Priya fits every pair by hand and measures each eye separately. Every price below is for a complete pair — frame, lenses, anti-reflection coating and fitting — not a lens-only price with the frame added at the till. You are welcome to bring your own frame instead.
Every frame is adjusted to your face before you leave, and re-adjusted free whenever it slips. A fitting takes about ten minutes and needs no appointment — walk in during opening hours and we will do it while you wait.
The three numbers on the inside of an arm are lens width, bridge width and arm length, all in millimetres. If a pair has ever felt right, those numbers are why, and we can match them.
Which one you need is decided by how many distances your eyes have to cover, not by how much you want to spend. We will tell you which of the three applies before we show you a single frame.
One prescription across the whole lens, for distance or for reading. The right choice if your sight needs correcting at one distance only — which is most people under about 45.
Pupil distance, both eyes separately
Built for one working distance — a screen, a bench, a music stand. Wider and clearer than a varifocal at that distance, but not for driving, and not for walking about in.
Working distance, measured at your own desk height
Distance, middle and reading in one lens, blended so there is no visible line. We measure your eye position in the chosen frame to place the corridor correctly — which is why the frame is chosen before the lens is ordered.
Eye height in the chosen frame, both eyes
Every complete pair we sell falls into one of four bands. The band sets the frame you choose from and the lens material we use; the lens type then sets the price within it. Nothing is added at the counter that was not named here.
The frames covered in full by the funded scheme, plus our own budget range. Standard-index plastic lenses, hard-coated, anti-reflection included. Perfectly good glasses; they are just not thin and they are not designer.
Where most people land. Acetate and metal frames from independent makers, thinned lenses at no extra charge, and the coating package included. A single vision pair here is £89–£145; a varifocal is £245–£320.
For prescriptions strong enough that a standard lens would look like a bottle base. High-index material, edge-polished, in a frame chosen to hide the thickness. The lens is doing the work here, not the badge on the arm.
Small-run frames from workshops in Britain, Japan and northern Italy — hand-cut acetate, titanium, pinned hinges. The lens price is identical to Band B. You are paying for the frame, and we will say exactly how much of the total that is.
Bringing your own frame? We deduct the frame element and charge lenses only — from £49 single vision, from £185 varifocal — provided the frame is sound enough to take a new lens. Priya will tell you honestly if it is not.
Not your face shape. Three measurements and one prescription decide most of it, and we take them before you look at the shelf so you are not choosing from three hundred frames that will never sit right.
Cut from sheet, so colour runs through the material rather than sitting on top of it. Warmer on the skin than metal, thicker at the rim, and forgiving of a stronger prescription because the rim hides lens edge. Adjusts by heat, so it can be re-shaped as often as needed.
Thinner at the rim and lighter on the nose, with adjustable pads that let us level a frame on an uneven bridge. Titanium costs more and weighs less; stainless steel costs less and takes more abuse. Neither hides a thick lens edge, so a strong prescription needs the high-index lens to go with it.
The width across your nose and the distance to your ear. These two numbers rule out most of the shelf before you touch it, and they are why an online frame so often arrives wrong.
A strong prescription needs a small, deep frame or the lens gets heavy and thick at the edge. We say this out loud rather than letting you fall for a wide frame that will not work.
Measured in the frame you have chosen, both eyes separately. For a varifocal this decides where the reading corridor sits — get it wrong by two millimetres and the lens never feels right.
Heat-adjusted to your face on collection, and again whenever it slips. Free, no appointment, for as long as you own the frame — including frames you did not buy from us.
Anti-reflection and scratch coating are included in every pair, at every band. These are the only extras that cost more, and this is the whole list.
| Option | Extra cost | Worth it if | Adds to wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-reflection coating | Included | Always. It is not an upsell here. | — |
| Scratch-resistant hard coat | Included | Always. Standard on every lens we cut. | — |
| Thinning (high index) | Included | Your prescription needs it. We decide, not the till. | +2 days |
| Photochromic (darkens outdoors) | £45 | You are outdoors daily and dislike swapping pairs. | +3 days |
| Polarised sun lenses | £60 | You drive a lot, sail, fish, or ski. | +3 days |
| Tint, fixed density | £25 | Light sensitivity, or you simply prefer it. | +1 day |
| Blue-filter coating | £35 | Honestly: the evidence is thin. We will not push it. | +2 days |
Funded-care patients: the scheme covers a Band A frame with single vision lenses in full. If you want a frame from a higher band, you pay only the difference — we deduct the voucher value at the counter rather than asking you to claim it back. The full entitlement list is on the booking page.
There is no sales floor to walk through and there are no targets on the dispensing desk. That means we can say the following out loud without it costing anybody a commission.
If your distance vision is clear and only reading has gone, a pair of readers at £89 does the job that a £245 varifocal would. We will tell you when a varifocal genuinely becomes worth it — usually when you are carrying two pairs and swapping constantly.
If your prescription has changed but the frame is sound, we can re-lens it for the lens price alone. It is a smaller sale for us and the right answer for you, so it is the one we offer first.
Blue-filter coatings are on our list at £35 because some people want them and it is your money. We do not claim they prevent eye strain, because the evidence does not support it. Screen fatigue is usually a dry-eye problem, and that we can actually measure.
A dispensing appointment with Priya takes about half an hour and costs nothing. Bring your prescription — ours or anyone else's — or book an exam first and do both in one trip.
Perfect for: anyone holding a prescription and wondering what it will actually cost