Montblanc Boutique – New Bond Street

I like Montblanc pens and their inks. I have been using ‘Irish Green’ for ages. It is an ink I use every single day. In fact I have quite a few pens filled up with it. Another favourite is ‘Toffee Brown’ and more recently I have been enjoying the delights of ‘Corn Poppy Red.’

I haven’t used a black ink in any of my pens since I was at university many years ago. Recently however I tested out a pen filled with ‘Mystery Black’ and I liked it a great deal. It won’t replace my favourite ‘Irish Green’ but I can see it being useful in certain situations. (It also justifies taking another pen with me filled with black ink). So, I made up my mind that I needed a bottle or two.

I decided to try Selfridges. I had not been to their stationery department for ages and as such when I tried to find it, things were so busy I gave up. John Lewis up the road do stock Montblanc ink but only online. I therefore had to resort to the Boutique on New Bond Street.

New Bond Street is a location in London where every manufacturer of luxury, high-end goods has an outlet. As a young child and into my youth I learnt to play the piano very badly (very much like Les Dawson – look him up playing the piano on YouTube and you’ll get the idea) and one of the only shops on the entire street I actually liked was ‘Chappell of Bond Street.’ They sold sheet music for just about everything and I loved it. Sadly, it is long gone. You might get where I am going with this. I absolutely loath New Bond Street – even thought it even has a connection to my favourite author P. G. Wodehouse and the characters of Jeeves and Wooster. Whenever I was dragged there as a child, apart from Chappell and the Jeeves and Wooster connection, I hated it.

So, it was with a heavy tread that I walked down New Bond Street to the Montblanc Boutique. Entering the shop I was greeted by display cases filled with all manner of goodies. The shop assistant was excellent and allowed me to sample the ‘Mystery Black’ ink and would have let me leave the shop with my pen filled up with any ink they sell to see whether I liked it. The whole experience was very pleasant.

When I got home I wasted little time filling up one of my 146’s with ‘Mystery Black’ and I have to report it is a great ink. I can see it coming in very handy. I have yet to actually experience swapping a nib on a new pen for example at one of the Montblanc Boutiques, but if simply buying a couple of bottles of ink is anything to go by, I would imagine it would be nothing but plain sailing to say the least!