in Norwich for 3 years while I was at Uni & ‘The Head Shop’ was an essential haunt. The photos of Christmas ’86 would have been almost exactly around the 1st time I discovered your Aladdin’s cave of an establishment. I still drop by every time I’m back visiting Norwich & not too much has changed since ’86 – no need to mess with a great formula ! Great memories of many happy hours. Thank you 🙂
Nick Shone, 23/7/2009

Hi there,- I just found you on the net- looking for Spiritual Sky products- and I can’t believe it! I used to spend big chunks of every Saturday in the shop 30+ years ago!!! I’m now 48 and left Norwich when I was 18. You & Strangers Hall, & the Library (which i heard burned down some time ago) were my escape spaces from about age 11 and the only things I liked about Norwich at the time. I have never been back cos I didn’t want to find you gone would you believe! maybe I will visit now- but just to say, there is prob no one working there now who I knew but everyone was great- Friends to a lonely teen. And as you note I still like the same stuff! I still have clothes I got from you & they still fit! Made my day finding you still exist.
* * *
Hi, just to add- had a look at the gallery and yes, of course I recognise and remember Martin- used to talk to him a lot!
* * *
I am afraid I don’t have any pictures- I don’t think anyone would have thought to take then- I certainly didn’t (pre digi age etc) although I can remember quite clearly what it was like, and when they opened the back for the 1st “dedicated” clothes bit as well! Probably no one would have guessed that it would become quite such an “institution”. I could take a photo of the skirt from C1975, and some jewelry and other bits I still have, if you’d like. I shall see what I can come up with.
* * *

Attached are some pics of said purchases! All bought between 1972 & 79- the skirt was, I’m fairly sure about 75. I suspect I have other stuff, still, from you as well, but its a bit hard to be sure after so long, so have just sent the certain stuff. And I still wear the skirt! It has been a long time favorite, but these days I am just a bit careful with it and wear it less, as the fabric is getting a little delicate (aren’t we all after 30yrs+?).
Steph, June 2009

“My dad calls this the mellow shop.”
Young fellow, 10/04/2009

As others have said hippy heaven about covers it. Tucked away on The Lanes, it could be a little hard to find for anyone who doesn’t know the area.
A shop with a distinct scent, they have a large ranges of gift ideas, also stocking clothing, gems and hairdye (I was in here frequently during my pink hair days!).
The staff are always friendly and helpful too.
[Qype User from Norwich] hotclu…, 28/1/2009

Hippies are us lol. Have spent many an hour browsing all the weird and wonderful novelty items. Insence, joss sticks, drug related paraphenalia. May even be able to pick up some tye-dye equipment. A nice tranquil little haven that has a distinct aroma.
[Qype User from Norwich] singl…, 26/1/2009

“Head In The Clouds: as always, full of love.”
A guy on his mobile, letting his wife know where he was, 21/12/2008

“I’ve been coming here since 1981…. If I don’t come to Head In The Clouds when I’m in Norwich, I get a terrible fever.”
Anna Baker, 20/12/2008

Other people have said it but it’s true, hippy heaven! I always go here to get insense sticks, they have a wide range and are quite cheap. Apart from the varied (and sometimes unusual gifts they have), I also like the fabric and scarves that they have on offer though most come away with a certain smell!
[Qype User from Fakenham] beauti…, 19/11/2008

Head in the clouds.feet on the ground. A little hippy haven in the lanes area of Norwich. Whether you want to buy an alternative gift for someone, some joss sticks, or some floaty fabric clothing, Head in the Clouds is the place for you! This shop has been here for as long as I can remember, and I have spent many times picking up a gem of a gift over the years. Silk scarves, ethnic jewellery, all at very good prices.
Check out the notice board nearby too – packed full of useful information with everything from vegan restaurants, to yoga classes, to protest details.
[Qype User from Norwich] hypno0…, 16/11/2008

An Aladins cave or unique and quirky clothing & gifts, next door is feet on the ground. The shop is very new-age. The staff are beautiful people who love their job and are more then happy to help. If you are looking for some unique gifts this is the place to go.
[Qype User from Norwich] Lauren…, 15/11/2008

perfect hippy shop, quite hard to find as its on one of the back streets off the market, herbal remedies of all kinds, insense, candles and allsorts.
[Qype User from Norwich] rosieg…, 15/11/2008

Interesting clothing and herbal scents for the hippy in you.
There’s lots of craft and handmade items as well as some great smells to follow you around the shop.
Friendly staff will help you and often open to bargain for a discount.
It’s almost more of a market feel rather than a shop. They are located on a pedestrianized street close to Tesco Metro and are part of the Norwich lanes area. They are sandwiched next to a sandwich shop and the hair dressers formerly owned by a Big Brother contestant Craig.
[Qype User from Diss] greasy…, 15/11/2008

just thought id say that i think your shop is frigging awesome and that i love everything ive bought from lighters to bandanas to shoe laces and all great thanks B-) X
Chris Jermy, 4/8/2008

Thanks for a speedy, pleasant transaction. I can’t easily get hold of the French Lavender incense down here (Cornwall) so I’ll get my supplies from you from now on!
Catherine McKenzie, 28/6/2008

“Very smelly – in a good way!”
Young girl to her parents, as they departed Head In The Clouds, 28/5/2008

“I love this shop – big middle finger up to the government!”
A cool dude, 23/2/2008

Hey,
Just wanted to say hello from Los Angeles. Where we always have our Head in the Clouds
John McPhee, 29/1/2008

hi there, i just thought i would drop you a line to say thank you for being there all this time, like coming home for me every time i visit.
since moving away from the area i havent been able to visit your shop as much as i would have liked.
imagine how happy i was to find that you finally have a website too 🙂
i love the pictures, they brought home so lovely memories for me.
i discovered what everyone at school called ‘head in the shed’ when i was about 12 and fell in love with the place instantly.
on tuesday i was in the shop with my son who is now 12 and he was equally enthralled with it.
i told him that this was a place where ‘the song remains the same’ and that it always made me feel warm inside, the familiar smells and atmosphere, the friendly nature and the knowledge that you will always find what you are looking for there.
Simon Deards, 1/11/2007

Many thanks to all of you!

Page last updated: 17/9/2018