Vintage and charity shops in Lincoln, and which charity each one actually funds
Every charity shop says it supports a good cause. Not every one sends the money to the same place. Buy something in the RSPCA shops or at St Barnabas and the money is spent in Lincolnshire, by a charity registered here. Buy it at the British Heart Foundation, Oxfam, Cancer Research UK, Barnardo’s or the British Red Cross and it goes to a national charity’s work across the country or the world. Both are worth doing; they are just different choices.
Each entry below gives the shop’s address, the charity behind it and its number on the Charity Commission register, so you can look it up. The independent vintage shops are at the end, with who is behind them where the register tells us. Checked 13 September 2026.
Charity shops where the money stays in Lincolnshire
Both of these charities are registered in Lincolnshire and spend what the shops raise here.
- RSPCA, High Street, Charity shop261 High Street, LN2 1HW. Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm, Sunday noon to 4pm, closed Monday. A second shop is at St Mark’s Street, LN5 7BA, near the university, open Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 4pm. Both are run by the RSPCA Lincolnshire Mid, North East & Lincoln Branch, a charity in its own right (registered charity 1212961, re-registered as a charitable incorporated organisation on 15 April 2025) rather than the national RSPCA. The branch says all proceeds from both shops go to the animals in its care in and around Lincoln. Both shops also stock vintage pieces alongside clothes, shoes and pet supplies.
- St Barnabas Hospice, High Street North, Charity shop265 High Street, LN2 1HW. Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Run by St Barnabas Hospice Trust (Lincolnshire), registered charity 1053814, which is based on Nettleham Road in Lincoln and provides care for people across Lincolnshire living with a life-limiting or terminal illness. Its flagship shop, The Warehouse, is at Central Warehouse, 12 Cardinal Close, LN2 4SY, and has a much bigger range than the High Street shop.
Charity shops funding a national charity
All on or just off the High Street, and all good shops. The money goes into each charity’s national work rather than to Lincoln specifically.
- British Heart Foundation, Charity shop328 High Street, LN5 7DQ. Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Clothes, shoes, books, toys and homeware. British Heart Foundation, registered charity 225971, which funds heart and circulatory disease research.
- Oxfam, Charity shopHigh Street, LN5 7DQ, near the level crossing. Clothes, accessories, books and homeware. Oxfam, registered charity 202918, which works to end poverty worldwide. Oxfam also runs a separate bookshop on Cornhill, covered in our Lincoln bookshops guide.
- Cancer Research UK, Charity shop254 High Street, LN2 1HW. Books, bric-a-brac, clothes and homeware. Cancer Research UK, registered charity 1089464, which funds cancer research.
- Barnardo's, Charity shop262–263 High Street, LN2 1HW, listed as a Barnardo’s discount shop. Barnardo’s, registered charity 216250, which supports children and young people.
- British Red Cross, Charity shop279 High Street, LN2 1JG. Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 11am to 3pm. Clothes, shoes, books, CDs, DVDs and homeware. The British Red Cross Society, registered charity 220949.
Independent vintage shops
Not charity shops: these are businesses, so the money goes to whoever owns them.
- Rock Retro, Vintage clothing17–18 Guildhall Street, LN1 1TR, just off the High Street in a bright yellow shopfront, open since 2019. It describes itself as Lincoln’s largest vintage clothing shop. Trades as ROCK RETRO LTD, company 14111304, registered at the shop. Michelle Anne Ayscough and Adam Lewis Ayscough are each registered as holding 25–50% of it, since May 2022.
- Ego, Vintage and new clothing2 The Strait, LN2 1JD, at the bottom of the hill up to the Cathedral, trading since 1992. A mix of new, retro and vintage clothing for men and women, with the older vintage upstairs. We could not match it to a company on the Companies House register, so no owner is named here.
- Yak, Vintage clothing and streetwear34 The Strait, LN2 1JD, further up The Strait from Ego, trading since 1995. Vintage and streetwear for men and women. As with Ego, we could not match it to a company on the register, so no owner is named.
Where to go next
Most of these are on the High Street between the level crossing and The Strait, an easy walk from the university. Where students live has walking times from each part of the city, and our bookshops guide covers the Oxfam bookshop and the history society’s second-hand bookshop on Steep Hill.
How this was checked
Every shop was checked on 13 September 2026. Addresses and opening hours come from each charity’s own shop page where one exists (the RSPCA branch, St Barnabas, the British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and the British Red Cross), and from the Charity Retail Association’s member listings for Cancer Research UK and Barnardo’s. Charity numbers come from the Charity Commission register. Rock Retro’s owners come from its entry on the Companies House register.
A few shops are deliberately missing. The Mind shop at 340 High Street is listed widely, but we could not confirm from Mind itself whether it is run by the national charity or a local Mind, which are separate charities, so we have not named the charity it funds. Scope has a shop at the north end of the High Street, but we could not confirm its address from Scope. St Barnabas is listed elsewhere as having a vintage and retro store further down the High Street, but it does not appear on the charity’s own current shop list, so it is left out rather than sending you to an empty shopfront. Jailhouse Frock in the Cornhill Quarter is a lovely shop, but it sells reproduction 1940s and 1950s clothing rather than second-hand vintage, so it is outside this page.