The best second-hand coats for a London autumn, and real ones you can buy now

London doesn't do proper cold in October. It does damp. The Met Office's averages for Heathrow put October at a high of about 16°C and a low of about 9°C, with ten or eleven days of rain. November is a few degrees colder and just as wet. So the coat you want this time of year isn't a parka. It's something that shrugs off drizzle, works over a jumper, and doesn't look like you've given up.

Good news: every coat that does that job was perfected decades ago, which means the best versions are already second-hand. Here are the five types worth buying, and real ones on sale today. Prices and stock are as of 21 October 2026, and almost everything here is a one-off, so if you like it, don't sit on it.

The wax jacket

The obvious one, and obvious for a reason. Waxed cotton keeps rain out, gets better the more knackered it looks, and an old Barbour made in South Shields is a better coat than most new ones.

Rokit has a 00s Barbour Border in green, made in England, tartan lining, size XL, for £125. It has a small hole above the left pocket, which on a wax jacket is character, not a flaw. The Border is the long one, so it covers your thighs on a bike, and the price is a fraction of what a new Border costs.

If you'd rather it came with a guarantee, Barbour now restores its own old jackets at the South Shields factory and sells them as Re-loved, at £249 to £299. They come back with contrasting wax patches and heritage linings, so no two look the same. This Corbridge in a size M is £299. That's dear for second-hand, but you're paying for a jacket that's been taken apart and put back together by the people who made it.

Two things to know before buying any old wax jacket. First, count the royal crests on the label. Barbour got its first warrant in 1974, its second in 1982 and its third in 1987, so roughly speaking, one crest means 1974 to 1982, two means 1982 to 1987, and three means 1987 or later. Second, a dry, pale jacket isn't a dud. Barbour's own rewax service is £35, so knock that off what you'd pay and haggle accordingly.

The trench or mac

The trench is the smartest thing you can wear in the rain. Burberry says it invented gabardine in 1879 and dressed officers in trenches during the First World War. Aquascutum claims the trench as well, and I'm not getting involved.

What matters to you is the label. Burberry dropped the "s" from "Burberrys" in 1999, so a Burberrys label means an older coat, usually made in England. Rokit has a 1980s Burberry Commander II mac in an iridescent khaki polycotton, made in England, men's L, for £325. For women, there's a 1990s double-breasted Burberry trench, hand finished in England, size S, at £295. It's missing its cuff straps, which nobody will ever notice.

The one I'd actually buy is the Grenfell camo mac at £225, size L. Grenfell is an old English rainwear maker, and a heritage mac in camouflage is the kind of thing that looks good and doesn't look like everyone else's beige. If none of these fit, Rokit's trench coat page had 57 more when I checked.

The wool overcoat

For dry, cold days, and the days you've got somewhere to be. Wool is naturally water resistant, which is the Woolmark Company's phrase, not waterproof. It's fine in drizzle. In a downpour you'll arrive smelling like a wet sheep. When it does get soaked, hang it up to dry away from the radiator.

An Aquascutum overcoat with a velvet collar, catalogued as a covert coat. Photo: Toxophilus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The best one I found is a 1980s Chester Barrie herringbone overcoat, hand tailored for Harrods, double-breasted, made in England, XL, for £225. It's described as immaculate apart from one chipped button. That's English tailoring for high street money. If camel's more your thing, there's a 1990s Canali camel coat in wool with 10% cashmere, size M, at £375.

Keep an eye out for a covert coat too. You'll know one by the rows of stitching around the cuffs and hem, a leftover from its days as a riding coat. They come up at fairs and in the better charity shops, and they're the most London coat there is.

The duffle coat

The duffle is warmer than the mac and less serious than the overcoat, which makes it the coat for November. Get a Gloverall. The firm was founded in London in 1951 selling surplus Royal Navy duffles, then had new ones made to the same pattern when the surplus ran out, and the old made in England ones are tanks.

Rokit has a 1970s Gloverall in beige, heavyweight wool with a tartan lining, made in England, size L, for £175. The bottom fastening has been professionally repaired. Check the leather loops and the toggles on any duffle you buy, because they're the first things to go and they're fiddly to replace.

The field jacket

The cheapest way into a good coat, and the coolest. The US Army's M65 came in in 1965 and was made for decades, with a hood that rolls into the collar and buttons inside for a liner, so you can wear it in October and add the liner in November.

An M-1951 and a US Air Force field jacket, the M65's predecessors. Photo: 赤猫法師, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Rokit has a 1983 woodland camo M65, size S, for £50. It's still got its original patches from the 2nd Infantry Division and a helicopter badge, so it's a real jacket with a real owner's name on it, for the price of a takeaway for two. If you want olive green, there's a 70s M65 in Small X-Short for £145, and plenty more on the military jackets page.

Real issue jackets have a contract number on the label, starting with "DSA" or similar and including the year. If it's missing, it's probably a civilian copy, which is fine, but don't pay issue prices for it.

Where to look in person

Nearly everything above is from Rokit, which has shops in Camden, Brick Lane and Covent Garden, because its online stock was the deepest and most honest about condition I could find this week. For the very top end, The Vintage Showroom deals in archive military and outdoor pieces from a showroom on Mount Pleasant in Clerkenwell, with its outerwear running from £375 to £950. It used to have a shop on Earlham Street, so ignore older guides, and check whether you need an appointment before you go.

My advice is to pick the coat for the weather you actually get. In London that's drizzle on a Tuesday, not snow on a mountain. A wax jacket or a mac will see you through most of autumn, and a £50 M65 will handle the rest.