TheRealLurlock
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I couldn't find a thread on this topic so I thought it would be worth starting one.
Obviously as the years progress there are fewer and fewer bespoke tailors around, and the most well-known of those that remain are increasingly concentrated on Savile Row/Sackvile Street. However, there are still many good tailors in the smaller towns and cities of Britain who will make garments of similar quality for less than half the price of a well-known name on Savile Row. Many of these are independent one- or two-man businesses who don't advertise themselves very well which can sometimes make them hard to find, particularly online. I thought it would be a good idea to highlight any provincial tailors people here have experience with, to aid other users who might be interested in having something made bespoke but without paying London prices for it, or to make people wary of those who might have been cast out into the midlands for a reason...
Tailor & Cutter
Formerly of Cambridge, presently in Stamford. Pretty much a one-man business run by Andrew along with a few offsite staff he shares with other tailors. Unfortunately, with Andrew's departure from Cambridge during the Covid shutdowns, the city is now without any resident bespoke tailor. However, last I heard Andrew said he had plans to return to Cambridge and was looking for suitable premises to rent (although this was some time ago). Prices are well under half of what you can expect at Savile Row, although be aware his standard pricing doesn't include working cuffs.
Andrew has made a three-piece flannel suit, three separate pairs of trousers, and a full set of morning dress including waistcoat for me. He has made unusual things for me (high-waisted fishtail trousers, unusual double-breasted waistcoat designs) without issue, and his garments compensate well for my unusual proportions (fairly athletic physique but with short legs and a long torso, and very disproportionately large thighs and buttocks). Importantly, he isn't sycophantic and will challenge you in detail with his concerns if you ask for something he thinks will make the garment look worse rather than better.
If I had bought everything from him other than the morning coat, then I would have no hesitation endorsing him. We got on well and I thought his garments were excellent value-for-money. Unfortunately, he runs his business like it's the 80s, with a barely-functioning web presence and everything recorded with pen and paper, and this caused a major problem when I asked him to make morning dress for my wedding. He was dealing with an extremely busy period post-Covid during which everyone who had asked him to make something for a wedding, and then had postponed that wedding, was now coming back at short notice with new dates hoping to have final fittings and finished garments ready immediately. I'd count myself among these people except that I had given him a few months' notice of the new date of my wedding. Unfortunately, he mistook that date for the date by which I would need the garments ready (two-and-a-half weeks prior, as the wedding was abroad and I needed to fly out early to make preparations in advance). Initially he told me it was simply impossible for him to have them finished in time, but to his credit he did later ring me back to say he had managed to call in a favour from a colleague and would be able to do it. For my part, I postponed my flight out by a few days to give him as much time as I could. However, when I turned up for the final fitting for the morning coat, after which he was supposed to send everything to me in the post in time for my departure, he revealed that the coat would in fact need one more fitting. I told him that simply wasn't possible and we would have to go with whatever he was able to do with the three fittings we had already done. The garments arrived and to my dismay, when I finally put on the finished coat for the first time, I found it did not fit me at all. The collar gapped terribly at the back of my neck, and it was not canvassed to fit my waist at all so hung loose and boxy from my shoudlers. A RTW tailcoat would have fitted me better for half the price - I know because I'd tried some on. Luckily, we tried it on my best man and found that it actually fitted him somewhat better, although we still had to attach the coat to his shirt collar with a safety pin to stop it sliding off the back of him, and had to cut open the lapel buttonhole with a knife to fit a flower through it, even though Andrew had added a boutonniere keeper on the inside of the lapel like I'd asked. (Yes, a knife. The buttonhole wasn't just stitched shut - there was no hole in the lapel at all: only buttonhole stitching around a solid section of lapel fabric!). I was able to wear the vintage tailcoat which I had bought for my best man. I cannot fathom why the finished coat looked so much worse than the work-in-progress I had tried on in the shop on multiple occasions, but ultimately it was a disaster and I won't be asking Andrew to make anything else for me.
Therefore, if anyone knows of any other tailors in the Cambridgeshire area, I'd love to hear about them!
I've also heard very good things about Goldings in St Albans, but I've no experience with them myself.
Obviously as the years progress there are fewer and fewer bespoke tailors around, and the most well-known of those that remain are increasingly concentrated on Savile Row/Sackvile Street. However, there are still many good tailors in the smaller towns and cities of Britain who will make garments of similar quality for less than half the price of a well-known name on Savile Row. Many of these are independent one- or two-man businesses who don't advertise themselves very well which can sometimes make them hard to find, particularly online. I thought it would be a good idea to highlight any provincial tailors people here have experience with, to aid other users who might be interested in having something made bespoke but without paying London prices for it, or to make people wary of those who might have been cast out into the midlands for a reason...
Tailor & Cutter
Formerly of Cambridge, presently in Stamford. Pretty much a one-man business run by Andrew along with a few offsite staff he shares with other tailors. Unfortunately, with Andrew's departure from Cambridge during the Covid shutdowns, the city is now without any resident bespoke tailor. However, last I heard Andrew said he had plans to return to Cambridge and was looking for suitable premises to rent (although this was some time ago). Prices are well under half of what you can expect at Savile Row, although be aware his standard pricing doesn't include working cuffs.
Andrew has made a three-piece flannel suit, three separate pairs of trousers, and a full set of morning dress including waistcoat for me. He has made unusual things for me (high-waisted fishtail trousers, unusual double-breasted waistcoat designs) without issue, and his garments compensate well for my unusual proportions (fairly athletic physique but with short legs and a long torso, and very disproportionately large thighs and buttocks). Importantly, he isn't sycophantic and will challenge you in detail with his concerns if you ask for something he thinks will make the garment look worse rather than better.
If I had bought everything from him other than the morning coat, then I would have no hesitation endorsing him. We got on well and I thought his garments were excellent value-for-money. Unfortunately, he runs his business like it's the 80s, with a barely-functioning web presence and everything recorded with pen and paper, and this caused a major problem when I asked him to make morning dress for my wedding. He was dealing with an extremely busy period post-Covid during which everyone who had asked him to make something for a wedding, and then had postponed that wedding, was now coming back at short notice with new dates hoping to have final fittings and finished garments ready immediately. I'd count myself among these people except that I had given him a few months' notice of the new date of my wedding. Unfortunately, he mistook that date for the date by which I would need the garments ready (two-and-a-half weeks prior, as the wedding was abroad and I needed to fly out early to make preparations in advance). Initially he told me it was simply impossible for him to have them finished in time, but to his credit he did later ring me back to say he had managed to call in a favour from a colleague and would be able to do it. For my part, I postponed my flight out by a few days to give him as much time as I could. However, when I turned up for the final fitting for the morning coat, after which he was supposed to send everything to me in the post in time for my departure, he revealed that the coat would in fact need one more fitting. I told him that simply wasn't possible and we would have to go with whatever he was able to do with the three fittings we had already done. The garments arrived and to my dismay, when I finally put on the finished coat for the first time, I found it did not fit me at all. The collar gapped terribly at the back of my neck, and it was not canvassed to fit my waist at all so hung loose and boxy from my shoudlers. A RTW tailcoat would have fitted me better for half the price - I know because I'd tried some on. Luckily, we tried it on my best man and found that it actually fitted him somewhat better, although we still had to attach the coat to his shirt collar with a safety pin to stop it sliding off the back of him, and had to cut open the lapel buttonhole with a knife to fit a flower through it, even though Andrew had added a boutonniere keeper on the inside of the lapel like I'd asked. (Yes, a knife. The buttonhole wasn't just stitched shut - there was no hole in the lapel at all: only buttonhole stitching around a solid section of lapel fabric!). I was able to wear the vintage tailcoat which I had bought for my best man. I cannot fathom why the finished coat looked so much worse than the work-in-progress I had tried on in the shop on multiple occasions, but ultimately it was a disaster and I won't be asking Andrew to make anything else for me.
Therefore, if anyone knows of any other tailors in the Cambridgeshire area, I'd love to hear about them!
I've also heard very good things about Goldings in St Albans, but I've no experience with them myself.
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