Lord John: The long lost Croydon shop popular with The Who and the Rolling Stones by Reemul Balla

 

Croydon has seen a whole host of shops come and go. In more recent memory the staples of Woolworths, BHS and Allders all shut down, to the despair of shopping fans.

One shop vanished before some of us were even born by the name of Lord John.

Lord John was founded by the retail duo David and Warren Gold in the mid-60s and catered primarily to young men who were fed up of wearing the same old designs and colours.

The shop revolutionised the clothing scene with its bright colours, gaudy tops, denim and kaftan jackets.

Their psychedelic colours and enthusiasm entranced Carnaby Street, which was the location of their first store in 1964.

In 1969, they took their garments and evident popularity down to South London and opened on Croydon's North Street.

In those days, celebrities would inaugurate shops much like how they switch on Christmas lights around the country today.

Comedian Arthur Haynes and presenter Nicholas Parsons opened Sherry's, a curtain shop on Croydon High Street, and Irish presenter Eamonn Andrews opened a Curry's electrical store in Church Street, according to Lionel Gibb, a resident of Croydon from 1953 to 1972.

Lord John will be less inclined to want to remember who opened their Croydon store.

It was advertised in the local paper that on Friday, February 14 at 12.30pm the opening ceremony would be held and opened by 'his excellency Jimmy Savile.'

Savile was a notable DJ and TV presenter at the time before he was disgraced as a notorious sex offender following his death.

Lord John had around 30 shops by the early 70s but it's name faded into history as it was acquired by the Raybeck group, who consequently sold it to Next.

In its heyday, Lord John was extremely popular with London modernists (or mods for short) whose interests included bespoke fashion, jazz music and Italian scooters.

It also pulled in a number of famous bands who had accounts there like The Small Faces and The Who.

Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones and Micky Dolenz of the Monkees shopped there too for their snazzy suits.