If there ever was a quintessential department store, Simpsons of Piccadilly was it. Built in 1936 this six storey store sold most traditional clothing for ladies and gentlemen in a most traditional manner. They pioneered ready-to-wear suits and shirts, back in an age when made-to-measure tailoring was still very much the norm, always with reverential customer service. Alas by the 1990s Simpson had become something of an anachronism, even down Piccadilly, and the store finally closed its doors five years ago (report of the last days here). Waterstones the booksellers have moved in since, opening the largest book store in Europe. Well worth a regular lunchtime browse for those of us who work round here, but somehow not quite the same as having your inside leg checked. Bowblog went for a visit recently, checking out the grand entrance, sweeping central staircase and miniature lifts, complete with photos.
Simpson's most famous employee was comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd, a junior in the gents department in the 1940s. 25 years later he was looking for a script idea to sell to BBC comedy bosses and Are You Being Served was the result. Simpson's archaic work practices, staff pecking order and fawning customer service were fertile ground for a sitcom, and characters such as Captain Peacock ("Are you free?") and Mr Humphries ("I'm free!") were firmly grounded in Jeremy's real life experience. Scriptwriting partner David Croft suggested adding a Ladies Intimate Apparel department, bringing us the outrageous bouffant Mrs Slocombe ("Having a bath at six o'clock in the morning played havoc with my pussy!"). AYBS wasn't an instant hit, first creeping onto our screens when sports schedules cleared during the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis. But the public eventually loved it, both at home and abroad, and the sitcom ran for 10 seasons with audiences peaking at 22 million. Simpson may have long closed, but its spirit lives on at Grace Brothers. (UK Gold, Wednesdays, 7pm)
Famous places down the street where I work
If there ever was a quintessential department store, Simpsons of Piccadilly was it. Built in 1936 this six storey store sold most traditional clothing for ladies and gentlemen in a most traditional manner. They pioneered ready-to-wear suits and shirts, back in an age when made-to-measure tailoring was still very much the norm, always with reverential customer service. Alas by the 1990s Simpson had become something of an anachronism, even down Piccadilly, and the store finally closed its doors five years ago (report of the last days here). Waterstones the booksellers have moved in since, opening the largest book store in Europe. Well worth a regular lunchtime browse for those of us who work round here, but somehow not quite the same as having your inside leg checked. Bowblog went for a visit recently, checking out the grand entrance, sweeping central staircase and miniature lifts, complete with photos.
