Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Hat Shops in London?

nicolasb

Familiar Face
Messages
86
Recommended hat shops / hatters in the UK...?

I figure this topic deserves its own thread. :)

There are a number of names which tend to come up rather often on this forum - Art Fawcett, Optimo Hats, Steve Delk, etc. Are there any equivalents to people of this calibre in the UK? Or can anyone even recommend a hat shop that's reasonably good value?

My experience of shopping around London to date has been rather dissappointing.

Department stores like John Lewis really don't have anything of any quality.

James Lock & Co. (www.jameslock.co.uk) do have some quite nice hats, but the price is just scary. This thing, for example: http://www.jameslock.co.uk/prod2.taf?groupId=100008&_UserReference=572A88B0ECDE3B9742F76066 - reasonably smart if you like velour, but £165? (That's nearly $300). I wasn't too impressed by their (rather coarse) brisa-weave panama hats stamped "Genuine Montecristi" either. (Also selling for about $300).

Herbert Johnson (just up the road from James Lock) - they're more of a military wholesalers, but they have some nice (albeit horrifyingly expensive) panamas. (www.herbert-johnson.co.uk)

Bates Hats (otherwise known as "Gentleman's Hatter" - www.bates-hats.co.uk) on Jermyn Street is a slightly smaller establishment, and a little cheaper, but not that much. Has some of the same probably-not-Montecristi range. I liked the fact that the very first thing the guy did was to whip out a tape measure (without asking).

I did find one quite nice "starter hat" shop yesterday - if there are any other newbie Londoners reading this, then check it out. The London Hat Centre, 18 Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington. Open on Sundays (10-2) but closed for the Jewish Sabbath. They have some reasonable fur-felt fedoras - roughly similar quality to some of the cheaper Akubra fur felt hats.

I bought a black, fur felt fedora with a rather high crown and a 3 1/4" brim for £50. (I'll post a photo at some point - need to be at home in daylight as my cheap digital camera doesn't do a very good job with the flash). Will go back and try on a lower-crown, narrower-brim dark brown fedora when he has it in a 61. (I liked the size 60). They have a partner shop which sells mostly women's hats (and a few men's, but not in my size) called Bubbles on the High Road in Leytonstone.

Any other suggestions?
 

AntonAAK

Practically Family
Messages
628
Location
London, UK
It is probably best to start with Lock and Bates, which are quite close to each other so you could easily visit them together.

Lock & Co. Hatters
6 St. James's Street
London, United Kingdom

Bates Hatters
Hilditch & Key / Bates
73, Jermyn Street
London
SW1Y 6JD
Tel & Fax: 020 7734 2722

Hornet's of Kensington are stockists of (new) Christy's hats and their shops are worth a visit for vintage clothing too.

The three shops are at:


2 & 4 Kensington Church Walk, London W8 4NB


36b Kensington Church Street, London W8 4BX

Have fun and let us know what you think.
A
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hey folks,

This December, my father and I are going to London for a holiday and dad's wanting to buy himself a nice fedora (or similar) while we're over there. Are there any good hat-shops in London? I tried searching online, but the seemingly overwhelming number of results left me confused and rather frightened about picking something substandard.

So, are there any shops in London that will sell good-quality fur-felt hats at good prices? And where can I find them?
 

The Elizans

Familiar Face
Messages
85
Location
Southcoast, UK
Save your money!

Hello,
Unpatriotic I know, but there are no good value, quality hat makers left in London. If you want an over-priced, poorly finished bland hat made from an eastern European hood, then try Lock & Co. St. James Street. Worth a trip to have a look purely because they are the oldest hat makers still in existence in the UK, possibly in the world. They made hats for Nelson, The Duke or Wellington (Battle of Waterloo) and Charlie Chaplin to name some. My advice as always, is to buy vintage.
T.E.
 

danofarlington

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,122
Location
Arlington, Virginia
Hey folks,

This December, my father and I are going to London for a holiday and dad's wanting to buy himself a nice fedora (or similar) while we're over there. Are there any good hat-shops in London? I tried searching online, but the seemingly overwhelming number of results left me confused and rather frightened about picking something substandard.

So, are there any shops in London that will sell good-quality fur-felt hats at good prices? And where can I find them?

What about Hornet Hats?
 

billyspew

One Too Many
Messages
1,746
Location
London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Having boughts hats from 2 of the above 3, I would say they're all worth a visit. Hornets offers fair quality and affordable hats in a varietyof styles. It's in Kensington, so an area you'd likely go to anyway.

Bates and Lock, which are around the corner from each other are more expensive, and probably slightly (only slightly) better quality and definately worth a visit, if I were to buy from one of them I'd go for Bates though. A walk down Jermyn Street is always worth it too.
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hi folks,

Thanks kindly, for all the replies. If you can supply websites and/or street-addresses, that'd be great. I'm gonna see if I can find prices or something to see what kind of money we're talking about here...
 

150719541

One Too Many
Messages
1,288
Location
San Luis Potosi, SLP. Mexico
Hello,
Unpatriotic I know, but there are no good value, quality hat makers left in London. If you want an over-priced, poorly finished bland hat made from an eastern European hood, then try Lock & Co. St. James Street. Worth a trip to have a look purely because they are the oldest hat makers still in existence in the UK, possibly in the world. They made hats for Nelson, The Duke or Wellington (Battle of Waterloo) and Charlie Chaplin to name some. My advice as always, is to buy vintage.
T.E.

I Think so ¡¡¡¡¡
 

billyspew

One Too Many
Messages
1,746
Location
London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Hi folks,

Thanks kindly, for all the replies. If you can supply websites and/or street-addresses, that'd be great. I'm gonna see if I can find prices or something to see what kind of money we're talking about here...

If you take a look at the website in my emil signature and look at Shops section the top three should be those shops, each website has it's address on it.
 

billyspew

One Too Many
Messages
1,746
Location
London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
New(?) London Hat Shop - Laird Hats

My wife spotted this shop while walking through the west end and took a picture of it for me.
The website is http://www.lairdlondon.co.uk/, selection looks OK. Colours look interesting.

I will try and pop in this week and report back in full, unless someone else here gets there first!

Edit: Appears there's three locations.

Bill
 
Last edited:

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,111
Location
London, UK
I believe I have passed at least two of these recently. Not been inside, but nice srlection of wool caps in the window. If it's the same place, brimmed hats looked to be mostly wool pork pies.
 

carranty

One of the Regulars
Messages
108
Location
England
Bates Hats London

I'm thinking of buying a hat from Bates hats and was wondering what peoples thoughts are on their hats? They're priced at almost twice the price of an Akubra (~£180), I don't mind paying this for a custom -made to measure - hat from one of the many custom haters often mentioned on this forum, but it seems a little high to me for an off the shelf hat. What do people think, are they worth the price?

I live in the north west, so traveling to them to look at the hats isn't really an option, I'll be buying from their website.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk now Free
 

RegentSt1965

Familiar Face
Messages
99
Location
London
Got quite a few Bates Hats. Happy with all and with service. Don't know if I'd buy a hat online, but I'm often in W1. Bates staying in Jermyn St (there was a chance recently they would've had to leave cos of redevelopment) has kept prices reasonable by not letting the other venerable London hatter have a clear run!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,650
Messages
3,085,698
Members
54,471
Latest member
rakib
Top