'My only guide to London shops was the Sunday Times newspaper where they would do a feature on these new crazy men's shops in and around Carnaby Street'

'My only guide to London shops was the Sunday Times newspaper where they would do a feature on these new crazy men's shops in and around Carnaby Street'

Billy Gallagher describes establishing a foothold in London with his new business. He remembers the particular sales customs in London and compares them to sales in Ireland.

Billy Gallagher

Trinity College Dublin

1970

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Billy Gallagher

Work and employment

Life Story

London, King's Road

1970's

Having found a foothold in business in London I commuted there with increasing regularity for the next 30 years. On the first trip I had no idea where to stay so I phoned Fr Paddy Walsh, who was living with the Vincentian community in Strawberry Hill Teacher Training College, and stayed with the community there. I took the train into London Waterloo and parked my large sample case in the left luggage office on the platform there.My only guide to London shops was the Sunday Times newspaper where they would do a feature on these new crazy men's shops in and around Carnaby Street, Soho, The King's Road etc. 'Mother Wouldn't Like It' was in an alleyway behind Bond Street, it was a small shop with nothing (literally) in it except an orange carpet and a proprietor with long curly hair and a 'chandelier necklace'. He was gay as Christmas but it never crossed my mind, I thought he was just an Englishman. (Recounting these experiences to the Vincentian community at night brought great mirth, but I didn't know why.)When I found 'The Squire Shop' in King's Road (on the second or third day) which had several branches and looking exactly the type of business I was looking for I called in to announce that I was selling shirts. The chaps I met said 'ok, can you show us?', 'certainly' says I, 'I will be back in a minute'.Remember that I had learned to sell in city and country shops around Ireland where the dignity of the buyer was supreme. You didn't assume anything and if he asked to see a shirt you didn't show him two in case of offending him.To get a sample I had to run down The King's Road to Sloane Square, get on a tube and change at Embankment for Waterloo, get the case out of the left luggage, select a sample, put the case back in the left luggage and take the tube, change again at Embankment and run down The King's Road again. This whole operation took about 45 minutes and a lot of sweat. The chaps in the shop said 'That is very nice, do you have any more?' 'Certainly' I said and had to repeat the journey to Waterloo.The price I got for those 1000 shirts I sold was 27/9 (27 shillings and 9d), a great price and one that moved the business out of Guineys and the like for evermore.Over the following seven years I built a good business in England, in particular with Paul Smith who was just establishing himself then and with all the other small chains that were then emerging (Take 6, Lord John, Stanley Adams, Coles of London etc). This eventually evolved into our own branded (Gallagher Egan) product, our own designers, labels, representatives etc covering all of England, Scotland and Wales. We were always design led, at the sharper edge of fashion and had a good reputation for doing what we said we would do and being different always.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)