Old Street Costume Accessories Shop, £3 Eye Masks: Mad World

Mad World Fancy Dress fills a long frontage at 69-85 Tabernacle Street, London EC2A 4BD, a short walk south of Old Street roundabout. The business says it was born in 1971 and has spent the decades since hiring costumes to royalty, television companies and film stars, and it now calls itself one of the largest party retail shops in the UK. For anyone who needs a mask, a wig or the small finishing touches for a costume, it is the biggest single room of choice on the City fringe.

The headline number is the archive: Mad World says it holds over 35,000 costumes to choose from, a depth of stock that makes it a realistic option when a group needs several matching outfits at short notice. The shop also points out that many of its knowledgeable staff have been with the business for over 30 years, which is rare in a trade where most party shops change hands every few years.

That long memory is the reason to visit in person rather than order online. Arrive with the theme, the size of the group and the date of the event written down, and ask for hire options before you start on the accessory shelves. If you are hiring, Mad World states that prices start from £35 for a 7-day hire period, which covers a week of fittings, the event itself and the return trip.

Not every visit needs a full outfit. The retail side carries the small items that make an ordinary look into a costume, and the prices are low enough to buy several. A black bandit superhero eye mask costs £3.00, which is the cheapest way to turn a dark jumper into a cat burglar or a caped hero. The pink troll wacky wig is £10.00, a bright and comic option for group costumes or a children's party.

For Halloween, the ghost face mask is £10.00 and the chinless wolf mask is £18.00, two very different ways to cover your face for a horror night. If you are dressing as a pantomime or fairy-tale villain, the evil stepmother heart-shaped pompadour wig costs £21.00 and does most of the work on its own. Pair it with a long black dress you already own and you have a recognisable character for less than the cost of a takeaway.

If you are pulling together a group costume for an office party, the cheap pieces add up in your favour. Ten £3.00 eye masks cost less than a single full outfit, and a mix of the £10.00 masks and wigs lets everyone pick a character within the same theme. Lay the options out on the counter before you pay so the group can see the whole look together, and set aside one or two spares in case somebody forgets theirs on the night.

Normal opening hours are Monday to Friday 11am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 11am to 4pm. For the run-up to 31 October the shop publishes extended hours: Monday 19 to Saturday 24 October it is open 10:30am to 7pm, Sunday 25 October 11am to 4pm, Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October 10:30am to 8pm, and Sunday 1 November 11am to 4pm.

Those late finishes in the final week are useful for City workers who can only get there after the office. Even so, the best plan is to arrive soon after the doors open on a weekday morning, when there are fewer people browsing the hire rails. Saturday afternoons in late October are the busiest time in any London costume shop, and the queue for advice can slow down a quick accessory run.

If you are hiring, think about the return as well as the collection. A costume collected on Monday 26 October and worn on Halloween night still fits inside the seven-day hire period, which avoids a rushed trip back on the Saturday. Book the collection day around your event date, not the other way round.

Go in with a short brief: the character, the event, and whether you want to buy or hire. Hire makes sense for heavy or detailed outfits you will only wear once, such as a full period gown or an animal suit. Buying is better for anything that touches your face or hair, like masks and wigs, and for cheap pieces you might reuse. Mixing the two, with a hired base costume and bought accessories, is often the best value.

Bring a photo of your reference and a note of your measurements if you are hiring for someone else. When you collect a hired costume, check that every piece is in the bag before you leave, and keep track of the return date so the seven-day window does not run out. The shop also runs mail-order hire, which helps if you are planning an event outside London.

Tabernacle Street sits between Old Street and Moorgate, so a costume run here combines well with a short walk. Head south-west to Bunhill Fields, the old nonconformist burial ground where William Blake, John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe are commemorated. In late October, with the leaves down and the headstones leaning, it is about as atmospheric a spot for a Halloween photo as you will find in the City.

Going north instead, Hoxton Square is around ten minutes on foot and is lined with bars and restaurants, so it is a natural place to meet friends after shopping and test whether your new wig survives a drink. Old Street station on the Northern line and the National Rail branch is the easiest way back.

Mad World Fancy Dress is at 69-85 Tabernacle Street, London EC2A 4BD. The nearest station is Old Street. Prices quoted come from the shop's website: hire from £35 for seven days, the £3.00 bandit eye mask, the £10.00 pink troll wig, the £10.00 ghost face mask, the £18.00 chinless wolf mask and the £21.00 evil stepmother pompadour. For a Shoreditch dinner or bar to follow your costume run, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP.