About Us

We trained as Dispensing Opticians, but we also trained as Eyewear Stylists. The eyewear styling course was designed by an Optometrist who took all her professional optical knowledge and added this to her training in colour styling with “House of Colour” and “Colour Me Beautiful”, to produce a course for opticians, that not only takes into account your colour type, but also your facial features and style personality.

Our model for helping you choose the best eyewear for you is an hour-long process to determine your style personality, your facial dimensions and your colour type. Armed with this objective information we can make a selection of glasses for you that objectively will work perfectly for you. You bring the subjectivity to the process, and ultimately you will confidently choose eyewear that you will absolutely love to wear!

This enjoyable consultation takes the overwhelm out of choosing!

Of course! We usually keep Saturdays free in terms of appointments, but if you call in Tuesday to Friday you’re also very welcome to browse, even if we are not able to give you one to one attention. Feel free to view and try on our glasses. Take videos and photos of any you might like. Take a card and contact us later for an appointment at your convenience.

Our studio is comfortable and colourful, with an art gallery feel. Our glasses are displayed artistically and creatively – we’re more like a glasses gallery than a conventional opticians. We look forward to having you visit us – even if you just want to browse. We can also offer you a coffee while you do so!

No, we only have independently designed eyewear we source from around the world. We visit eyewear shows in London and France to bring you the best in independent eyewear design.

There are some good designer brands out there in the high street, but they are not handmade, and the “name” is usually a licensed brand name given to a mass-produced collection. We seek out designers who produce small ever-changing collections, made with high quality materials.

These true spectacle designers would not be able to supply the numbers needed by high street opticians. You’re essentially buying eyewear art. And with our hand made frames we don’t repeat buy the same design – we want you to have a limited edition in our area!

Ideally, yes. But if you pop in, we’re free, and there’s time for a consultation we’re happy to see you there and then. But booking an appointment ensures you’ll get to see us at a time convenient to you, and that you haven’t had a wasted journey if we’re not free when you pop in.

No, there is no consultation fee – it’s part of our service. But equally there is no pressure or obligation to buy.

No. As trained Dispensing Opticians and Eyewear Stylists we handle all aspects of frames and lenses. Simply bring a copy of your current prescription with you. Choosing new glasses shouldn’t be a hurried experience following an eye test.

We concentrate on helping you find the frames that will work perfectly for you in terms of shape, colour and style, and lenses that will totally work for your lifestyle and visual needs.

If you have opted to invest in a superb quality frame and high performance lenses, we want you to be able to spread the cost, so we are happy to offer you a zero interest payment plan, spread over 3 months. Please ask us about this option.

Having excellent quality frames that will maintain their quality over a longer period of time means when you need a change in prescription you are more likely to be able to simply have your frame re-lensed.

Buying your glasses from Forrest means buying top quality, niche eyewear. Our frames are often hand made in high quality materials. Our frames start at £175, and our average frame price is in the region of £250. We also offer a range of lens options. Our Varifocals start at £190, with additional charges for thinner lenses or tints, but all lenses come with high performance anti-reflection and hard coating included. Simple single vision lenses start at £125. We also offer Occupational lenses.

Our premium lenses, for those who want the absolute best option in terms of performance, and superior coatings, we work with Nikon and Essilor (the French inventors of Varifocal lenses). These start at £490. Please ask us about he amazing Nikon “Drive” coating to give you extra protection against glare from oncoming headlights when driving at night!