Goodbye Eagle Place
One of the many things on my List Of Cool And Weird Things To See In London (a list forever growing so long and unwieldy I've actually stopped writing stuff down) has been to go and visit Binks the Cat, which I read about in some "offbeat London" book or other (I forget which).
On Saturday, I finally managed to visit him, and very proud he looks too.
The sad part of this story is that poor old Binks looks like he's about to become homeless, thanks to his landlords, the Crown Estate, who have decided that his home, the venerable Bates hat shop is amongst a number of properties on the same block which are "substandard and tired", according to a quote in this article on This Is London.
While it could be argued that some of the shops on the Piccadilly side of the block are rather tawdry, it's arguably not the case on Jermyn Street, where Bates is housed; that street being a bastion of the kind of charm and poise that was made famous by the likes of John Steed. In fact, one could go so far as to argue that St James in general, and Jermyn Street in particular, is the very headquarters of style for many of the Crown Estate's very own very rich clients and customers, so if they are really arguing that any of the businesses on that block are really substandard and tired, then they may as well close all the other businesses along Jermyn Street as well, because they all do the same thing. Old-fashioned it may be but, frankly, charming manners and good service never go out of fashion.
Interestingly, the Crown Estate have no information about the Eagle Place redevelopment on their website, and it's not mentioned on the Bates' website, the Herbie Frogg website or the Geo. F. Trumper website (which doesn't even mention that they're moving to new premises around the corner on Duke of York Street next door to one of my favourite pubs, the Red Lion). The only business that mentions anything of the closure is Baron of Piccadilly, who've had signs in their windows for a couple of months, and are now selling off not just their clothes stock but everything else as well.
So pop along and have a peruse before it's too late and it's all gone. And perhaps purchase a hat.
More photos here.