Kilburn attracted several tailors and outfitters with two leading concerns facing one another other across the High Road for many years. Both were family concerns and while there are images of some of their shops, no photos of the people involved appear to have survived. Neither family had any obvious links to the area so why choose Kilburn? Almost certainly they were attracted by the sales potential, it was a thriving neighbourhood with good transport links and an ever-increasing network of streets and customers on either side of the High Road. For both it proved to be a good choice.
Alexander the Great: Jacob Alexander
The more successful company, in terms of size of business, traded from Nos.122-126 on the corner with Quex Road for over half a century and was originally started by Jacob Alexander. Born in 1821, he lived in the province of Posen in Prussia (then part of the German Empire, now Poland). A tailor and outfitter by trade, he had four sons: Isaac b.1862, Adolph b.1865, Theobald b.1865 and Albert b.1868. Jacob and family moved to England around 1873 and made their home in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of the Potteries. Jacob built a shop at the corner of Piccadilly and Stafford Street that became a model for subsequent premises opened in other cities: large glass windows displaying stock at both ground and first floor levels with imposing letters spelling ‘Alexander the Great Tailor’. A corner site was particularly useful as the advertising could wrap round the curve of the building.
It seems likely that Isaac came up with the idea of combining the family name and that of the Macedonian King Alexander, to produce the catchy business slogan. Not surprisingly, the firm’s chosen trademark was Alexander in his chariot drawn by two horses.
Alexander the Great comes to London
When Jacob died in 1887, his son Adolph (sometimes spelt Adolphe or Adolphus) took over the Hanley premises. Adolph’s brothers ran other Alexander the Great shops: Theobald in Nottingham, Isaac in Leicester and Albert in Manchester where he remained for his whole life.
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The Cheapside shop
In 1895, a major decision was taken to create a head office and depot in London, at Nos.114, 115 and 116 Cheapside, another corner site at the end of Milk Street. ‘The premises have undergone considerable renovation and repair and are now among the most attractive in Cheapside. The trade device (trademark) will be painted on one of the windows of the shop’. Adolph left Hanley to manage the Cheapside shop. He swapped the Potteries for a comfortable suite at the Great Central Hotel over Marylebone Railway Station, which became his home for the rest of his life. In 1902 an important shop was opened in 145 Oxford Street.
The Kilburn branch
The next step was to expand and open more London branches. The Kilburn Times of 2 July 1897 wrote that, ‘Alexander the Great tailor, like his historic Macedonian namesake, was desiring more worlds to conquer, and his eye fell on Kilburn. The handsome building at the corner of Quex-road has without a doubt transformed that corner of the High-road, and is one of the finest business houses in this district’.
Opened at Nos.122-126 they sold ‘Men’s, Youth’s and Boy’s Ready-Made Clothing’. All the usual Alexander features were present, including large glass windows on two levels and plenty of gold lettering advertising the business. A full-page advert claimed the company’s growth was ‘absolutely without precedent in the history of the tailoring trade’. Experienced cutters were employed, ‘style fit finish and quality guaranteed’. Turning orders round in a matter of days, their cutters had to be quick and accurate. A personal approach was adopted as if the customer was dealing directly with ‘Alexander’: ‘all garments made on the premises and under my personal supervision. Customers whether they require a pair of 10sh 6d trousers or a guinea suit are treated with that invariable courtesy that has ever been associated with Alexander The Great Tailor’.
The Kilburn shop on the corner with Quex Road, about 1912
The firm continued to be run as a family concern, with Isaac leaving Nottingham to manage the Kilburn branch, and living close to his place of work at 82 Canfield Gardens in West Hampstead. Theobald also moved to London, renting houses near to Isaac. In 1901 he lived at 44 West End Lane, part of a group of properties later destroyed by a V1 flying bomb on 20 June 1944.
There is almost no information about the social life or interests of the Alexander family but for its members, a strong belief in and support of Judaism was of fundamental importance. Jacob was one of the founders of the congregation in Hanley, and Adolph continued to support the community after moving to London. He laid one of two foundation stones for the new Hanley synagogue in 1922, regularly subscribing to its funds. Isaac was a member of the Leicester congregation and expressed the wish in his will that his children would ‘follow the best traditions of the Jewish religion’.
Isaac was still living in Canfield Gardens when he died in 1924. Isaac’s estate was valued at £70,000 (around £5,5M today) and he used his will to request his son Claude never to gamble on the Stock Exchange and always take his uncles’ advice on business matters. Adolph and Theobald died within days of each other in 1931. They all left substantial amounts in their wills: Theobald £57,000 and Adolph £75,000 with bequests to Jewish charities and organisations, (worth about £5M and £6.6M respectively in today’s money).
In 1922, Claude Alexander launched ‘The Scottish Tailors’ chain in Glasgow. When he sold out to The Fifty Shilling Tailors in 1951, he owned a factory and 44 shops. He was living in 135 Grove Hall Court St Johns Wood where he died two years later but only left £175 in his will.
In January 1930 a local paper commented that, ‘another landmark will be missed from the Kilburn High Road owing to the departure of Alexander the Great Tailor’. The shop continued to trade as an outfitters; by 1932 it was part of the Price Tailors chain and later, under the same ownership, was rebranded as the Fifty Shillings Tailors, which became John Collier’s in 1953. About 1957 the site was developed as the present Merlin House wrapping around Quex Road.
Photo of the site today
Southons
Across the road facing Alexander The Great, was clothier and tailor Walter Southon. He set up his business in 1885 at No.131 High Road Kilburn at the corner of Victoria Road on the Willesden side, and had expanded to include the shop next door, No.133, by 1891.
This was another business that spanned generations. The census shows Kentish-born Alfred Southon, a tailor and outfitter, living in Tachbrook Street Pimlico in 1871 and again in 1881, when son Walter was an outfitter like his father. Walter moved to Kilburn shortly before his first shop opened there on 28 May 1885, the end premise in a terrace of three. It catered for adults and children, advertising among many other items, ‘pretty suits for wee boys’, and ‘strong suits for romping lads’ along with ‘superior and stylish’ suits for gents, to measure or ready-made.
Walter Southon was not as wealthy as his rival Isaac Alexander and couldn’t afford the leafy streets off West End Lane. He and his family lived over the tailoring premises, their household in 1891 including four male boarders all assistants to the business. Walter’s parents moved to Burton Road in Kilburn, a short walk from the shop where Alfred died a few weeks before the census was taken. Ten years later, Walter was still occupying rooms over the business, but the family had moved to 99 Dartmouth Road by 1911, and the space over the shop was rented out.
In 1895, Southons was among many shops that featured in a booklet, ‘Old and New Hampstead’. The shop was doing very well, and the premises had 100 feet of plate glass windows wrapping round the corner, filled with ‘endless attractions’ and with ready-made clothing, outfitting and bespoke tailoring departments inside. Two years later, Walter decided to rebuild the premises; he did not demolish, but remodelled the inside to double the trading space. An ‘absolute sale’ of all goods on the premises was advertised before the builders moved in. This move was likely prompted by the arrival of serious competitor Alexander The Great just a short walk across the High Road.
Walter Southon died in 1920 and left £10,612, (worth about £616,000 today). Probate was granted to his widow and three sons, Wilfred, Herbert and Laurence, all described as clothiers. Walter had started a limited company ten years earlier and almost certainly they were directors. About 1927 the Southon brothers made a decision that left their mark on the neighbourhood in the form of a familiar building that is still home to commercial enterprises today. This cannot be said for the Alexander The Great Kilburn shop which has disappeared without trace.
Trinity House
For many years, the High Road on the corner of Victoria Road opposite the two Southon shops, was occupied by Holy Trinity School and a vet/forge for horses. The site was acquired by the Southon company and used to build Trinity House, taking the name of the school that it replaced. The architect J. P. Bennett positioned the shop’s entrance on the curved corner of the frontage. ‘Trinity House’ was spelled out and displayed above, as it is today, at roof level.
W. Southon 1928 shop
In 1928, the newly completed building was criticised in an architectural journal for what the writer considered its unsatisfactory design, but it has endured to become a local landmark. However, the business that residents may remember trading from this corner was not Southons, but the Grange Furnishing store. Initially they shared the site before expanding and replacing the tailors by 1949. Both Dick and Marianne bought furniture there, including G-Plan chairs and tables. Grange Furnishings had closed by 1981.
Today, Trinity House is occupied by branches of MacDonalds, NatWest and Betfred.
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