AirNurse

Does anyone know where I could purchase a polystyrene box/cooler in Central London? Something approximately 60cm x 60cm?

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Argos ( lots of stores) may have some;

https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/sport...boxes/c:30511/

(you may want to check availability and order online to collect in store)

Camping/outdoor stores would be a good place.

Regards

TBS

MoreMilesPlease

amazon.co.uk would also be an option. many time there is same day delivery.

LapLap

TK Maxx (there is one next to Tottenham Court Road Station) often has cooler boxes.
No knowing what you might find there, but this is an example: https://www.tkmaxx.com/home/kitchen/...4cm/p/85456549


Otherwise, try John Lewis on Oxford Street.

dulciusexasperis

We all interpret things based on our own world. I don't know what the OP has in mind but given that her home airport is Jacksonville, Florida, I suspect she is referring to a 'styrofoam' cooler such as can usually be found lurking on the top shelves in any N. American supermarket. They are very cheap and pretty much disposable in nature. Not the same thing as a 'cooler' with say a hard plastic outer shell or a 'cool bag' such as the example LapLap has linked.

Take a look at this picture.



If you look closely, on the far left you see hard shell coolers and on the right, styrofoam onlycoolers which you can literally poke your finger through if you really wanted to. The styrofoam only coolers are far cheaper. Often people buy one for a one time picnic for example. I have often bought one when flying into somewhere and then doing a 'road trip' by car for a period of time. Great for keeping roadside food in during the trip and then at the end of the vacation, you just dispose of it before returning the rental car.

Here is an old thread by an American visitor to the UK asking about doing the same thing for a road trip in the UK. Interestingly, this poster is also from Jacksonville, Florida but the post is from 2007.
https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic...c-England.html

krispy84

MoreMilesPlease

dulciusexasperis

The thing is MoreMilesPlease, those that you linked on Amazon cost at least double what the kind I showed in the picture above cost. If you look again at the picture, you will see a price of $7.99, roughly 5 GBP.

It isn't about the money per se, it is about it being considered disposable and so you want to spend as little as possible on it. I'm guessing that the OP will probably opt for a cool bag or hard shell cooler as that is what is relatively easily available in the UK. But I'm also guessing the OP was looking for a 'styrofoam' cooler as in the picture above.

When you end a road trip in a rental car and come to dispose of a 'styrofoam cooler', you just break it up into pieces with your hands and dispose of it in a rubbish bin. If you have a hard shell cooler, not only can't you easily do that but there is just something 'wasteful' in throwing a perfectly good hard shell cooler in the rubbish. It just doesn't 'feel right' if you know what I mean. I know that if it were me ending a trip with a hard shell cooler, I would be looking to give it to someone to use rather than putting it in a rubbish bin. It just somehow would not be as 'disposable' in my mind as a simple styrofoam only cooler is. I guess it is a cultural thing perhaps.

AirNurse

dulciusexasperis and MoreMilesPlease are indeed correct! I was originally thinking something along the lines of what is commonly found in US supermarkets, although more specifically something like what is found in blood banks -- thick walled, straight sided, with a well-fitting lid (as linked by MoreMilesPlease). After reviewing the options that you have all kindly provided, I think we will probably just opt for a soft-sided cooler bag type situation, packed safely away inside a cardboard box. My goal is to bring some goodies home from the UK, which I'm hoping won't be a problem on an 8 hour flight in March.

Thanks again for all the suggestions!