1. Continuity is crucial. My grandfather opened the shop, and I took over from my parents when they retired. I’ve been here for more than 50 years now, but my children are doing other things so all I can do is try to sell it as a going concern – and at least no-one can change the frontage. Next door was a big family-run department store called Daniels who all died out.
2. People will always want something that little bit different, something dressy. Especially after the war, when clothing had been under government restriction and everything was plain. Women hadn’t seen embroidered dresses for years. We had queues outside the shop.
3. Material should be made in Britain. We used to be the biggest exporters of clothing in the world. Now they’ve closed all the mills that made the cloth, we’re having to buy it from Italy and Eastern Europe. Even if they’re made here, the cloth comes from abroad.
4. Sell to your clientele. That’s how we’ve managed to survive over the years. We’re the only place round here where an older woman can buy classic styles. Youngsters used to be the biggest market, but it’s a different world now. The average age of our customers is going up and up – we have many now who are 100+ whose carers come in.
5. You can see people’s personalities in what they buy. Some are the head of the family; others are more quiet, so they choose long-sleeved, high-necked blouses. We’ve had transvestites in. They arrive as a man and try on a dress. They want something a bit more showy, because they’re going to make a statement on stage.
6. It’s very difficult to try and influence anybody. But customers can still surprise me. An older woman might buy something bright like the red polka-dot dress. I’ll let her reminisce about going dancing, about returning to her youth in the 1960s.
7. I couldn’t be very modern, I don’t know how. It wouldn’t suit me. Let’s leave that to somebody younger and in the swing of things.
Words & Pics: Anna Bear
God I love this place, it’s a Kentish Town institution!
It certainly is a landmark on Kentish Town Road. A beautiful shop to look at. I love the way the imported middle-classes look at places like these and pretend they come from an area where they actually belong.
Gerry, am I being thick or is the sense of your comment not quite clear? Maybe you can elaborate…
Of course. I drink in the Pub opposite ( Annie’s ) and often see the giggling middle-class imports to Kentish Town sneer at the shop’s merchandise. However, I also see the same people taking pictures with their expensive cameras to appear above their beautifully crafted fire-places and make believe they were here all along. Obviously they then nip into The Oxford or The Abbey ( both formerly great pubs ) for a ridiculously priced bottle of plonk.
Hope that is a little clearer.
Annie’s Bar, the classic working-class old-fashioned boozer.
Know anything about Annie’s do we Jonathon? Past or present.
Right, we’re calling time on this one. This interview highlights the quiet stoicism of a longterm business owner in his own words. Surely that’s the point?
PS Gerry: why not write us something on the history of Annie’s? Sounds like you have some knowledge which it would be interesting to hear. Email us on info@kentishtowner.co.uk if you wish.