Tailors and Outfitters (bespoke and other)

Caplan's had a shop in the Precinct somewhere in the 60s - I went there for a holiday job (until I discovered that meant the holiday fortnight!!) Alexandre's - my wedding suit came from there in 1973! The salesman/tailor was an Irish guy, name on the tip of my tongue. I'll remember it later, I'm sure!! Weaver to Wearer - yes - but I can't remember where they went after the temporary shops were removed. Wasn't to Hales Street? I think they were absorbed by one of the off-the-peg tailors. And - EVERYONE looked smart then!! (Just like they do if you go somewhere like Denmark today.....)

I think I have the right name, there was a gents outfitters in the city centre, Broadgate/Heartford Street, called Gates. I think it is a key cutting shop now but they sold some really good clobber in there.

I can't remember Gates being in Broadgate, though I do remember the name.

I remember Gates in Broadgate, my husband used to get his Rael-brook shirts from there in the early 60s, it was the only shop in Coventry he could get a 14 collar.

My elderly mother remembers Harry Caplan's as being in White St, same row as the School Outfitters. He would tailor a suit any way you wanted.

I would imagine that Caplan's probably succumbed to high rates and reducing trade for bespoke tailors in the 60s; bespoke tailors were obviously in decline, and the rates in the Precinct area must have been crippling to a one-man business. It must have been 1960 or 61 when I went there for a holiday job, since I was still at school. His cutting table, and all his cloths, were in the shop itself - hundreds and hundreds of flat rolls. I said "Precinct area", but I think it must have been Market Way; his shop was in the middle of a row on a curving section heading towards Shelton Square, I think it was on the same side as Woolworth's. (I only went there the once, and it WAS a long time ago...) He was getting on a bit then, must have been around 60, I guess.

Before then, Caplan's were at Warwick Row, Bishop Street and Foleshill Road - a 1952 ad

... and a receipt from 1969 for my wedding suit! ... which cost £13 then, equivalent to £251 today.

Hi Tony, you got married at 19? I remember buying a bale of material and taking it to a tailor who was at the top of the High Street on the left (opposite the banks). Cannot remember their name????

Hi Mick, yes I did, gosh it sounds young doesn't it? Can't recall the name of the tailors you refer to. Was Hepworths around that area? Maybe MR could look them up in his telephone directory

Where was Arthur Hammond, corner of Hales and the Burges??

Yes, Dreamtime - and now it is "Kong"

1970 - Frank Carter (Bradford) Ltd - 5 High Street Hepworths is listed as Broadgate House

I bought a Hardy Amies tie from there in the 60s, it cost me my whole week's wages, to go with my suit that I had made at Burtons. We liked to look smart in those days, not like the casual look you see today.

Yes, thanks MR, wasn't there another branch of A. Hammond towards the end of Hertford Street, used to be a lot of Service badges in the window.