Thomas Farthing

I stumbled across Thomas Farthing on a sunny Sunday afternoon having just been to the British Museum and having some time to kill, I decided to see what the side streets in the area had to offer. Almost immediately my eye was drawn to a penny farthing leant against a shop window and the most fantastically well displayed windows; this seemed a little out of place on sleepy Museum Street.

Having worked in menswear and knowing how to appreciate good visual merchandising, not to mention a shop that screams history and quality, I had to investigate further. Upon entering you are almost overwhelmed by the array of materials, colours and above all the feeling that you have stepped back nearly 100 years to the golden age of dressing and into an Edwardian railway station. This is further enhanced by the presence of stuffed animals, leather arcana and battered luggage all around the shop. These are used in all manner of interesting ways, from the goose with a bow tie, which is fast becoming a signature of the shop, to the pheasants in the window displays and the abacus used as a tie rack.

Adam who runs the shop is responsible for the visual merchandising and scenes that play out across the store and Daniel is the newly employed weekend assistant and sartorial aficionado. They were both bedecked in hats from Christies and Daniel in more tweed than you could shake a shooting stick at and looked right at home among the burnished wood and hat boxes.

The eponymous Thomas is behind a lot of the design and the general ethos of the store, which combined with Adam’s excellent history running Strumper & Fielding on Portobello Road and their desire to replicate a genuine, customer based retail experience in such an amazing environment makes them a shop I am confident I will not be the only one to return to again and again.

The store stocks a range of classic UK &Irish brands; Loake, McGee, Gurteen, Peregrine, Mitchelson, Hanna, Fulton, the aforementioned Christy’s and perhaps most interestingly their own Thomas Farthing brand too. They also have commissioned pieces such as a three piece tweed suit soon and various other closely guarded pieces, which they will be receiving soon I am reliably informed. The leather footballs and rugby balls can also be purchased, so if you fancy a tweed rugby match before your tweed run, you know where to head!

They can be found at:

40 Museum Street, London, WC1A 1LU

020 7831 1600

Opening Hours:

Monday – Sunday: 10am-7pm

 Written by Peter Churchill