Private tour of Henry Poole

 

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Private tour of bespoke tailor Henry Poole for up to 10 people including the Churchill patterns

Simon Cundey, family heir to the tailor legacy, will give a private tour for up to 10 people of the exclusive Savile Row showroom, cutting rooms and archives.  Mr. Cundey will take the guests through how a suit is made, from feeling fabric samples and discussing material weights through to the patterns and fittings.  The tour will culminate with Mr. Cundey opening the historic archives so guests can see the orders of some of its famous clientele, including Sir Winston Churchill, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Edward VII, Napoleon and Nehru.   In the famous WWII photograph of Churchill holding a tommy gun, Churchill is wearing a chalk stripe Henry Pool suit. The tour will last around an hour and be at a mutually convenient time during the normal business week.

Mr. Cundey also will share anecdotes about the company's history, including how Henry Poole created a short smoking jacket for the Prince of Wales in 1860 to wear at Sandringham, which James Potter had them copy in 1868.  When Mr. Potter started wearing it at the Tuxedo Park Club in America, it became the rage known as the Tux.

Savile Row is the heart of English bespoke tailoring. Its fame can be traced back to James Poole who opened a linen drapers in Everett Street, Brunswick Square in 1806. By the time of the Battle of Waterloo, Pooles was making tunics and had set up as a military tailor. In 1822 he opened an emporium in 181 Regent Street and later made his headquarters at 4 Old Burlington Street. Upon his death in 1846, his son Henry enlarged the premises and built a palatial showroom with a new entrance opening onto the adjoining street of Savile Row, thus starting the long tradition of the Savile Row suit.

With Henry Poole’s death in 1876, his cousin Samuel Cundey took over and by now the firm had nearly every European crowned head on its books. Pooles opened branches in Paris, Vienna and Berlin. By the early 1900’s, Henry Poole was the largest establishment of its type in the world, employing 300 tailors and 14 cutters.

They are located in a beautiful Victorian building at number 15 Savile Row.

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